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 | Koi feeding probably leads to more Koi deaths than we care to know. |
| Most of us overfeed our Koi. Why? Because we love them, and we want them to grow bigger and faster. "If only they would eat chicken soup". |
| Some people say only feed them as much as they will eat in 5 minutes, then they stretch that to 10 minutes. |
| As we feed them more and more, the waste products form more and more ammonia and nitrite, until the water becomes toxic and they die. (click here to see more about Nitrification) |
| What we are really doing is overfeeding our filtration system. I'm not sure we can ever overfeed Koi. |
| The most important tool we have to know when we are feeding too much is an ammonia test kit. If ammonia shows up we are most likely feeding too much (or our biological filter was damaged). |
| As long as ammonia doesn't show up (nitrite readings follow the ammonia readings) we can feed away. |
| Remember, the feed turns into ammonia and phosphates. Ammonia is converted to nitrites, which are then converted to nitrates. So we wind up with lots of phosphates and nitrates, which equals fertilizer, which causes algal blooms (green water). Plants will eat up some of it, and water changes will help get rid of the rest. (click here to see water change calculations) |
| If we cut their food back to lower the ammonia, guess what happens? They start recognizing us, come over to get their food, will eat out of our hands, etc. |
| Some people feed them spinach, bread, triscut crackers, whole peas, vitamins, watermelon rind, etc. |
| If you want some more ideas ask some carp fishermen what they use as bait. Some have great secret formulas. |
| We recently calculated that we were feeding 6" Koi 1 gram of food per day, or 5 pellets per feeding (4 feedings / day). |
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e-mail: ColoradoKoi@hotmail.com Postal Address: 3551 S. Monaco Parkway, Suite #138, Denver, Colorado 80237 Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 All Rights Reserved. |
Phone: 303-883-8000