Food for koi

[MikeM]

WAIT A SECOND...... before all the new koikeepers reading these posts start tossing the contents of the kitchen cupboard into their pond, remember: just because the fish eat it does NOT mean it is good for them!

If you stick with balanced pellets intended for koi, you'll be doing fine. If you supplement the pellets with foods available to carp in nature, you'll be OK and most likely helping your fish. Anything else and you need to know about koi nutrition or you are more likely to do more harm than good. Honey, for example... if cannot answer the question: When does a koi need a sugar additive in it diet? then you should never feed honey. (Does anyone know the answer to this question?) Barley: Check Dick Benbow's posts on barley... a great food for a particular purpose; a terrible food at other times. Cheerios: after everything written about Cheerios over the past 10 years? Watermelon: Do you know how much a koi would have to eat to get even 5% of its daily nutritional requirement of anything?

JUST BECAUSE THEY EAT IT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS GOOD FOR THEM.

[Eugeneg]

[quote=MikeM;74470]WAIT A SECOND...... before all the new koikeepers reading these posts start tossing the contents of the kitchen cupboard into their pond, remember: just because the fish eat it does NOT mean it is good for them!

You are right Mike Yet Toshio said that he does not feed pellets all his food is freshly made paste food . Asked what he did with all the culls , he said that they grind them up and feed them to the koi . I met this old fellow who had a grandfather that raised carp for the Berlin market he told me that every winter they would drag a dead horse out and put it on posts in the peat ponds and in the spring the carp would feast on the falling maggots .
The natural way koi feed is to siphen through the mud yet that is deprived in our ponds . To blend everything a koi needs into a pellet form and bake is very difficult but the koi survive quite well .The best of course would be a mud pond .
Regards
Eugene

[Gail]

LOL.Mike I agree! I think most of us give these things as tidbits, not the main diet? Watermelon is just something for them to play in....I like the odd slice of grapefruit in the summer time. I have never tried peas...my guys only get wheatgerm feed in the summer, no feeding from mid Oct on......lots of algae to graze on.

The sandewch I was referring to was only a few times when he was eating his lunch

[MikeM]

Absolutely, Eugene. Paste food recipes vary, of course, but paste food can be the equivalent of the content of the best pellets without so much vitamin-destroying heat, etc. Great for the true kichi. Not likely to be used by the new hobbyist.

Sorry if it seemed I was jumping on you. My concern was not that experienced koikeepers would go overboard. I was picturing a novice taking a box of cheerios, adding honey, orange juice and dried out bread and thinking they had a really healthy diet for their fish.

[vipldy]

A good pellet is the best but I do give mine fruits and some veggies.They really love fruit, sweet potatoes and shrimp/crab

Marie

[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by vipldy A good pellet is the best but I do give mine fruits and some veggies.They really love fruit, sweet potatoes and shrimp/crab Marie

Marie

So do I!!LOL

[koiczar]

MikeM

I agree with you. Good quality food in pellet form (maybe even a mix of two or three brands) gives them all they need. They do seem to love to play with the watermelon. I have also mixed some paste food and used orange juice concentrate or cranberry juice to mix it with. As the orange juice has vitamin C and the cranberry has vitamin C and oxidants it seems to work quite well.

Mike

[koiczar]

[quote=Eugeneg;74507]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM WAIT A SECOND...... before all the new koikeepers reading these posts start tossing the contents of the kitchen cupboard into their pond, remember: just because the fish eat it does NOT mean it is good for them! You are right Mike Yet Toshio said that he does not feed pellets all his food is freshly made paste food . Asked what he did with all the culls , he said that they grind them up and feed them to the koi . I met this old fellow who had a grandfather that raised carp for the Berlin market he told me that every winter they would drag a dead horse out and put it on posts in the peat ponds and in the spring the carp would feast on the falling maggots . The natural way koi feed is to siphen through the mud yet that is deprived in our ponds . To blend everything a koi needs into a pellet form and bake is very difficult but the koi survive quite well .The best of course would be a mud pond . Regards Eugene

Eugene

The last three times I was at Sakai's place, all I saw them feeding was pellets. Must have decided it was too much work to make up all the fresh stuff!!

[Eugeneg]

Sorry if it seemed I was jumping on you. My concern was not that experienced koikeepers would go overboard. I was picturing a novice taking a box of cheerios, adding honey, orange juice and dried out bread and thinking they had a really healthy diet for their fish.[/quote]

Mike you were certainly not jumping on me and few novices would understand unless they have studied a few books on koi , or it could end up like pond building . So nice to have this pointed out to me .
Regards
Eugene