Koi Fish Feeding Tips & Recommendations For Healthy Koi - Koi Story

It's said that koi have a memory of around three minutes, yet they can learn to recognize their feeders. Talk about selective memory! We've assembled ten great tips to help you become a become your koi's favorite face, even if they forget your name.

10 KOI FISH FEEDING TIPS FOR GROWING KOI

1. Feed your fish up to four times per day. Only feed them as much as they can eat in about a five minute period.

2. Koi fish eat just about anything, from small bugs and insects, to plants and algae at the bottom of the fish pond, to store-bought koi fish food.

3. Koi will even eat people food. They love cereal, lettuce, shrimp, rice, peas, watermelon... pretty much anything we like, koi fish consider food.

4. Avoid feeding your koi fish before storms. Fish need more oxygen when digesting food. When it rains, oxygen levels in the air dip down, so you can see why it's a bad koi fish feeding time.

5. Your growing koi will remember you as their feeder after only a short amount of time. Consistently feed them and they will begin to greet you as you approach the pond.

6. Your smaller koi fish will need to eat flake or small koi food. Larger koi fish prefer pebble food

7. Your koi fish prefer more carbohydrate-rich foods early in the spring and late in the fall while protein is better in early summer when mating is in the air (er, pond).

8. Koi fish feeding time is fun. Enjoy your special time with your beloved growing koi!

9. Koi fish can go all winter without eating because their metabolism slows to a crawl

10. Koi fish feeding is not recommended if your pump breaks because your koi need oxygen to digest their food.

TYPES OF koi FOOD

There are a few different kinds of food you can be feeding your koi: fresh foods, freeze-dried foods, and prepared foods. Prepared pellets are the most convenient because they are created to meet all of the nutritional needs of koi fish, but fresh and freeze-dried foods can be added as a supplement.

When it comes to prepared foods, they vary in shape and size. They also come in floating or sinking varieties. Floating pellets are recommended because they let you see if you’re overfeeding your fish. You also get to watch your koi come to the surface to feed – one of the joys of koi ownership!

As for fresh and freeze-dried foods, they vary from blood worms, brine shrimp, clams, and chopped vegetables. All are acceptable for supplemental feeding.