Aside from their colorful appearance, what I really like about koi is how little care they actually need.
In fact, a well-made koi pond can be a good habitat not only for koi but also for algae and other insects that can serve as koi food.
In this sense, a koi pond can be a pretty self-sustaining ecosystem.
Of course, cultivating a self-sustaining koi pond can take some time and quite a lot of work, so the best course of action is to provide koi food for your fishes.
Fortunately, koi don’t have a particularly picky diet.
In fact, you can just head to your local fish supplies store and buy fish pellet.
Koi Food Alternatives
In case you run out of fish pellets, however, or if you want to give your koi the occasional treat, here are some other things you can use as koi food:
Insects and other marine creatures
Like most other fishes, koi feed on live insects, small fishes, and crustaceans.
You can give your koi earthworms, bloodworms, silkworms, worms, shrimps, clams, gammarus, black mosquito larvae, wax moth larvae, tadpoles and the like.
These are rich in natural protein, minerals, and vitamins that help improve the overall health of your koi.
You can easily buy these from fish supply stores.
Vegetables and Fruits
Vegetables and fruits are great sources of fiber, trace elements, vitamins, and antioxidants.
Koi also happen to actually love fresh vegetables like lettuce, radish, and cauliflower.
Oranges, tomatoes, pineapples, and berries are also appropriate koi food.
Just make sure to slice or chop vegetables and fruits first into smaller pieces before putting them into your pond.
Note, however, that corn, peas, and beans are harder for koi to digest, so be wary of giving these as koi food.
Oatmeal Flakes and Whole Wheat Bread
Koi love bread, especially when you spread on some honey.
It’s particularly enjoyable to watch koi flock to pieces of bread thrown into their pond.
Just a friendly reminder, however, try to give your koi whole wheat bread as much as possible.
More processed bread generally contains more chemicals, so try to stick to whole wheat bread.
Hard-Boiled Eggs, Pasta, and Rice
Whole grain rice, pasta, and hard-boiled eggs are tasty, healthy treats for koi.
These are loaded with minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, and trace elements.
However, avoid feeding koi with raw pasta and rice.
Boil pasta and rice first, and wash the starch off before feeding them to the koi.
Also, make sure that you don’t add salt to the pasta if you intend to use it as koi food.
Tasty & Healthy Treats For Your Koi Fish
Bear in mind that the aforementioned food items shouldn’t be the regular food for your koi.
Instead, they should be tasty and healthy treats for your koi, and should be given to them in small amounts every so often.
Note that although these food items are nutritious, they are not as well-balanced as specially-formulated fish pellets.
Regularly giving your koi these food items may deprive them of other much-needed vitamins or minerals.
Nonetheless, giving your koi these occasional treats will do no harm and will even make your koi happier.
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