Jock, Blue, Pearl, Cog, Raffle, Centurion and Al Gore are koi in training.

Since late May, Debby Leverett has come out to her koi pond at midmorning and in the evening with a jug of fish food and a dinner bell. Her aim is to condition her seven full-grown koi to respond to the sound of the bell by swimming toward her, and eventually by eating out of her hand.

Jock and company haven't yet gotten with the program, but Debby's notion isn't far-fetched. She's seen koi respond to other sounds they came to associate with feeding time, such as the rattle of keys or the squeak of a sliding glass door.

As for hand-feeding, that's a cinch. She already has the 14 baby koi in the smaller pond in her Riverside garden greedily eating from her palm.

Debby and her husband, Larry, are members of the Inland Koi Society, which will hold its annual pond tour on June 24. This year's tour will feature six koi ponds in San Bernardino, Highland, Moreno Valley, Riverside and Norco.

For some members, including the Leveretts, having a koi pond is mostly about keeping koi as pets. For another faction, having a koi pond is mostly about beautifying the garden with a water feature that includes the brilliantly colored and intriguingly patterned fish.

Peggy and Nick Milfeld fall into the "pond first" camp. Their half-acre garden, which will be on the tour, brings the feel of a forest to Riverside. Mature redwood, cypress, Japanese black pine and long-needled Canary Island pine trees shade the spa, swimming pool and adjoining koi pond, all fashioned of man-made rock to resemble a mountain waterfall, pond and stream.

About 20 koi luxuriate in the 13,000-gallon pond, moving like tankers among a regatta of darting goldfish. The wide-bodied koi, each a good 2 feet long, swim oblivious to their status as aesthetic elements in the landscape -- and second best at that. "You can't keep trout in a pond," says Nick, who would if he could.

Think big and double it

The Milfelds are pond people. The Leveretts are pet people. Still, they have something in common with each other and most koi hobbyists. They started with smaller pools and fewer fish, and moved up.

Among people with koi ponds, the common lament is, "I wish I made it bigger," says Terry Harrison. Harrison operates the only large-scale commercial koi breeding operation in the Inland area, Harrison's Koi Farm in Riverside. Harrison generally advises people to envision the largest pond they could possibly want -- and then build one twice as big.

"Koi," says Harrison, "are an addiction."

And it seems to be catching. When Harrison began selling koi to dealers and hobbyists 20 years ago, he had 50 regular customers. Today he has 400.

The Inland Koi Society has seen similar growth, with membership growing from about a dozen people in 1995 to 80 families now, Peggy Milfeld says.

Dressed up and laid-back

The very word "koi' alludes to one measure of their appeal. It's shorthand for the Japanese word Nishikigoi, which means brocaded carp, a reference to the beauty of the fish, which are in fact carp bred for their striking colors and patterns.

Koi's laid-back demeanor is also much-admired. Aside from frisky mating and enthusiastic feeding, they have the cooperative attitude of herd animals.

"They're like the zen fish," Harrison says.

Other admirers note that koi have individual personalities, some more placid and some more high-strung than others. Among the Leveretts' koi, Blue is protective, Cog (short for "incognito") hides from view and Al Gore is somewhat reserved, Debby says.

For many hobbyists, part of the pleasure of owning koi is watching these hardy fish develop from babies to adults. The babies typically grow 2-4 inches a year in backyard ponds. With the proper aeration, filtration and protection from birds and raccoons, they have many years ahead of them. Koi survive an average of 50-75 years, and some have been known to live 200 years.

Do-it-yourself appeal

The biggest expense for most koi collectors is the pond, which can be as elaborate as the Milfelds' or as simple as the Leveretts', which is a recycled hot tub.

In the Inland area, you'll see ponds formed below ground of concrete, similar to swimming-pool construction; constructed above or below ground with cement block, or formed with a heavy liner made of EPDM, a long-lasting, rubber-like material.

One of the demands of the hobby is creating and maintaining a healthy environment for the fish, says Scott Zehm. Zehm, who is in charge of the city of San Bernardino's street lights, enjoys the challenge of getting his pond to operate at peak efficiency.

He's also chairman of this year's koi pond tour, which promotes koi collecting as a hobby. The tour offers a chance to learn from members of the Inland Koi Society and to see water features others have built.

One of the group's selling points: For many homeowners, pond construction is a do-it-yourself project. And another: The koi themselves need not be a major investment.

At the Harrison Koi Farm, an unexceptional, 4-inch koi sells for $5 and a 4-incher with a bright color and interesting pattern goes for $25. The price tops out at $5,000 for a 2-foot koi of show quality, Harrison says.

Jack Marrin, president of the Inland Koi Society, is one of the few members of the group who show koi. He's entered a couple of his fish in competitions in San Diego and Los Angeles.

A serious collector, Marrin can name and describe many of the 100-plus varieties of koi that have been developed by Japanese breeders. He keeps about 45 koi in three ponds at his Redlands home, including two that he bought in Japan.

Marrin has paid as much as $2,000 for one koi, and figures that $40,000 would buy a koi that would win Grand Champion at most U.S. shows.

If that seems like a stretch, consider this: About three years ago a koi breeder bought the Grand Champion of Japan for $2 million.

Now, that's one fancy fish.

Judith Graffam can be reached by e-mail at jgraffam@pe.com or by phone at 909-782-7512.