Questions On Your Mind
How do I know if my Koi is male or female?
Koi gender can be difficult to identify but luckily there are a few ways to make it a bit simpler. First you want to look at the body shape from above, Koi that are slimmer tend to be males and wider fish tend to be females. If your fish appears symmetrical with a wide body with little to no slimming towards the tail you can assume it is female, males tend to have a drastic change in shape from the middle of the body to the tail.
Another way to tell is to turn your fish upside down (carefully and in the water still) and look between the two fins closest to the tail fin, there you’ll find what is called the “Vent”, if the vent is protruding it is a female, if the vent is concave or appears sunken in then it is a male.
Is All Koi Food The Same?
The obvious answer: NO! Not all Koi food is the same. There are many foods available on the market today that advertise better growth, color, and health. It is important to remember that what food you feed your fish depends on your goals, time of year, temperature, and filtration. Most often you will find suggestions for feeding times, amounts, and temperature ranges on the packaging. Protein content, fat, and supplements such as “Spirulina” to boost color are important and require special attention when deciding what food is best for your Koi and your pond.
How Often and How Much Should I Feed My Koi?
Depending on the time of year, size of the fish, filtration, and goals you have for your fish will determine how often and how much you feed your fish. Typically you should only feed your Koi enough so that all food is consumed within 5 minutes or so. Feeding during the springtime and summertime may occur multiple times throughout the day as your Koi will be more active, whereas in winter feeding may come to a complete stop depending on where you live and if you have an indoor or outdoor pond where the temperatures may be different.
What kind of Koi do I have?
Identifying your Koi is not as difficult as it may seem, there are over 100 different varieties that are named and known and all of them have distinctive markings and colors. Nearly all Koi are named due to three major characteristics, Skin/Scale type (Doitsu etc.), Color, and pattern/accent (gin rin etc.) Learning the basics of names for these will make identification easier, you can also purchase a Koi ID poster to help as well.