Koï food in Europe

[marco]

I was used to feed my koï with saki hikari food, but now it's quiete impossible to find it in Europe. Spring will come soon, so I would like to find a good quality food. I normaly ordered it in U.K or Germany, but maybe should I look somewhere else .. what about the koïkeeper in Nederland ?
What will you use this year, Dainichi , Kusuri, yamotonishi ?
Thanks for reply.
Marco

[dick benbow]

Marco if it was me, I think I'd be emailing Hikari europe to find out when they anticipate changing the formula of saki to comply with new regs so it again can be distributed. Then after I got some time value I'd see about filling in till it's available again. Quess if i had the same problem here I'd be feeding Hikari wheatgerm or staple till it became clear.

[Regenmeneer]

Hi Marco

I used to feed Saki Hikari as well, I'm very satisfied with the results in growth, skin quality and the positive effect on water quality. Unfortunately it is still unavailable because of new EU regulation.

Last year I used a mix of Fuji Sakura and Yamato Nishiki. I was very disappointed in the growth and development of the koi. It also had a negative effect on water quality, lots of small solids floating around and coloration of the water.

As of now, I'm not quite sure what I'll be using this year. I met the Hikari importer at last years dutch national show, and he expected Saki to be available from the beginning of the 2006 season, but no sign of it yet. If available, I will use saki again. If not, I might go with a food produced in Holland from fresh ingrediënts thats frozen immediately after production. According to some high end koi keepers the results are very good. It's called Frost Bites and is produced by NedKoi.

Rgds

Regenmeneer

[Regenmeneer]

Dick,

the problem is not with the ingrediënts of Saki Hikari. No fish food from Japan is allowed to enter the EU because of some problem with certification. The new legislation as off January 2005 demands the manufacturer be certified to comply with production processes. Hikari does comply (easily), but Japan just does not have a organisation in place to give out the certificates

Rgds

Regenmeneer

[dick benbow]

interesting, I heard that it involved the kind of bugs in the food and that had to be changed.

so much regulation wise is changing that it almost makes sense to support a good up and coming local firm. It's the reason why you see that I have been deliberately reminding folks about the local producers of koi. Up and comers (and we have them all around the world ) need to be supported and encouraged because there is change in the wind.

[marco]

So it seems difficult to have saki hikari food for spring, the Frost Bites seems interesting, but impossible to order from France. Still have some hikari weat germ for early spring so I can wait a little but does someone use others food like Kusuri, Sakura, Nobori or Dainichi ?
What does they think about it ?

[Regenmeneer]

Marco,

I have no experience with Nobori. From the other 3 I would choose Dainichi for sure!

The Frostbites are sold by some Belgian dealers, so maybe thats something worth looking into. If you speak dutch, you might want to check out their site http://www.nedkoi.nl/ (Sorry, dutch only)

Regenmeneer

[dinh]

Quote: Originally Posted by Regenmeneer Dick, the problem is not with the ingrediënts of Saki Hikari. No fish food from Japan is allowed to enter the EU because of some problem with certification. The new legislation as off January 2005 demands the manufacturer be certified to comply with production processes. Hikari does comply (easily), but Japan just does not have a organisation in place to give out the certificates Rgds Regenmeneer

How about order it from the States? what if we send you guys some pounds of Saki Hikari in a blank bag as a gift?

[Kohaku]

That might be considered smuggling. Probably illegal.

[dinh]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kohaku That might be considered smuggling. Probably illegal.

hmmmm. good point;-))

But it mentioned that "No fish food from Japan is allowed .." It does not say
"No fish food made in Japan is allowed .." So, it is made in Japan, but from States instead....;-))