Baby Koi
Baby Koi
Baby Koi Fish Price
When you are new to the koi industry and are taking your initial looks at the pricing for quality koi fish from reputable breeders, it can be mind blowing. Seriously, $3,000 USD for a fish seems absolutely insane! Who would pay that?
Honestly, though, if you understand the work that goes into raising the more expensive baby koi fish and what special characteristics they have, you would likely understand why the pricing can be so expensive in some cases.
With professionally bred koi fish, there are a lot of factors that go into the price, including bloodline, coloration, size, and more. This also spills over into the pricing for baby koi fish and even peanuts, as well.
If you go to a pet store like PetSmart or PetCo, chances are you will find baby koi fish for less than $20, probably closer to $10. These baby fish are great for stocking a smaller pond or for beginners since they are cheaper in price and still quite pretty despite being rather plain.
Once you leave mass-bred pet store fish, though, you are going to see a drastic increase in pricing. Baby koi fish from professional, specialized breeders are going to cost significantly more than a baby koi fish from these stores due to the amount of work and specialized breeding that goes into creating their bloodline and subsequent lineage.
Some professionally bred traditional baby koi fish have bloodlines that go back decades or even centuries. They may have colorations or patterns that are unique or highly desirable. These factors contribute to the overall price.
If you want access to these carefully bred baby koi fish without shelling out the money for individual fish that can cost hundreds, try looking for breeders who sell batches of peanuts or fry. As terms for very young baby koi fish, these batches are usually sold for very low prices and feature both plain baby koi fish and some that are potentially diamonds in the rough due to the entire batch being unculled.
Raising baby koi fish this way is a super fun and exciting venture that can stock a pond for a much lower rate and work to help you enjoy a variety of different types of koi fish all at once. People find amazing, absolutely gorgeous baby koi fish within batches of peanuts so if you have the means to raise younger baby koi fish, you just might luck out. Keep an eye out for breeders releasing batches and you just might stumble upon something truly unique!
Traditional koi fish bred following the traditional Japanese breeding standards will come with an even heftier price tag. These fish are show quality and usually look unbelievably beautiful. This means that you are not only paying for the appearance and size of the fish, but also the special breeding and care that the fish has undergone.
Traditional breeders feed their fish a very carefully controlled diet to ensure they are getting the right ratios of protein, fat, and carbohydrates to ensure maximized growth and coloration. These diets are usually highly protected with many breeders who breed for shows not revealing what they feed their koi in an effort to keep a leg up on the competition.
These fish are also hand raised and taken care of extremely well. The fish are pampered and receive carefully moderated supplements, handling, and more. This all contributes to both the quality of the fish and the seemingly outrageous price tag. When you understand the level of work and care that goes into these fish, it seems to make a little more sense.
Either way, investing in your baby koi fish is a good decision and will help ensure that you get healthy, happy fish that will grow and thrive in their new pond enclosure.
For more information, check out our latest baby koi articles…
Where to Find Baby Koi Fish for Sale
When looking to buy baby koi fish and looking for baby koi fish for sale, you have quite a few different options concerning sourcing your new pets.
The obvious answer is to look at the baby koi fish for sale at your own local pet store or one of the large chains like PetSmart or PetCo. The fish at these locations will likely be much cheaper than other options and offer a good base of basic, plain koi fish.
These fish are bred in conditions generally suitable for creating bulk batches of koi fish. That means that they likely do not receive the special, individualized care that much more expensive, specialty breeder baby koi fish accessed. However, they are likely still healthy if the individual location has taken care of the fish properly and in accordance to store protocol.
As a general rule of thumb, if the fish do not look healthy or seem to be severely overstocked and stressed, it may be a good idea to pass and look for another location or wait for a different batch of fish to be offered at that store. These conditions can result in health issues so playing it safe is definitely a good idea.
Aside from run of the mill pet stores, you can also look for baby koi fish for sale at breeders, both online and physical.
Physical breeders often allow for you to come and see the koi fish in person before purchasing, allowing you to view the conditions they were raised in and ensure that they were treated well and are likely healthy.
Similarly, for online breeders, you can easily see review information and learn a lot about the brand before ever making a purchase. This could save you time, money, frustration, and heartbreak by informing you of issues or errors that breeders may make concerning the care of the fish.
Many people recommend buying directly from breeders to help support their businesses. Koi breeding on a level that is not for mass marketing can be tricky and expensive. Supporting reputable koi breeders is a great way to ensure there are always readily available healthy koi fish out there.
If you are looking to adopt koi fish for low prices, try looking on Craigslist or similar sites. Many people who have accidental batches of koi or who have decided to move away from koi keeping or otherwise thin their population often sell baby koi fish for very cheap on these sites or even sometimes give them away for free.
While you may not know the lineage of the fish, this is a great way to stock your pond for a very low cost and can give you some amazing diamonds in the rough like the koi peanut batches you can buy unculled from breeders.
If you can luck out and get your hands on one of these non-professional batches, be sure to quarantine the fish and work to make sure they are healthy to keep your population healthy and happy!
Once you find a reputable option, you should be all set to begin selecting your own baby koi fish. Go with your gut when choosing.
For more information, check out our latest baby koi articles…
How to Take Care of Baby Koi Fish
When looking at how to take care of baby koi fish, there are a lot of different things you must keep in mind.
Baby koi fish are a lot of work and require a good bit of attention and careful care in order to survive and become the healthy, friendly giants we all know and love.
If you are taking on koi fry, you need to understand that you cannot just put them into your pond. They likely will not survive and have a very high potential of being eaten by predators or even other koi fish. They’re just too small to live in such conditions.
To prevent this type of situation, you should keep them in a carefully controlled and monitored tank until they are large enough to fend for themselves.
The tank needs to be very large, typically 100 gallons or more for just a single small batch of koi fry. This is because if you overcrowd koi fry, they will eat each other as they grow and otherwise fight due to the competition for food that is perceived.
These tiny, new fish need to be cared for with gentle filtration and either an air stone or a bubbler to ensure they are getting enough oxygen while in the tank enclosure. They have to be monitored continually to ensure they are happy and healthy. Frequent water checks are also necessary to ensure everything is balanced and providing the base level of environmental quality that your koi fish need in order to thrive.
You can introduce these baby koi fish into the pond once they are big enough that the older fish cannot easily eat them. If there are no older fish in the pond and you are using the baby koi fish to stock your pond for the first time, you still need to ensure they are large enough to survive in such a space. Quarantine them until they are a few inches long and eating well, then introduce them to the pond.
If the koi fry or baby koi fish show any signs of illness, do not put them in the pond. Try to figure out what health issues they are having yourself or have an aquatic veterinarian take a look at them. They will be able to tell what sickness is impacting your baby koi fish population and work with you to help remedy the issue.
Introducing sick fish, even baby koi fish, into your pond is a recipe for disaster that could put your entire koi fish population at risk. Illnesses travel quickly through ponds and can easily wipe out populations or at the very least make your fish sick and cause a lot of stress. Always take the extra precautions and be cautious. Your fish depend on this.
For more information, check out our latest baby koi articles…
How to Choose a Baby Koi Fish Food
Baby koi fish cannot eat the large pellets that adult koi often are fed. Their mouths are simply too small and it would clog their digestive system. Fortunately, there are plenty of food items out there that suit the delicate needs of baby koi fish and koi fry perfectly.
Baby koi fish that are incredibly young, known as fry, actually do not need to eat. When fry are first born, they do not even have mouths and sort of just float in the tank. Once they are a bit older, though, they will begin to move.
You will know when to feed these baby koi fish by waiting until they swim to the surface of the tank or begin to attempt to do so.
Once they do this, you can begin to feed them powdered food or things like hardboiled egg yolks, brine shrimp, and freeze-dried krill. These are things that can be broken down to a small enough degree that the koi fry can easily eat the food items.
Baby koi fish can also technically be fed a high-quality adult koi food if the food is ground up into a very fine powder before being given to them. Just make sure there are no lumps or chunks and that it is the consistency of sand or brown sugar to prevent choking and digestive issues.
As they get older, they can begin to be fed micropellet foods or less finely milled versions of the other food options.
The baby koi fish food you select will set them up for their life. If they are healthy and fed a balanced diet, they will likely have a better start to their lives and have a higher chance of becoming the healthy, gentle giants we adore.
Providing the right kind of care during these formative times will help to keep your koi fish looking and feeling great as they age. That is why the care you give to your baby koi fish is so important.
For more information, check out our latest baby koi articles…
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