Feeding koi

[mtravigne]

I picked up 5 koi from the local nursery, and also a small container of fish food for them. My question is, how often should I feed them if at all? Is it true they can live happily off the bugs and algae? I also have a bog filter full of plants.

 

[Lisak1]

Koi need to be fed. They grow too fast and too big to live off what they find in your pond. Not that they won't eat all of that, too.... How big is your pond? 5 koi will need some room to spread out.

 

[mtravigne]

Actually there are three small koi (4-6 inches) and two goldfish. The pond is 12x16x3. How often should the fish be fed?

 

[Tula]

I feed my koi once a day. Serious hobbyist that are looking to maximize their koi"s growth will feed 4-6 times per day.

 

[Lisak1]

I feed my fish twice a day, usually. It's been cool and rainy the last few days, so we haven't been out. But when it's warm and sunny they expect us like clockwork!

 

[Gordo33]

I feed my koi twice a day. I feed enough for them to eat for about 2 minutes . If it was up to them they would eat every time I or anyone else walks up to the pond.

 

[RobAmy]

@mtravigne So where did you end up getting your koi? do you have any pictures?

 

[mtravigne]

@mtravigne So where did you end up getting your koi? do you have any pictures?

Briggs Nursery in North Attleboro has a nice little selection of butterfly koi, standard? koi, and some goldfish I failed to note the name of. They have a few outdoor tubs of water plants and floaters/oxygenators and some pond supplies (food, filters, barley straw). We have a yellow, blue and orange koi, and two of the goldfish. I'll post pics if I can get them to surface (I'm sure feeding will facilitate that!).

 

[Gemma]

I feed my koi a few times a day, but only what they can eat in a couple of minutes.

 

[poconojoe]

We feed twice a day. In the summer we feed regular food. In the spring and fall we feed wheat germ type only. But stop feeding them when the water temperature gets below 39F. Their metabolism slows down in those lower temperatures and food will rot their stomach.

 

[Spartamets]

Just don't forget that there are no small koi, only young koi. Within one year, you will be amazed at the size of your "small" koi. I put my koi in about a year and 8 months ago, and they are over 2 feet long. They are eating machines. Protect your plants.

 

[mtravigne]

Just don't forget that there are no small koi, only young koi. Within one year, you will be amazed at the size of your "small" koi. I put my koi in about a year and 8 months ago, and they are over 2 feet long. They are eating machines. Protect your plants.

What do you mean by protect my plants?

 

[mrsclem]

Your koi may decide your plants are a salad bar! Some koi love to destroy plants, others don't. Bigger koi will just investigate and uproot plants. I repotted my lilies and my guys just tipped the pots over.

 

[poconojoe]

Yes, they love to eat the roots of floating plants.

 

[Spartamets]

I like to get one tropical lily each year. The one I got for this season, just last week, has already had all three blooms--blooms to be, actually, since they hadn't fully popped yet--and five giant pads (out of eight) severed. I'm not sure I'm going to have any blooms that make it (although about 7 are coming up from it right now, so some are bound to make it past the koi onslaught). It's what koi do. It's impossible to protect water lilt stalks and pads, but everything else I try to put in a secure place that forces the koi into odd contortions to reach, usually with rocks. Floaters go in a floating mesh ring that I anchor to the bottom. Hardy lilies seem to survive ok; maybe it's just stronger stalks. They're not malicious, just hungry. Always hungry.