Facts About Koi Fish That You Need To Know

[ad_1]

Hello koi fish fanatics, enthusiasts, and keepers! Whether you’re an old pro breeder or just neophyte, there will be always something new to know about this wonderful fish. Here are some amazing koi facts. Have fun folks!

The cultivated and domesticated genre of ordinary carp is Koi fish. This fish is most popular by its lovely colors that have been made through discerning breeding. This fish becomes the chosen pet for some pet lovers. There are more than 20 varieties of this fish that vary in color, patterns and kind of scales. Koi fish is originally from Eastern Asia. It dwells in fresh waters. Its beauty and increased popularity in the past century became the reason why koi can be situated in the ponds all over the world. Since koi is abundant and kept in private and personal aquacultures, it is not considered endangered species.

Koi for pet lovers

This fish can be as large as 3 feet in length, though the size of this kind varies on the living situations. Enough amount of food and oxygen and suitable temperature are essential for the proper growth of fish. Its color comes on varieties such as white, black, red, blue, cream and yellow. They are beautified with different spots. They can also be non-metallic or metallic.

Fish as lucky charms

Japanese people believe that this fish symbolizes wealth, prosperity, love, successful career and good fortune. Each kind of it is associated with one of those core values.

Koi fish and goldfish are of the same progenitor. Though they have resemblance in appearance, the former can be differentiated through the upper lip with barbells. They symbolize many virtues in Asian cultures. They are also recognized as signs of perseverance and endurance, as well as strength and individualism.

Food for Koi fish

This fish is considered an omnivore that feeds on both plants and animals. It eats various kinds of fish. It consumes lettuce, watermelon, peas and even its eggs. It can recognize its feeder after sometime. Also, it can be easily trained to eat from someone’s hand. It should be fed twice a day. These kinds of fish should be given an amount of food that they can consume within 5 minutes. They may tend to be begging or looking for good most of the time, but don’t overfeed them. If you do, this can lead to poor water quality and obesity problems.

Temperature for your pet

Koi fish desires water temperature of 15 to 25 degree Celsius. This fish can’t tolerate drastic or rapid changes in temperature. It can live in temperate areas and lie dormant during the winter. It goes deep to the bottom of the pond and stays dormant until the weather conditions change. These fish are very sensitive to too exposure to the sun. They might suffer sunburns if they live in ponds without enough shades. Shade gives several purposes in a koi pond. It aids protect the fish from direct sunlight, abates the temperature of water and also reduces penetration of ultraviolet into the water. This helps reduce the risk of algae blooms. For the best outcome, it is best recommended to cover nearly 60 percent of the koi pond’s surface with floating pond plants, such as water lilies. You may do once a month checking the state of your pond’s vegetation and also you may add or replace pond plants on your preference.

How to set up an aquarium

Koi grow fast and get very huge. For mature koi, you keep them in an outdoor pond of at least 3 feet deep, with 50 gallons of water per fish, while young can be situated indoors in an aquarium with enough water of at least 29 gallons. Place the aquarium in a quiet area away from direct sunlight. You may cover the aquarium with a cloth to lessen the reduction of evaporation. If you wish to transfer new koi to the aquarium, make sure to float them in the water inside the bag for 10 minutes to let them acclimate to the new water temperature.

Keeping koi fish healthy

In some instances, koi fish might not be eating during winter time, but don’t worry about it too much, it’s common for them to stop eating at some points. To make sure of wellness of your pet fish, you may give your veterinarian a ring if you happen to notice symptoms such as unusual swimming pattern, thinness or change of appetite, abdominal swelling, inflamed or discolored skin or fins, fins clamped to sides of body or scraping body on rocks. Though Koi take care of themselves most of the time, it is still up to you on how to keep their abode clean and furnish them with ample nourishment. They should be minimally touched or handled. Also netting them too often gives them stress. If they become stressed, their immune system is totally affected which makes them more prone to bacterial infections.

More people keep Koi as pets

Keeping this kind fish is now a global hobby. Though Koi keeping was almost exclusively a Japanese practice during 1960s, the occurrence of jet travel and polypropylene bags changed everything and the practice of koi keeping started spreading all over the world. Contrary to common belief, the koi is believed to have sprung in China. The fish were later become as a food source before the Japanese started breeding them for their aesthetic appeal.

Most Popular Variety

The most popular variety of koi in Japan is with red and white koi called the Kohaku. In the United States, the Kohaku, the Taisho Sanke, and the Showa Sanke are the most popular that come with varieties of colors like red, white, and black.

Smart fish pet

These fish are considered smart fish. They can be trained to eat from your hand and sometimes even with your mouth. This makes them adorable like any other pets. They are omnivores and are known to munch on pond plants.

Koi as great mate

Koi fish eat their young which happened in the mating process. The recently-hatched offspring is called koi fry. In order to preserve the fry, They must be removed from the fry during the mating. If a koi keeper raises a highly bred koi, it can be sold for thousands of dollars.

A Colorful of Ideas

Because this fish can produce such an array of bright colors, there is no surprise that each hue has developed a special meaning. Metallic koi connote business prosperity. Gold koi symbolizes wealth and prosperity. A blue koi is believed to offer serenity. Asagi koi of red, blue, and grey in particular symbolize positivity in life. Black are believed to hold a patriarchal significance, with red belongs to the mother, blue to the son, and pink to the daughter.

Fish in the backyard

A koi pond’s glittering surface adds a sense of aesthetic beauty and tranquility to your backyard, though what lies underneath is its magical effect. Koi fish, which are considered colorful carp that can be as large as the lengths of 4 feet or more, is addendum to lively sparks of color and life and beauty to your garden.

Changing fish water

Koi fish remove a lot of waste materials from its body. If these will be combined with natural debris from aquatic areas, dirt flows from the edge of the pond and organic matter fall into the pond. This makes the koi pond’s water immediately become polluted. Pond’s water should get cleaned and/or replaced with fresh water every 4 to 6 months. By simply putting on the pond with fresh water as the existing water evaporates will not help cleaning it, because it does not remove actual water constraints but simply concentrating and polluting them.

Feeding your fish

This fish can be compulsive consumers with huge appetites to succor their continuous growth. For the great outcome, use appropriate fish food labeled for koi fish, because these foods have pigments that supplement the fishes’ natural colors.

Check the water pH

A koi pond would either be best with alkaline or acidic. Koi gets larger best in water that quantifies from 6.5 – 9.0 pH scale, which can be measured utilizing a pH test kit. Water with a little amount of pH, which is the acidic water, can be regulated and balanced. You just have to add one teaspoon of baking soda into pond water with 500 gallons, standby and wait for 12 hours before retesting it. Repeat as needed until the water pH is in the conditional range for koi. Likewise, water with a high pH which is known as alkaline water, can be balanced using vinegar. You may use one-fourth cup of vinegar for every 500 gallons of water, wait for hours and then retest the pond water.

Monitor Water Hardness for pet fish

Water hardness is about how much magnesium and calcium is present in the water, and can be checked using a testing kit which is available mostly in pond stores. These fish thrive best in water that has a great hardness. Failure to meet adequate hardness may affect how the fishes’ gills work. If in case there is too much hardness on pond’s water, there are available over-the-counter pond hardness kits especially made of lime powder that can elevate the pond’s hardness.

Sometimes, because we are overwhelmed with the results of the koi keeping, we neglect to consider things that may affect the health of our pet. The following tips may be your guide to ensure the continuity life span of your beloved koi fish.

Don’t do overfeeding

Never over feed your fish. They must only be given enough food as they can consume in a couple of minutes two times a day. If you have a huge filtration capacity and you are trying to augment your Koi’s growth rates, providing them more than the recommended quantity of Koi food will just make the pond water polluted. Unconsumed food will increase fish waste and will result into poor water quality. Poor water quality can result to fish health problems. In the reason, overfeeding may also cause your fish to gain too much weight. Though, overfeeding is easy to avoid, just begin to give them an ample amount of food they need.

Never do overstocking

It’s very inviting and overwhelming to have a pond swarming with different varieties of Koi fish. Just remember that overstocking may just easily happen when a lot of small Koi that live in the pond become large Koi. Since filtration only worked just good when the fish were small, this might not be sufficient enough to hold fish load when they become larger in sizes. Though overstocking might be prevented with painstaking planning. You may just allow per fish in the pond to have 150 – 500 gallons of water. And if your pond is overstocked, reducing only the stocking quantity or expanding your pond and putting more filtration will resolve the problem.

Make Sure to have Enough Filtration

Neglecting or irregular filtering a pond can lead to poor water quality and poor water quality may result to poor Koi health. Always update and upgrade your filter system. Because the filter system that may you have today might not be appropriate tomorrow. As the fish grow, the quantity of waste they turn out will also increase. So the best thing to do is adding to and enhancing the filter system will keep the pond clean and filtered.

No to No Quarantine

Make sure that before adding a Koi to your pond, it underwent initial quarantine to prevent parasites, bacterial or viral infections into your own pond. So you must quarantine each Koi that is going to plunge into your pond. The quarantine period must be at least three weeks duration. If there are no issues met by then, the quarantined or treated fish should be safe to dive into your pond.

You may get one now if you don’t have yet. Though it would be best if you choose the pet that interests you, this fish is best recommended for fish lovers and fish keepers. Dive and plunge with your koi fish now. These fish are great pets!

[ad_2]

Source by Biddrup Kumar Mollick