How to get Koi fish big

[ewllustration]

Bought some small Koi fish.

The big ones were $700!!
My question, Is there any kind of Koi fish food that would help in there growth progress a lot quicker than just standard Koi fish food?


Thanks

 

[GBBUDD]

Any top quality food will do the trick it's not hard to get koi to grow and grow fast . But if your thinking about 36" fish thats an other thing , Those fish are either 20 years old or have great genes. Kinda like a FIRST ROUND NBA player Theres only so many that get to that size in only a couple years

 

[mrsclem]

Good quality koi food labeled as growth formula. I have used Blue Ridge and Microbe-Lift. Feed multiple times a day!
Warning- Koi food is expensive!!! Also make sure you have great filtration as overfeeding can cause water quality issues.
Went back thru your posts. If your pond is only 1500 gallons, you will be overstocked attempting to raise that many koi.

 

[damian]

Some hawks etc got some free 700.00 meals from me over the years

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Why do you want your fish to grow big quickly?

 

[ewllustration]

Good quality koi food labeled as growth formula. I have used Blue Ridge and Microbe-Lift. Feed multiple times a day!
Warning- Koi food is expensive!!! Also make sure you have great filtration as overfeeding can cause water quality issues.
Went back thru your posts. If your pond is only 1500 gallons, you will be overstocked attempting to raise that many koi.

mrsclem
The pond is 25 foot by 4 foot and 4 1/2 foot deep. Not sure how many gallons that comes out to?​

 

[ewllustration]

Why do you want your fish to grow big quickly?

Big fish are cool

 

[BKHpondcritters]

If you overstock your pond, water quality will deteriorate quickly - very quickly if your koi are large - and then they could easily get sick or die. That's not cool.

How many koi do you currently have?

 

[WaterGardener]

To grow large fish, you need plenty of room in the pond a for them to grow and move around and develop muscle. You also need great filtration, since they are fed multiple times a day. I have read that some people feed up to 12 times per day.

You also need the best quality food which has gotten very expensive. It would be very easy to feed well over $700 worth of food to grow those fish.

That protocol is not necessarily good for the fish. Those huge, quickly grown out fish don't tend to have a very long lifespan and are susceptible to fatty liver disease from overfeeding.

From my calculations, your pond is 3232 gallons. Going by the recommendation of 1,000 gallons for the first koi and 500 gallons for each additional one, you have enough water for 5 koi.

 

[Mmathis]

Big fish are cool

Yeah, but so are smaller fish!

 

[ewllustration]

To grow large fish, you need plenty of room in the pond a for them to grow and move around and develop muscle. You also need great filtration, since they are fed multiple times a day. I have read that some people feed up to 12 times per day.

You also need the best quality food which has gotten very expensive. It would be very easy to feed well over $700 worth of food to grow those fish.

That protocol is not necessarily good for the fish. Those huge, quickly grown out fish don't tend to have a very long lifespan and are susceptible to fatty liver disease from overfeeding.

From my calculations, your pond is 3232 gallons. Going by the recommendation of 1,000 gallons for the first koi and 500 gallons for each additional one, you have enough water for 5 koi.

 

[ewllustration]

To grow large fish, you need plenty of room in the pond a for them to grow and move around and develop muscle. You also need great filtration, since they are fed multiple times a day. I have read that some people feed up to 12 times per day.

You also need the best quality food which has gotten very expensive. It would be very easy to feed well over $700 worth of food to grow those fish.

That protocol is not necessarily good for the fish. Those huge, quickly grown out fish don't tend to have a very long lifespan and are susceptible to fatty liver disease from overfeeding.

From my calculations, your pond is 3232 gallons. Going by the recommendation of 1,000 gallons for the first koi and 500 gallons for each additional one, you have enough water for 5 koi.

To grow large fish, you need plenty of room in the pond a for them to grow and move around and develop muscle. You also need great filtration, since they are fed multiple times a day. I have read that some people feed up to 12 times per day.

You also need the best quality food which has gotten very expensive. It would be very easy to feed well over $700 worth of food to grow those fish.

That protocol is not necessarily good for the fish. Those huge, quickly grown out fish don't tend to have a very long lifespan and are susceptible to fatty liver disease from overfeeding.

From my calculations, your pond is 3232 gallons. Going by the recommendation of 1,000 gallons for the first koi and 500 gallons for each additional one, you have enough water for 5 koi.

Thanks Water Gardener:
What filtration system would you recommend for a 3232 gallon pond? Also what would you recommend for testing the water?

Thanks

 

[WaterGardener]

For water testing, liquid type tests are recommended. The test strips are not very accurate. You need tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and KH. Most of those are available in kits, but usually KH has to be purchased separately. There are several different brands available.

I'm a firm believer than you can't have too much filtration, so the more the better. The type is really whatever your preference is, and what works best with your situation, as long as you have enough.

Many here have bogs. Some have moving bed filters. Some have a combination of different types.

I have a large bead type filter filled with k-1 media and a shower filter with ceramic media and a filter pad on the top layer of ceramic. There are also filter pads in the skimmer. And I have over 4 times the recommended amount of filtration for my pond, just to be sure there is always enough so the water quality stays good.

What kind of filtration do you have now?

 

[GBBUDD]

Totally agreed with over filtering it gets expensive but how much do fish cost. How much is your time worth fighting maintenance and poor water quality.
I have a 20x8x7 matrix bog
And 6x8 pea stone bog
A 60 " bakki shower and a 27000 gallon nano bead filter. On a 16000 gallon pond system way over filtered but I still see floating debris in the water as the fish are constantly nibbling on the rocks. And did I mention Koi are premium poop machines

 

[ewllustration]

For water testing, liquid type tests are recommended. The test strips are not very accurate. You need tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and KH. Most of those are available in kits, but usually KH has to be purchased separately. There are several different brands available.

I'm a firm believer than you can't have too much filtration, so the more the better. The type is really whatever your preference is, and what works best with your situation, as long as you have enough.

Many here have bogs. Some have moving bed filters. Some have a combination of different types.

I have a large bead type filter filled with k-1 media and a shower filter with ceramic media and a filter pad on the top layer of ceramic. There are also filter pads in the skimmer. And I have over 4 times the recommended amount of filtration for my pond, just to be sure there is always enough so the water quality stays good.

What kind of filtration do you have now?

How bout something like this?

Amazon.com