Baby Koi - How To Not KILL Them
Big, fully-grown koi fishes sure look lovely, but it’s a lot more satisfying to watch baby koi fully mature in your own pond.
But I’ll be honest, as exciting as taking care of baby koi may sound, it’s quite a lot of work.
Making sure that your baby koi grows big and healthy in your pond will require a lot of effort on your part, as well as some know-how.
Lucky for you, I’m here to help you make sure that your baby koi don’t end up dying in your pond or tank.
Finding Baby Koi
Spawning koi is a great idea, especially if you already have some great ones in your pond.
However, I will advise against spawning koi if you just recently got big koi fishes.
After all, you’re only getting used to taking care of koi.
Spawning them and then taking care of the fry will take even more work and can be a bit overwhelming.
That said, instead of spawning koi, I highly suggest that beginners get a batch of eggs or newly-hatched fry from koi dealers instead.
Don’t rush in making your purchase though.
Go to your local dealer and inquire about everything you will need for your baby koi before buying the fry.
Remember that you can’t mix baby koi with mature ones, so you can’t just put the fry in your pond along with big koi fishes unless you want the fry eaten.
Taking Care Of The Fry
It’s best to take care of baby koi in a controlled tank as it will let you keep an eye on the fry, as well as closely monitor their growth.
Make sure that the tank is well oxygenated and that the filter is covered with a filter medium to prevent the baby koi from being sucked in.
You will also want to get a big tank to prevent overcrowding.
Note that baby koi will end up eating each other if they don’t have enough space, so don’t get a large batch of koi fry unless you have a really big tank.
Feeding The Fry
Once the fry start swimming to the surface of the water, then they are ready to be fed.
These baby fishes are still growing so they need to be fed frequently, about three to five times a day.
The fry still has no preferences when it comes to taste, so all that’s important is that they have food around them during feeding times.
Hard-boiled egg yolk is great for the first few days to increase stomach size, then you can switch to newly-hatched brine shrimp once the baby fishes are a week old.
After that, you can switch to ground up fish pellets.
Beware, however, of overfeeding.
If plenty of food remains in the tank after the fry feed, then you are giving too much food. Leftover food can contaminate the water so reduce the amount of food you give.
Raising baby koi is a lot of work, but it’s incredibly satisfying to watch them grow. I hope this article has helped you in making that job a bit easier.
If you are looking to purchase your first Koi Fry, why not check out what is for sale on Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery.
