Koi-Lo wrote:

"Altum" wrote in message
. net...
Koi-Lo wrote:

Everyone has an opinion worth hearing.

I doubt you realize it, but that's an incredibly condescending
statement. You are confusing opinion with the science that Ingrid and
I are trying to present.

It's not condescending. It's the truth. Everyone's opinion is worth
hearing. This isn't a communist country. :-)) Science? Have you any
peer reviewed studies done on koi and their feeding here in the USA?
Studies done with control groups and by people with no vested interest
in any feed company in any way? I honestly looked on the net months
ago and came up with nothing. Nothing but anecdotes and the glowing
claims made by those selling such products.

If you choose to wear blinders and not read veterinary articles and
aquaculture literature that's your choice. If you did, you would
learn that trout chow and catfish chow are developed for aquacultured
trout and catfish, not pet koi.

And yet koi thrive and reproduce on these feeds and I was unable to find
anything ... see above.

They are designed to provide the cheapest
possible food that provides short-term health, rapid growth, and
palatable flesh when the fish reaches someone's dinner table. That's
not the usual goal for pet fish. I'm sure your fish are fine, but
they're not likely to have the same long-term health and extensive
lifespan of fish fed diets that have been optimized for koi.

How many of us on this NG are going to still be here 100 years from
now? If they live 75 years instead of 100 years I'll be happy. :-)

My OPINION is that keeping five koi on a diet optimized for health and
longevity is preferable to keeping fifty koi on cheap catfish and
trout chow.

And you're entitled to that opinion as those of us who use these cheaper
feeds are entitled to ours. I don't think I'll be too concerned about
my koi even 50 years from now.

Sorry. I totally misunderstood. At the risk of turning this into the
thread that won't die...I typed "aquaculture koi carp diet" into Google
Scholar and a bunch of stuff came up. I don't have time to try to go
through the searches, but maybe there are some unbiased studies.

I'm GLAD your fish are healthy. I tend to fawn over my pets, perhaps a
bit too much. They probably eat better than I do. ;-)

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