Dwarf koi?

[Gemma]

I have a 4yr old butterfly koi that looks more the size of a 2yr old koi and has not grown (or so it seems) in the last couple of years, also by 4 yrs I have always been able to figure male from females (either chase or get chased) but this one doesn't give me any clues...could it be sterile?

 

[ashirley]

I have some that have been the same size for years. They don't seem to grow at all.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

How much food are you feeding them and is it a balanced food?

 

[Gemma]

How much food are you feeding them and is it a balanced food?

I've fed Omega one pellets, and Omega One sticks for the last few years, I just recently started Blue Ridge pellets!
I've always fed my fish 1 to 3 times a day. I throw a few sticks/pellets at a time and watch them being eaten before I trow more..I do this until the fish slow down, (usually a couple of minutes) then even if they would eat more I stop throwing in food cause I'm afraid to spoil the quality of the water.

I still have 2 other 4yr old koi purchased at the same time, from the same source, this is the only one that doesn't seem to grow!
The babies I purchased last year are starting to outgrow it, that's why I decided to post about it

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I've fed Omega one pellets, and Omega One sticks for the last few years, I just recently started Blue Ridge pellets!
I've always fed my fish 1 to 3 times a day. I throw a few sticks/pellets at a time and watch them being eaten before I trow more..I do this until the fish slow down, (usually a couple of minutes) then even if they would eat more I stop throwing in food cause I'm afraid to spoil the quality of the water.

I still have 2 other 4yr old koi purchased at the same time, from the same source, this is the only one that doesn't seem to grow!
The babies I purchased last year are starting to outgrow it, that's why I decided to post about it

This could be some form of genetic throw-back considering the strict selective breeding of these fish. More of this would probably be seen if it weren't for the massive culling that taht's place the the breeders.

 

[Lisak1]

We have a couple of koi that seem to have stopped growing and have been far out paced by others - and they all started out at the same size. Obviously they all have the same diet and environment, so I assumed it was genetics. We have two that are probably 12" or 14" long and have stayed that size for the last four years.The rest are much longer and girth-ier.

 

[Gemma]

We have a couple of koi that seem to have stopped growing and have been far out paced by others - and they all started out at the same size. Obviously they all have the same diet and environment, so I assumed it was genetics. We have two that are probably 12" or 14" long and have stayed that size for the last four years.The rest are much longer and girth-ier.

Do yours show clues of whether they're males of female?

 

[Jimmy Gibson]

Gemma...... This goes along with you never know what you are going to get..... Sarah and I bought our first Koi on inauguration day in January from a local fish farm, they were big, but they had lived for the previous 6 months in a galvanized stock tank with a bunch of channel catfish..... They were in pitiful shape, shredded fins, itch all over them, skinny, over this summer they have filled out, their colors have intensived and they are beautiful now and huge, so in March we bought four Butterfly Koi from our local high school, three of them have done pretty good as far as coloring, but I have one that was a white body with bright yellow head and bright yellow spots on its body, but now it has a pale yellow head and a completely white body, it has grown and it is healthy, but lost its color, and lastly we bought a Koi in March, she was about 5 inches long, pretty coloring, supposed to be a butterfly..... I paid a God Awful price for this fish, I am ashamed to say, so I won't. But as she grew she was a little short dumpy thing, was growing and holding her color but not growing in length, that being said I was disappointed.... But within the last month she has lengthen and her fins are turning white, don't know where the white came from but every day they are getting brighter..... And is turning into quite an unique fish. So my point is you never know what you are going to get..... If you are feeding them the right food and your water is good, it has to be genetic, you never know how they will turn out

 

[Lisak1]

Do yours show clues of whether they're males of female

Nope. I'm guessing male, but that's just a guess. Narrow body type.

 

[Gemma]

Gemma...... This goes along with you never know what you are going to get..... Sarah and I bought our first Koi on inauguration day in January from a local fish farm, they were big, but they had lived for the previous 6 months in a galvanized stock tank with a bunch of channel catfish..... They were in pitiful shape, shredded fins, itch all over them, skinny, over this summer they have filled out, their colors have intensived and they are beautiful now and huge, so in March we bought four Butterfly Koi from our local high school, three of them have done pretty good as far as coloring, but I have one that was a white body with bright yellow head and bright yellow spots on its body, but now it has a pale yellow head and a completely white body, it has grown and it is healthy, but lost its color, and lastly we bought a Koi in March, she was about 5 inches long, pretty coloring, supposed to be a butterfly..... I paid a God Awful price for this fish, I am ashamed to say, so I won't. But as she grew she was a little short dumpy thing, was growing and holding her color but not growing in length, that being said I was disappointed.... But within the last month she has lengthen and her fins are turning white, don't know where the white came from but every day they are getting brighter..... And is turning into quite an unique fish. So my point is you never know what you are going to get..... If you are feeding them the right food and your water is good, it has to be genetic, you never know how they will turn out

I'm sure you're right!
Even small, it's actually a cool looking fish, very graceful and full of fins!

 

[star1270]

I have a dwarf koi too! I bought about 8 from the same person who said they were from the same spawn. Seven of them are 12+" now but one still is no bigger than 5". I pulled him from the big pond and now he is in my patio pond with the small goldfish and shubbies.

 

[Usman]

which type of koi is it ? i have one shiro utseri and beko both are very small , i have read they r slow growing type, kohaku and sanke will grow very fast or pure orange , they are 3 times larger now ..it can only be type of fish and gene since we feed all of them same !

i doubt if there is any thing like dwarf koi specially bred, or it wud have been famous by now since all small pond owners want koi too , they must be naturally dwarf like in human being some are .

 

[Faebinder]

I believe that about the Sankes. My Sanke burst 6 inches this year.

 

[Nyboy]

There is a big market for mini animals, people love them. Mini horses,cows,rabbits,goats and dogs. Might make someone who can breed a line of true minis $$$$$. Can you patent a fish ?

 

[Gemma]

which type of koi is it ? .

I don't know!
It's mostly white, with some yellow and orange around the mouth and where the fins are attached to the body, it has a line of dark scales along the spine

I take lousy pics but here you can get an idea!
Pics are from last Spring! All3 the large koi and this dwarf were then 3yrs old, you can see the difference in size...in the first pic you can see it was the size of a large Shubunkin, since then it seemed to have only grown fins