Koi-Food

[bil]

Arthur, simply make the weight up using more herring (or other oily fish like sardine, mackerel etc) or whole prawns.


My butcher supplies me with 5 kilo boxes of whole greenland prawns at about £18 a box. That's cheaper than pellets.

[B.Scott]

Especially if you eat the tails yourself!

[bil]

The fish do get some. Particularly now that it's cold.

[crazy kujyaku]

what about the issue of putting volume to the koi?


I just got a kohaku and a matsunosuke sanke that survived the earthquake two weeks ago. when it entered my pond, these two new fish looked "fatter" than the other kois.

My fish grows alright. For example a 4 year old sanke grew from 54 cm last year to 68 cm this year. but the older kois seems slimmer than the new koi.

I got to thinking, am I feeding to little that they are slim or am I feeding to much that the water quality isn't as good as it should be. The fish sometimes have very high appetite and sometimes not.

Anyone can shed some light into this issue? I'm sure I'm not alone.

[B.Scott]

Yeah I understand what you're saying. It's a ballancing act anyway you look at it. The fact thast the new fish look better doesn't surprise me. Fish that have spent the last couple of years in mud ponds will in most cases look better than fish in a hobbiest's pond. I think it is the major challange of koi keeping to beable to take a fish in prime condition and not only keep it that way as long as possible, but improve it and nurse it along to it's full potential. In most cases it is a losing battle and simply a matter of damage control. In good contions you can limit the amount of loss of comfimation and growth but I don't believe you will ever keep pace with a fish left in Japan in the breeders mud ponds. The best we can do is come a close 2nd It's just something we have to accept. Perhaps an exception would be if you had mud ponds yourself but at this point you move into a whole different area that IMO passes the bounderies of being a hobby.

In general I think you can feed your fish a fair amount of food provided you do so in small doses and keep close tabs on the water chemistry. The trouble is the amount is different for different ages of fish. You will have a hard time if you have everything fromjumbo to tosai in the pond.

B.Scott

[bil]

Well, it's an interesting choice. Fish that are fed on a healthier, more normal diet, both in amount and make up, will be slimmer and healthier.

To get the GC look, they need bulking up with fast carbs (High GI food), but the trade off there is that the plump good looks will risk problems similar to late onset diabetes, ending in organ failure.

If you don't believe me, look at the usual age a GC dies at. JR reckons that few if any get past 10 or 12 years. For a fish capable of living to a minimum of 50 years, that is a scandal.

[crazy kujyaku]

B. Scott, you're right. but i never thought the difference would be so great.

Bil, you are also right. I have a hoshikin kohaku three years ago that grew up so quickly and has close to a GC conformation that it finally succumbed to submarine disease (anybody knows treatment to this symptom) . To see the koi swimming with such effort is agonizing.

As B. Scott and Bil said, we must understand the risk and rewards of how we want to raise the koi we love so much.

Thanks guys. You both opened my eyes.

[dim_queen7]

Hello,
I'm beginner in kois world. I just bought 20 baby kois (mixed kind) which are about 7 cm.
What is the best food for baby kois ?

Thankz

[B.Scott]

That all depends on where you are at, the season of the year, the water temperature and the system you keep your fish in. Can you elaborate?

B.Scott

BTW... plural for Koi is still Koi not Kois. Nothing personal just something that I keep noticing tham makes me grit my teeth!

[dim_queen7]

oopps...
i told u im new in koi..hahaha...
my pond is 1.5x1.5 metres with depth about 40 cm. i live in indonesia, so the weather is kinda tropica. temperature 25+. i guess my pond's temp is 20-23. and im using my own vortex system n my own biological filter. so far e water is perfectly clean n free from algae. it just the mud which i think resulted from e fishes's faeces.
and my new koi are about 7 cm. more or less. so far i feed them with gold fish food (not e high end brand because...i dont know what to feed them)
i asked the dealer...they said...don't force them withg those high end food which contained many growth enhancer...because...he said...one guy bought young koi from him...few months later...e guy came back...and the koi grow much faster than the koi which are still on e farm...4-6 cm longer...and e guy feed it with silkworm...and e koi's colour is screwed up...
so i don't know what is the best for these young koi...