[Sangreaal]

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaBear That may sound like an odd question, but bear with me for a moment. Some people want to "bonsai" their Koi, others go for maximum growth in the shortest time frame, others are consumed with pumping for color at every opportunity. These are different purposes that would impose different feeding regimes. Here is what I'm looking for. How much do you feed (under normal water temperatures/conditions) when you are trying to maximize growth? (feed volume per lb fish for example) When preparing Koi for a show, what changes do you make? If you use color enhancing feed, when do you stop before show time? If you are feeding only for maintenence (size and health) how do you feed in terms of feed volume per lb fish? I'll be interested to see the different approaches taken by different ponders.

OH jeeze... I want to answer this one but I've never conditioned or prepared koi for shows and I simply can't do the math required to calculate feed volume for lbs of fish since I have no idea what any of them weigh!

Marie<---numbers challenged but logic enriched

I feed them several times a day and I let their apetites dictate the size of their meals. A couple of dives down to mid-level to chew their cuds and contemplate the universe and they come back up satiated. I never try to overburden their systems by shoving the feed. Frequent light meals that satiate seems to be working as nobody's overweight or underweight for their size and they are staying symmetrical as they bulk up and lengthen through their growth spurts.

As far as what I feed, it can vary. I want my koi rations to be tuned to the nutritional requirements for the natural growth curve of the variety/bloodline I'm growing out. I don't necessarily trust pellets completely to satisfy the nutritional needs of my koi, though they are a staple of their diet. I may feed high protein pellets in the summer and wheat germ in the winter, but for some reason I just hafta roll all the pellets in bentonite and spirulina. I realize spirulina can enhance color, but I think in moderation the benefits outweigh the risk of dingy yellows and dayglo hi. I also supplement with natural foods from oranges to worms.

Face it, koi love worms and there's a lot of digestible protein in them. I used to watch the fish for hours as they methodically rooted for and sucked up the gobs of worms populating the bentonite bottom of my natural artificial mud pond lab that I had going for a few years. No clay bottom on this rather spartan experimental model everybody's in now. So they get their ration of chubbychewy earth worms on a fairly regular basis. Figger the worms are easier to digest and assimlate than the dried out powdered protein product in a pellet.

Marie