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KOI TREATS
Someone said that it would be helpful to write an article on Koi treats. And so I am. But in this article I am only going to comment on what I personally have given my fish. There's a lot out there, how much of it has actually been tried and how much is theory I shudder to think.

Silk worm pupae

Available various places in sealed silver bags, this delicacy drives Koi crazy. Really, really nutty. They love them. I guess when a silkworm gets old and stops making silk, it's "history" and is freeze-dried for Koi. Lip-smacking good, I guess. Fed in abundance, the protein can accumulate a good bit of nitrogen (ammonia) in the water so please check Ammonias if you're going crazy with Silkworm pupae. I never had trouble in warm water but I did feeding SWP in cold water. A little bit every day or two is enough.


Grapefruit

Cut the grapefruit on it's equator (widest latitude) and then again cut those halves into halves. So you have quarters. They float. The fish will be attracted at once. Watch out the skins don't jam up a pump or clog your skimmer. Fed too much, the vitamin C acid will scorch the lips of your fish to a pale pink color, no harm - just back off. Once per week is plenty.


Watermelon

They liked it but not as much as Grapefruit. It doesn't supply much nutrition so I have not done this as much as grapefruit.


Orange slices

Big fish will earnestly take Mandarin orange slices right out of your hand. Very cool, delicious to the fish, I guess, and loaded in Vitamin C. Larger seedless oranges can be cut as Grapefruit [above] and will do as well.


Peas

The pain in the neck to me about these was that they sank fast. And if the Koi didn't see them go in, they miss them on the bottom. So there's the chance of wasting the peas and polluting the pond. So be careful to let the fish know you're there, and "here come the peas" and all that. They say that the peas could be skinned. Yeah, sure, I have time for that, how about you? My Koi liked the peas quite a bit, when they realized they were there. I had a Tancho Goshiki that especially liked the peas which showed me that not all fish are alike, personality-wise.


Romaine

Nutritionally invisible, but perhaps the least messy of "greens" for the fish to munch on if you like them to have something to eat like that. Don't bother with Iceberg lettuce. Get the darkest Romaine you can and cut it into six-inch strips of the thinness suitable for your fish. They will chomp on the thick centerspines of the leaf later.



Hyacinths

Delicious to koi. Cut off the roots because they are a mess!!!! I repeat, cut off the roots. Then fracture the plant so it's barely hanging together and toss it on the pond upside down, foliage in the water. The larger Koi especially will eat the youngest leaves first and then pretty much annihilate the whole plant. Do NOT offer roots because the Koi will rip them up and send them directly to your pump's impeller which will summarily choke to death.


Duckweed

Koi will eat ALL of this. If they can. They love it, so do Goldfish. In REALLY large ponds a balance may be struck where the Koi cannot or will not eat all of it but in a regular 11 x 14 pond Duckweed will be a shortlived commodity. It's easily grown outside their abode in vats, babypools and tubs in a sunny spot with six inches water, fairly well circulated, with a small dead fish, or a handful of Koi food, for fuel.


Worms

Koi eat earthworms, Georgia reds, nightcrawlers, pinks, etc. Some people say that you should drown the worms in water first because the "hazardous soil" is expelled from the worm when it drowns and goes flaccid. Uh, my fish wouldn't eat them dead like that, either. So go figure. Fresh, active earthworms are well accepted and safe after the fish take the necessary half hour to figure them out as food. When the first Koi hits a worm, the rest quickly catch on. It's not taken as immediately as Grapefruit, which is strange. Isn't it?


Fish

Koi can be trained to like fish. A very good friend of mine, named Tom, feeds his Koi thawed Sardines chopped up. Nutritious? YES! And sardines (being from salt water) are less likely to carry parasites applicable to Koi. So, again, in moderation, these treats are okay for Koi. And certainly well enjoyed.


Cheerios

We discussed Cheerios in the winter-feeding section but let me restate that ANY time of year, Koi will appreciate Honey Nut Cheerios as a treat. It is low residue and low nitrogen, what's not to love? A+


Chicken

Yes I did this. It wasn't a smashing success and they left it alone for a little while but I took some fried chicken to the Koi. I ate the fried part (duh) and gave them the white meat, in pinches. They looked at it and swam around it a while and then hit it with pretty good gusto. But it made some debris when they chewed it with their back teeth and wasn't "loved" so I include it here as something they'll take, but not necessarily love.



Is there anything I probably should NOT feed Koi as a treat?

I've heard that grapes can contain some oxalates and that apple seeds contain cyanide. The math on these says that if you got a Koi to eat a cubic meter of grapes or appleseeds in a day's time, said Koi could perish from the crystallization of the oxalates in his kidney. For your information, a Koi that could eat a cubic meter of grapes in a day would measure about forty-two feet long and weigh in at 2,300 pounds. So I would say this:

Dr Johnson's Notes On Koi Treats:

"If you would eat it, and the fish can eat it without it dissolving in, or polluting the pond, try it, and see if they like it. Don't feed any treat so much as to replace their interest in nutritionally complete staple food."

I found lots of articles on feeding, overfeeding..., but I can not wait for my Koi to become skinny to know I am underfeeding.
Please tell me if there is any guide for feeding fish in normal (worm) conditions, like 1g/per cm of body, or 5g/ for 30cm fish....... or some thing like that as a guide line.
Please advise.

my koi don`t get food on each sunday all pellets gone from the last feeding i then only gives brown bread out of my hand with mollasses on it the go nuts for it

Neli here is a chart for feeding koi.

http://wcsakks.netready.co.za/koifeeding.pdf

Feeding Koi

I suggest you start by finding a good quality koi pellet. Most of the better quality pellets have all the daily nutrients a koi needs.

The other things would then become supplements and treats because none of them contains everything in terms of nutrition.

Try feeding your koi on brown bread for two years and then compare them to koi fed on a good quality koi pellet. Many years ago I saw this in PE and the results were - sad. Two year koi at 18cm in length with deformaties.

Feeding according to body weight etc - I have a problem with this.

Firstly it is a difficult method of feeding a koi collection - feeding a koi collection should be a pleasure and you should enjoy seeing your koi respond to you at the edge of the pond.

In order to feed a certain amount of food per body weight you need to know 1) the mass of each individual koi and 2) the mass of each individual pellet you are feeding. Then 3) you need to control how many pellets each koi eats at each feeding. If you guestimate you are doing exactly the same as others - feeding for pleasure.

Should your koi be growing then within a month you will have to change the amount of feed by a few pellets because the koi will have increased in mass.

However, I suggest you take a certain amount of pellets - whatever you decide on - and feed this to the collection a few times a day. Even twice a day is great. Work on the very scientific formula that all the pellets should be consumed within a few minutes. Any koi food left floating around the pond after say 4 - 5 minutes means you have fed you koi collection too much.

A koi's body shape is naturally fairly stocky and broad. If you have koi that are too slender it means the koi are undernourished, probably male or have a disease. Undernourished koi have less resistance to disease and will not live a full and long life.

Chris

My Dearest Vossie, Wayneb, and Chris.
If you only new how grateful I am for your replies.
I read all your past posts here from beginning to end(the ones in English).Tried to translate some, but they sound so funny translated.....So I have lots of respect for your knowledge.Feel as if I know you.
No one answered me much before so I thought I (the beginner ) am not wanted here.But where to learn best, but from the professionals.
Now on a funny note, I think you posted so fast, just because you love Kois so much, that You thought that I will feed them on those treats only, and my Kois will suffer. he he he! Am I right?
On a serious note, any thing you feel I should add to their cooked meals, will be appreciated, since for now I dont have pellets.This is Zambia.
I cook for them: !kg chicken livers, about 2 kg of green leaf vegetables, about 300g maize meal,4 eggs and started adding about 2 table spoons crushed fresh garlic on the end (Vossie). Now I want to add to this about 300g of fish protein (shrimp, dry fish, calamari...minced), and vitamins with minerals plus some gelatine to try too. Any other things you think I should add?
I PROMISE YOU, I WILL CATCH UP SOON! WITH YOUR HELP TOO.
Vossie, I guess thats a treat on sunday. Will try it but with honey???? , no molasses here.
Wayneb, will check the article just now, and ask if I dont understand something.
Cris, I read all the articles here, and know the value of proper pellet feeding.I dont doubt any thing you post here, for I know You are the pros.My problem is I dont find any pellets here. I will try to buy a lot from RSA when I come, but for now will have to cook, and perfect their diet with minerals and vitamins.
My Kois were born in Nov 2010, at first I fed them with hard boiled egg yolk, and then home made food. I thought they were 6 month old, but when I calculated they are only 5 month old.
They are over 30 cm long (some of them, that is if you measure from the end of the tail, up to the nose). I am sure, it is not a proper diet, but I saw somewhere that if the growth is about half inch per month it is ok. Now I will start adding powdered dry fish,shrimp .... and vitamins to the mixture I cook.Vitamins after it cools down.
Now I got a bit of pellets from a friend. It is 3 days now I am giving them, and nothing else, but they totally refused to eat it. It is still floating like disintegrated on top, but they dont want it. So today I felt sorry and gave them the usual cooked food, they love. I feed ones a day, but no matter how much I give them they eat it all in less than a min , and ask for more.I feed in a shallow place, where I can see the food.What I am afraid is overfeeding, But I think with the addition of fish and vitamins, they will be OK with nutrients. I also give them chopped red worms as a treat, which I grow in a big container.
The food I posted above I meant as occasional treats only.
But I am not surprised you thought I would feed them on that, since about a week ago I new nothing about Koi. Now , after reading your posts I have realized how much you need to know so that my Kois are not mistreated in any way.
Today I an busy making (finishing) my bucky shower filter from beer cases, that feet into one another very well, and have holes on the bottom. Now I have not decided what to use inside. If I dont find hair rollers I will ask you if it is ok what I want to substitute with for now.But this is what I thought of:
Do you know those plastic dish washing sponge like(like doughnuts), made out of thick knitted twine (like thick fishing line)? Ones you open/ untangle them, they look like a knitted sleeve, with large holes. Do you think I can use those inside?
By the way, since you dont eat your friends (Koi), do you go fishing some time?
Can I invite you here for some good fishing? I am a pro fisher woman.
Thanks ones again guys, and I hope I am not bothering you too much.

neli i`m no pro and i think some of the big guns here like pieter will tell you there is no pro in this hobby because you working with living jewels and it can change everyday what i know is what the poeple learnered me here so stick to the forum and you will get knowlegde like i did i`m a year in the koi hobbie thingie and are in learning stages myself

neli if somthing are wrong and you tried somthing and it did`nt work do the next best thing ask the poeple on the forum thats what i did

Hi Neli,

If you do not have access to good koi pellets then dont feed them on the stuff you can get. It is probably old, cheap and not very nutritious.

I make koi food here in SA. So I will do a little research for you and source a good diet you can mix and make at home.

Howver, the growth you are getting seems to be very good - what every you are feeding is working - so the question - why try to fix something if it is not broke?

Regards,
Chris

my dearest Chris and Vossie,
Thanks for the reply. So good to have you around. I am so scared of what I am doing after I read your articles. Always think I am doing the wrong things.
I am posting here pics of my Koi that was born between nov 2010 and jan 2011.
Please dont laugh.
I have officially made a new classification for them for the next Show: No17 magoi shabunkin koi. he he he!
But I dont know what you will say about the food. Are they ok? Or maybe my food can have detrimental long time effect to them?
On the varieties , please dont comment! You will be asked to do that after I buy my fish from RSA.
By the way Chris , I think I saw almost all your posts, even the ones about the new Shogan(???) food, without coloring. he he he (Hope I am right)
Vossie Darling, I made the pics today specially for you, since you asked. (with my phone). My new camera has been ordered and coming next week from Hong Kong, so I am equipped well. he he he!
Link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.165395460184750.36727.156086261115670&saved
Put the fish on Facebook for they dont belong here unless under the category Ugly.
But I still love them to bits.
Advise from a beginner:
You guys are most of you big guns in the industry. Your biggest aim should be to recruit, educate, and help new people in the hobby. That way you are promoting your business. It is a chain reaction: Today you infect me with the Koi disease, tomorrow I will infest someone else, for it is contagious.
I have been reading as the mad woman I am and found some nice links. Probably you know them but you never know:

Good articles:
http://www.yumekoi.com/articles

Koi sexing
http://www.yumekoi.com/images/stories/pdfs/Male-or-Female.pdf

http://www.yumekoi.com/images/stories/pdfs/YouGetWhatYouPayFor.pdf
Chosing Koi
http://www.yumekoi.com/images/stories/pdfs/Jumbo-Potential.pdf

neli beauty is in the eye of the beholder so if they are good for you then they are good because its your koi i see on the pics theres no green on the sides of that pond so its must be a new pond

after alot of people told me to took out my waterplants i did it after i got some sick koi now waterplants is a no go in my pond

Dear Vossie,
what is wrong with water plants? I did not know they can make the fish sick, unless maybe poisonous. I saw somewhere a list of plants that are not good for Koi.
My water lillies give me up to 26 flowers a day and look very beutiful.
Also I saw somewhere here that a fish that is kept in shallow ponds gets some kind of sores if too much sun. The plants give them lots of shade, and shade prevents algae growth,and I had no health problems so far.
Also I saw somewhere that one guy recommended to chop water hiacinth in the water, and Kois love to eat it.
What can be the problem with plants. In nature Koi lives in harmony with plants. My plants are in big pots so I can move/remove them any time.
Can someone advise why plants are bad for fish?
Should I remove them. They are so beautiful....

the problem is most of the poo get trapped their and starts to give of nasties chopped plant will be eaten and gone after 4 months in the pot i took out my plants and you could smell the stink in there

you will see the koi will eat the plants and i`m sick of picking up the pots everyday and sucking out the ground

Understood Vossie. I have different sections in my Pond. I will just put the plants and close a section of the pond.
Look what I found on this link. sounds controversial to me. Other places I saw that a bottom drain is a must for a pond. What do u think?


Q: Do bottom drains work in every pond?
A Bottom drains are fine if you can control blanket weed, otherwise you're in for the time of your life. Bottom drains only work in koi ponds where there is no plant debris, no leaf fall - in other words in a covered pond. They are no good where your pond backs on to a field. Do not under-rate which pump you use. Buy one with a third more power (g.p.h) for the summer months, (though you many come unstuck this summer). Just a note - 90% of fiber glass ponds if they leak, it's at the drain. The same goes for liners. Flanges are not much better. If you want bottom drains with a liner then buy a box weld but a good one. Also, bottom drains need large settling or vortex's, nothing under 6ft across - smaller ones are a waste of time and money.
http://www.fish-helpline.co.uk/health/faq.html