Koi originated from Central and Western Asia, and was introduced to China, and from China to other countries, it is mild, likes to swim in groups, easy to keep, adaptable to water temperature, and Koi is an omnivorous fish, not too strict on food requirements, very suitable for hobbyists to keep!
Life Habits of Koi
Koi are suitable for living in a slightly alkaline, low-hardness water environment. The most suitable water temperature is 20~25℃, in this temperature range, Koi has a strong appetite, active swimming, strong body and bright colors. They can also survive in water temperature 2~30℃, but can’t tolerate the sudden change of water temperature, under long time artificial culture conditions, when the temperature difference is 2~3℃, Koi can still endure, once it exceeds this scale, it is simple to cause abnormal actions of Koi and some diseases. If the temperature difference is 7~8℃, Koi will crawl on the bottom of the water without food and the temperature difference continues to increase suddenly, then the only thing you can do is to wait quietly for Koi to die out.
Koi are omnivorous fish, and generally, mollusks, benthos, advanced aquatic plant debris, and even microscopic algae can be used as food for koi, and they can also extract some food from the pond bottom mud. As the fish grows and the seasons change, so does their feeding pattern, with the koi feeding most intensely in the summer and not at all in the winter. For newly hatched fish, the diet is mostly rotifers and small branching hornworms, while young fish over 3 cm are fed on benthic organisms, insect larvae, mealybugs, snails and fragments of aquatic higher plants.
Koi are very adaptable to fish food, and their living conditions are not too strict, so they are very vigorous, but nowadays, synthetic fish food is also the first choice of fish food for Koi, and the nutrients are also very rich, which makes Koi fish healthy and beautiful.
Types of food for Koi fish
Plant feed: koi are of course ideally fed with animal feed, but where animal feed is lacking for a number of reasons, plant feed can be a life-saving or life-sustaining aid. Common ones include turnips and water plants, with turnips being one of the smallest of the seed plant species. The plants have no rhizomes that are fine as sand and have a good nutrient content. The other kind is small duckweed, which has a thin filamentous root and koi eat it when they are hungry.
Fruits: Just like humans, koi fish like to eat a piece of juicy fruit in the hot summer. Some of their favorite treatments are orange slices, grapes and watermelon. Feeding your koi with these treatments may help reduce their stress, as well as boost their immune system. The top is interesting to watch. The hardest part of feeding your koi some of the larger fruits is getting them to try for the first time. Many Koi will not immediately realize what delicious food they have got until you trick them into trying it, then they will definitely start eating and drinking. This video tells you how to make your koi try watermelon, it looks like a lot of fun!
vegetables: Unlike most pets, koi fish like to eat their green vegetables. Their favorite dishes are garlic, broccoli and lettuce. Maybe the koi fish can smell the garlic, because as long as the garlic is in the water, the koi fish will start to eat big mouthfuls, which is a good thing, because it is not only a good source of nutrition, but may also help Prevent health problems. Lettuce may be one of the most interesting foods for your koi, because watching them work hard to tear the lettuce together, it is always a colorful display.
Artificial feed: to develop the scale of koi farming, relying only on fishing natural bait fish and insects can not meet the needs, in addition to carrying out artificial culture of fish and insects, it is also necessary to develop with the production of pellet feed, supply market, on the one hand can solve the farm’s feed sources, on the other hand can also meet the needs of koi lovers family koi. With artificial feed, it is much more convenient for families to raise koi, with pellet feed requires complete nutritional composition, in line with the growth and development needs of koi, the main components should include protein, sugar, fat, inorganic salt and vitamins and other 5 categories.
- Protein: Protein is the main component of the koi body, and its role in the body is to grow new tissues and repair old tissues, as well as the composition of heat supply. There must be enough protein in the bait to promote rapid growth of koi.
- Sugars: sugars are the main component of heat energy in koi and are the main feed component of koi.
- Fat: Fat is the food with the highest caloric energy storage, and its physiological function is the same as sugar, which oxidizes to supply energy in the body. Generally speaking, lack of fat in feed will reduce the body’s stamina to low temperature and hypoxia, and will easily cause death when overwintering; too much fat and fatty body will hinder the development of gonads.
- Inorganic salts: Inorganic salts are the main elements of the color skeleton, such as calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate. The blood and muscle blades of the fish also contain a certain amount of calcium and phosphorus. A certain amount of calcium in the feed can promote digestion and help the absorption of fat and phosphorus. Koi not only get calcium and phosphorus from feed, but also from the water through their skin and gills. Koi also require trace elements such as iron, copper, magnesium, sodium, potassium and diamonds, the lack of which can lead to slow growth and disease. In order to ensure the normal growth of koi, these elements should be included in the feed.
- Vitamins: vitamins are also essential for the growth of koi carp. Long-term lack of vitamins will lead to stunted growth, slow or complete cessation of growth, or even deformities, and reduced resistance to the external environment and various fish diseases. Lack of vitamin A will cause the fins to crack, fish chromogen to disappear, the body color becomes pale, not bright, lack of vitamin E will make the gonads stunted or not develop, and at the same time the resistance to aquatic fungus is decreasing, adding a small amount of vitamin B12 to the feed can promote growth.