Sinking koi pellets

[RayJordan]

Some koi seem to prefer sinking pellets and eat better away from the koi feeding frenzy on the surface. Tossing some sinking pellets along with the floating pellets seems to allow some of the larger and less agressive koi a chance to get their share. JMO

[ppp]

I've heard breeders mention that floating food makes koi swallow too much air and this interferes with an efficient digestive process. They prefer sinking food and paste food (which sinks anyway). Floating food is good for the owners but a little less good for the fish themselves. A balanced solution is a mixture of various kinds of food. Personally, I feed a mixture of floating and sinking food, and paste food as well.

[bekko]

Rangen, Zeigler Bros., Nelson Silver Cup, etc. all make a variety of sinking pellets. They are not called koi diets because everyone knows koi food floats. If you look at the specifications on their respective web sites you can probably find a formulation that suits you. However, you would have to be willing to pay much less than what you are accustomed to.

-s tev e

[PapaBear]

Check with Ray Abell. His high protein sinking food isn't the same as his color enhancing. I'm pretty sure Michael K and Jesus B have both used it. I'm not sure if thats what Dan and Gene use or not.

[MikeM]

Ray had only floating produced this Spring. He was thinking that he might have a production run of sinking when he next has a production run.

[Steve E]

I too had a need for a sinking pellet several years past. I found the sinking wheat germ pellets listed on Hikari's site. I was ordering some stuff from Gene at Koi Village and asked him if he could special order it for me as it was not listed on his site. He contacted the Hikari Distributor and was able to include it with his order.

I bring this up as your answer may be to ask whom ever you buy your feed from to ask their distributors if they have a sinking feed that is not listed but is available. I think that the dealer might be able to get a faster answer from the feed distributor (if there is a US Distributor presense) than we could by send an email or calling.

Before I found the sinking pellets I used this trick to get my koi to eat the floating stuff. I bought clear gelatin mixed it with the floating pellets. This is how I did it...I used a jelly roll pan with a 1/2" side, placed a layer of pellets in the pan, mixed the clear gelatin and poured it over the layer of pellets, let it harden, and then either broke it up or cut it up (can not remember which).

Steve

[koihaku]

Quote: Originally Posted by RayJordan Some koi seem to prefer sinking pellets and eat better away from the koi feeding frenzy on the surface. Tossing some sinking pellets along with the floating pellets seems to allow some of the larger and less agressive koi a chance to get their share. JMO

My Fishes' size about25cm-54cm. recently I bought a small one (about 10cm).
this small one seems hard to fight with other to grap the floating pellets, not to mention the size of the pellets.
So I soak the pellets about 2 minutes and crush them into smaller pieces
the pellets go down to the bottom slowly and get in to kois' mouth before "survive to land to bottom.
Mean while I also throw the floating pellets but almost all of the fishes ignore the floating pellets so I assume they prefer sinking pellets than floating one.

A friend of mine says the sinking pellets help the fish to build their muscle since it take more energy to swim down than to swim on the surface. Is it true?


rgds,
koihaku

[MikeM]

Don't know about the muscle-building part, but my koi certainly prefer sinking food. It is more natural for them.

[l113892]

Ray-

AES sells a Blackwater sinking pellet. It's a very dense, dark pellet. I've used it and I have some more on order. It's not too expensive, maybe $12 for 5 pounds plus shipping.

[HEADACHE6]

Aquatic Eco-Systems has a sinking food . Called Natural Choice , Protein 38% , Fat 10% , Fiber 4.5% . Probably 2/3 to 3/4 sink right off , with the other sinking within minutes if it has a chance (Koi seem to like it) , so they hit it right off the surface .

Mike , You must type faster then I do !