Thread: Butterfly koi
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Old 29-04-2005, 04:26 PM
Gail Futoran
 
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Default Butterfly koi

I think I have one of these. My LFS sold me a
pretty shubunkin a couple years ago. It grows
faster than the goldfish/comets/shubunkin it shares
a small pond with, it has a long flowing tail and
barbels. Body size is about 6" (hard to get it to
hold still next to a ruler g). Colors are
predominantly orange and black with some
splotches of white, and a mostly black tail. I
have tried to find more information on these
fish but googling turns up sites that:
1) are mostly commercial, and want me to download
huge JPG files that my relatively slow connection
takes forever to deal with;
2) have really dark backgrounds so my elderly
trifocaled eyes have a hard time reading the black
on dark color background (so I give up g);
3) direct me to a useful FAQ that is -- empty.
I've also done the groups.google.com search but
haven't found useful info. yet.

What I'd really like to know from someone who
has these fish in their pond is:
1) mature size (my largest filtered tank is only 150
gallons) and about how long it takes to get there
(i.e. when do I need to get a new pond ready g)
2) water volume needs (the same as other koi
varieties? - so 1000 gal minimum?)
3) food - they get TetraPond variety sticks, whole
wheat bread, orange slices and any insects they can
catch. Okay or not?
4) any other critical information for someone who
otherwise has only a few goldfish and rosey red
minnows in three smallish ponds (all under 300 gal).

Thanks - Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8
(yep, there's a koi retailer not far from me but
I prefer to ask for info. here first)