Homemade koi food

[koifishgirl]

Has anyone ever fed their koi homemade koi food? If so how do you make it? Or would the pelet food be the best?

[dick benbow]

I KNOW OF MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE THEIR OWN RECEIPE'S THEY USE.

Some also take a basic paste food (ie: izeki) and add to it.

I think it's fun to try. I always worry they may create too hot of food ( PROTEIN % WISE) for too cool of temperature and create problems.

I think for a few hot months in the summer it's FUN. I'M SKEPTICAL THAT A COMPLETE BALANCED DIET CAN BE MADE from scratch.

While i'll cook barley every few days in the winter for my koi, making fresh food from scratch was abit too time consuming for me. I depend on pellets with
worms and or watermelon etc as a treat.

[Arthur]

As Dick said, watermellon is not only a treat. It is fun to watch koi play a water-polo game chasing the darn things around the water until a slice is notched against the wall: then all koi rush to that one slice that is no longer moving around.

Above providing additional vitamins, watermellons are giving koi FIBER which is very good in keeping a clean gut in the summer months when we feed them high protein pellets.

[jacovors]

Hi Koifishgirl,

Chris Neaves posted some interesting info here http://jakoi.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=14

[koifishgirl]

Thanks guys, looks like to me that I just need to stick to pelets, I do think I will try some homemade food sometimes just to see how the koi eat this, why only the hot summer months?

[jnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by koifishgirl Thanks guys, looks like to me that I just need to stick to pelets, I do think I will try some homemade food sometimes just to see how the koi eat this, why only the hot summer months?

Basically because wheatgerm pellets are made to be easily digestable in the cooler months when a koi metaboliism slows down. The homemade foods aren't as easily digestable so should only be fed in the hot months when their metabolism is at full speed. I'm sure you could make an easily digestable homemade food but why risk it?