When you pick up koi, they are usually on the smaller size unless you seek out specific larger options.
These smaller koi are generally very fast growers and can become big, beautiful giants in just a few years but, for the time being, they are rather adorable little guys. Feeding them a diet of high-quality foods that is nutrient-dense plays a really big role in their ultimate growth rate and eventual size.
Let’s take a look at how to implement a good dietary plan for your koi and discuss some products that can help you maximize their health and growth!
What Is The Ideal Nutritional Ratio for a Koi?
When looking to grow a smaller koi fish, there are a lot of different things that impact the overall growth rate and eventual size.
This means that you have to keep a close watch on the water quality, water temperature, chemical levels, stressors, and other facets of your koi’s care to ensure optimal growth.
Show koi, for example, receive around the clock care from a team of experts.
Since you are likely not raising show grade koi fish, you do not have to go quite to hard with the care aspects but you should still strive to provide a good quality life for your koi fish!
Nutrition is perhaps the most impactful aspect of your koi’s growth rate.
Koi fish need a lot of protein and the amino acids that come with it.
This is the primary, central component of their diet that you should be concerned with, as it helps with everything from color and overall appearance to base health and size.
Koi fish need a range of around ten essential amino acids to help keep them in optimal health;
always check the amino acid rations when comparing brands to ensure you are getting a good level of protein and amino acid type variance.
Koi also need fats and aid in providing energy and in absorbing fat-soluble vitamins and minerals that are vital to their growth.
Carbohydrates also provide energy and add bulk to the food.
You should also shoot for a good balance of vitamins in the food, especially vitamin C if you want growth, as it helps create the cells needed for tissue repair and growth.
Our Favorite Growth Foods
For those wanting a little help bulking up their koi and increasing the growth rate of smaller fish, these foods will help get you to where you want to be.
Here are our picks for the best food for small koi, chosen based on several different factors including nutritional diversity and quality, as well as price and customer reviews.
As a specifically formulated high protein growth formula, this TetraPond Koi Growth Formula is a fantastic option from a trusted brand that is well-known in fish keeping communities, forums, and the professional world alike.
This food is designed to provide the amino acids needed to bolster growth and create flourishing, healthy koi in any pond setting.
Scientifically formulated to help support a koi fish’s immune system requirements, this formula is easy to digest and is high-quality and made of easy to consume components to ensure your water remains clear and the food is easily eaten by fish of varying sizes.
Part of Blue Ridge’s Platinum Professional line, this pellet food is another really good option designed to specifically target health factors that assist in the growth and cell turnover rate in koi fish.
Providing top quality protein, carbohydrates, and amino acids, this food claims to be perfect for even top tier show fish.
The brand works to ensure that every batch is closely quality controlled to guarantee your fish always receive a perfectly balanced package of food, saving you a lot of time, money, and worry by providing consistent food quality every single time.
Curated with ingredients to boost your koi’s immune system while providing a balanced base nutritional block, this Hai Feng food is another really good floating food that makes it easy to monitor how much and how often your fish need to eat.
This can help prevent a lot of wasted food clogging up your pond and dirtying the water without sacrificing the quality and protein content of the overall food product.
Hai Feng also notes that the food is made with color enhancing agents to keep your fish looking stunning as they grow and mature.
Made in Taiwan, this food is trusted among many quality breeders and specialists within the koi industry and is rapidly rising in popularity in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well.
As stated in the product description, this Saki-Hikari Floating Pellet is designed to provide heightened growth rates due to a perfectly balanced nutritional complex.
This means the brand fully backs and guarantees that their product uses the highest quality proteins to ensure a good balance of amino acids and additional fat content.
This protein-packed, carbohydrate moderated food is perfect for smaller koi, as it supports increased growth and helps to ensure a bold, brilliant color scheme at all stages of life, making it an excellent point to invest since it provides so many positive attributes to your koi’s overall care and health.
Best Food For Small Koi For Supporting Growth
Once koi fish begin to grow, you will be quite surprised by just how fast they mature.
Koi are champion growers and do well in so many different environments so you do not have to really do much aside from providing a balanced diet and safe, well-maintained living space to ensure they are happy and healthy, for the most part.
Do your research and choose quality, customer review backed products and you will notice your koi skyrocketing in size in no time at all!
These little fish get big quickly and are such fun to watch mature! Good luck!
