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Old 03-06-2008, 04:56 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
[email protected] dr-solo@wi.rr.com is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,004
Default Koi Food - what are you feeding your koi?

GF and koi need protein for building mass and oil for energy. They dont digest or
utilize carbohydrates. Koi have "short" digestive tracts so carbs will not get
broken down fast enough anyway before the digesting mass is expelled into the water.
In the water it will continue to be broken down by bacteria and produce wastes.

There are big differences in land based nutrients and those in the water.

land plants also need a lot of cellulose to "stand up" whereas water based plants
dont need much cellulose. this makes land based plant material difficult to digest.
The same is true of proteins. Plants have no muscle, so they have very low levels of
proteins and those they have are enzymes. The oil in land plants can withstand a lot
of heat and desiccation, whereas "water based" oils quickly go rancid at room temp.
So fish starts going "bad" very fast. Of course, a natural diet is much better for
any animal. What GF and Koi eat are the tiny critters that live on the algae and
bacteria in the pond. The daphnia, the rotifers, the little worms and insect larvae.
I feed my koi freeze dried krill. the pacifica 1kilo size. it lasts for months with
my 22 koi. they only get 1/2 cup a day.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/sea...n73t87mi728mt6

However, I am considering feeding them finely chopped raw shrimp and fish instead/in
addition. Ingrid

On Fri, 30 May 2008 12:25:56 EDT, W Dale wrote:
However, I have some food that is 1 year old that has been stored in
the basement and I have been reading that food more than 6 months old
is useless.
What are many of you out there feeding your koi?