Food.
A lot of nonsens is being told in the koi world.. and food and additives are no exeption, perhaps the most crap is being sold by nice frases and packaging in this area.
I do have a strong believe concerning winter food:
Source: http://www.nedkoi.nl
I have translated one part in Englisch, they will translate the complete article in Englisch themselves soon,
"Take nature as a guidance
As soon as the water temperatures drop, the wide variety of food sources declines. Plants die and disappear first and the supply of animals (larvea, waternymps and such) starts to decrease. The enzymes the koi produce to process these foods change and adapt to this new situation. In cold water in the winter the food supply is scarce and of little variety. Plants are nearly completely gone except for a few algea, and all the little, for cold vulnorable animals like larvea are gone or hidden away to survive the winter. What remains for the carp to eat are clamps, shrimps, snails, beatles and such. all the available foods have one thing in common, there proteins are of animal origin (Edit by Site owner: this means no plant like wheat germ).
The carp and so will our koi, adapt to these circumstances again."
In general about food:
My own opinion.
At this moment, november 2014, i am convinced that it is firstly very important to know what quality koi you have before buying food. if your koi are a few dollars or euros a piece, the best and most expensive food will not make them better. However if you have very good quality koi worth some money, the wrong or to little food will cause your koi to loose its appeal and value.
I have obviously to little experience to state which food is best because i have only one pond and have tried 5 different foods in 5 consecutive years. However, from talking to many koihobbyists and using common sense over the years i came to these conclusions:
- probites worked best throughout all seasons in my pond when compared to other, and very expensive foods.
- its best to not use one single food source but mixing and adding others like silk worms and grower or color enhancing foods in the summer works best, and the koi seem more happy.
-I do not beleave in wheat germ for european ponds, especially unheated. simply because of the filosophy by probites about the natural food koi find throughout the seasons. I have given the details already.
-Use only the smallest pellet size. This increases the surface the koi enzymes can work on to process the food and will make it more efficiently used per kilogram food. It also encurages the koi to be more active and find more pellets, and the smallest fish can still eat to..
Long term storage damage proteins so use freshly produced foods and store it dry and in dark containers.
-feeding is best done as regular as possible. During the summer adapt a schedule and feed them the same each and every day, the same times and volumes for best growth. I am convinced that more often little is better then 2 times daily a large volume. Calculate how much your koi need en stick to it, when feeding more check your water values like nitrate and perform plenty water changes.
I have to work as most people during the day so I use a feeder machine that gives 12 feeds per day. I have seen extra growth in both length and width of my koi without a doubt eversince i started using the machine and give the same amount as before in 2 times a day.
I do think that Peter waddington wrote a really nice piece on food that you can read in a few hours.
This is copied from his site
http://koikichi.com/
Conclusions.
In my own opinion and from experiences gained over many years on this subject we now have four real and valuable choices of specialist Koi foods available as of right now in 2009. I could go into far greater detail as to why I could never possibly recommend the other brands available and I will resist for the moment. However, if you are considering any of the other brands, go for the cheapest ones offered – at the end of the day they are all very much of a muchness!
I must point out here that I have no financial interests with any of the Koi foods or companies mentioned below but these would be my own personal shortlist of foods I would purchase for my own Koi. As to prices – I have no idea at all; all that concerns me is value for money and the benefits given to my own Koi.
Hikari Wheatgerm’ – sold by most respectable UK Koi outlets.
‘Medicarp’ – contact selective koi sales
‘Koi UK foods’ – contact Maurice Cox www.koi-uk.co.uk
‘ProBites Foods’ – contact Mike van Zijl info@nedkoi.com www.nedkoi.com
Alternatively, there’s always mountains of junk readily available!
In my own opinion and from experiences gained over many years on this subject we now have four real and valuable choices of specialist Koi foods available as of right now in 2009. I could go into far greater detail as to why I could never possibly recommend the other brands available and I will resist for the moment. However, if you are considering any of the other brands, go for the cheapest ones offered – at the end of the day they are all very much of a muchness!
I must point out here that I have no financial interests with any of the Koi foods or companies mentioned below but these would be my own personal shortlist of foods I would purchase for my own Koi. As to prices – I have no idea at all; all that concerns me is value for money and the benefits given to my own Koi.
Hikari Wheatgerm’ – sold by most respectable UK Koi outlets.
‘Medicarp’ – contact selective koi sales
‘Koi UK foods’ – contact Maurice Cox www.koi-uk.co.uk
‘ProBites Foods’ – contact Mike van Zijl info@nedkoi.com www.nedkoi.com
Alternatively, there’s always mountains of junk readily available!