Koi at Petsmart?

[Jason]

Hello all, I am looking to purchase a Koi fish around 4-6'' and all of the local Aquarium Shops have a poor selection when it comes to Koi and Goldies since most carry more Salt water Fish then anything lol. I went to Pet Supermarket and they wanted $15 For a small 3'' koi!!! So I went to Petsmart as my last local resort and they had some of the most beautiful Koi and Goldies i have seen, With four separate 50gallon tanks with 3 different size Koi Carp and One was Butterfly and every color from metallic Silver and gold to Red and Black, some Yellow and white, and some Peach color and Brown. Wanted to know if anyone has bought Koi from them and if they are good so i don't run into any problems later that would effect my other fish in the pond, Thanks

 

[fishin4cars]

Jason, if you really want to avoid problems, scrap the koi for now. Goldfish and plants for better suit your pond. Koi dig and make a mess, they produce about three times more waste for their body size than goldfish do, and really they need lots of room to grow. For your small pond I wouldn't consider Koi at this time. Petsmart fish aren't really any worse than any other petshop. But with any petshop or new fish for that matter I do highly recommend QT before adding to a pond. Doesn't matter if it's from Petsmart, Japan, a koi dealer, etc. all need to be isolated and watched for 3-4 weeks then if all still look good introduce them to the pond.

 

[Jason]

Thanks for the reply Fishin4cars, You don't think there is enough room for 1 Koi? I only have a few fish in the pond right now and in my sig picture with the fish the largest Goldie is 8". I clean my Filter every Saturday (Leave bio balls alone) and add 10% water changes during back flush procedure. We are moving into a new house in a couple of years and Im already planning to build a 5,000 Gallon pond when we move, Do you think a small koi will outgrow this pond in 2 years or less? Thanks again!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Not sure about your pond size and filtration as far as being able to have koi,

But I can tell you all of the koi I have bought have come from petsmart, I try not to go in there any more because every time I do I end up seeing at least one koi I really like and I want to take home. When I first expanded my pond I was in there every weekend seeing if they got any new koi because they always have a good variety. Most of our small pet shop around here have closed, and I don't like to pay shipping to ship fish, so all of my fish have come from there.

There are some random pictures of some of them.

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[Neo]

I have two koi from petsmart and they were in my 600 gallon pond for two years with three other koi and five goldfish. The petsmart koi are still happy and healthy although I would also recommend quarantine for any new fish. I did have a few of the 20 cent goldfish die from there last year.

I'm not sure what we do to fish but ours grew fast, they went from 2 inches to 10 inches in two years and they were definitely pushing the water quality limits.

I've bought most of my Koi from plant/garden nurseries around here.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Nearly all of my koi have also come from PetSmart. Watch for sales, you can get them for half price. The only 'bad' thing I've seen is that their butterfly koi do not actually have very long fins. Sure, they are a bit longer than the regular koi, but as mine have grown, their fins have remained relatively the same size as my koi with the regular fins. At other fish stores, the butterfly koi have noticeably longer flowing fins.

The koi I have grew to around 10" in two years. That size might still be ok for your pond, but what if your plans fall through and you don't move as planned, or it takes you longer to build the new pond? My 4-year-old koi are around 18" each, and they just keep growing. My best advice is to not buy fish for the pond you *plan* to have... buy fish for the pond you have *now*.

My mom tried to be nice and bought three koi for me for my old pond (160 gallons!). After 2 years, they simply had no room to swim around, so they sat on the bottom in one spot all day, not doing much of anything. Obviously they were very unhappy fish. Fortunately I was able to build a new, larger pond. You should have seen them when they were introduced to the new pond, and suddenly realized that they actually had room to swim around! They all took off, racing around the new pond, jumping in the air, and since then have appeared to be in much better spirits. Get your new pond ready first, don't take chances.

 

[Neo]

The only 'bad' thing I've seen is that their butterfly koi do not actually have very long fins. Sure, they are a bit longer than the regular koi, but as mine have grown, their fins have remained relatively the same size as my koi with the regular fins. At other fish stores, the butterfly koi have noticeably longer flowing fins.

I've noticed this with both of mine from petsmart also, they were both called "butterfly" but they look more like a mix of butterfly and regular koi to me.
My fish from ozark nursery have much longer flowing fins.

 

[koiguy1969]

craigslist is the first place i would check if i were to buy any more koi... those 15 - 20 dollar petsmart koi are $5.00 or maybe even less from someone like me who sells on craigslist.

 

[ididntdoit99]

I've noticed this with both of mine from petsmart also, they were both called "butterfly" but they look more like a mix of butterfly and regular koi to me.
My fish from ozark nursery have much longer flowing fins.

I have three butterfly koi from there, and one of them is like that, little bigger than normal but not as big as expected, two of them do have very nice long fins, they were bought together, must have been a good batch.

 

[capewind]

Sorry Jason, but your pond is way too small for any koi.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

those 15 - 20 dollar petsmart koi are $5.00 or maybe even less from someone like me who sells on craigslist.

I've never seen any THAT expensive at Petsmart. I think the highest they go is around $12 for the 4" koi? Most of mine were around $4-5 each, except for the last couple that were not on sale, which I paid $10 for. Considering how fast they grow, I haven't had an issue with the pricing. I just try to pick out the ones that have good traits, in the hopes that they will produce some interesting offspring.

 

[capewind]

In comment to koi growth ... It's been a while since I started with a small koi, and charted its growth over a 2 year period, but what I can say I am selling koi babies now that were spawned the very end of May, through the beginning of July 2012, that are now all 8-10 inches. If they werent crowded, I would have expected better growth. The parents are not "large" fish either.

 

[Jason]

Thanks Guys, I have made my decision to go with 1 Koi right now. Ididntdoit99, very nice Koi! My pond is small, maybe 500 gallons full but I also have a 400 Gallon pond on the other side of my yard that is in progress for "Fancy" goldfish lol. I guess a lot of you buy from petsmart so that makes me feel better and they are only $10 for 4-6'' size vs $15 for smaller elsewhere lol. We had a place here called "The Koi Pond" when I was building my first pond a year ago, but it shut down during the build and they had very nice koi and plenty of them to choose from, only problem was they were pretty pricey like $20 for a 6" Koi which i thought was wayy to much IMO and they had WAYYYY too many koi in what looked like to be a 1,000 gallon pond tub and they all looked very cramped . Thanks again everyone and Nick, Nice pond man, I have not been on here in awhile so Im seeing some new faces which is good for the Pond Community

 

[Carolyn22]

We had goldfish at one point in time - We bought them from PetSmart. They were great, heathy and grew quite large. We don't have goldfish anymore, but I do remember that I was very happy with the Petsmart goldfish.

Just don't forget to quarantine :cheerful:

 

[HARO]

You think $20 is expensive for a 6" koi? I just picked up a beautiful silver butterfly, body length about 2", for $45. I thought it was a bargain!
John