Is there any benefit to supplementing or replacing completely Koi food
with fruits/vegetables? By benefit I mean better quality food for
them and less toxic waste products. I noticed mine love to nibble on
lettuce. I am not sure what nutrients Koi need or if they could get
them all from veggies.

Koi will eat anything. They love oranges, good in vitamin C which is good
for their immune system. They love watermelon and mango. Squash, cucumber,
oatmeal, cheerios, and many other foods that I have forgotten to mention.
They love shrimp and squid. In the cooler temperatures of the season, the
lower protein foods are easier to digest, and don't create as much ammonia
for the filter to have to take care of. The commercial foods are prepared
with higher levels of protein. The high protein is required to grow large
healthy fish, but it should only be fed in warm water. The warmer the water
the higher the protein of the food.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"MC" wrote in message
om...
Is there any benefit to supplementing or replacing completely Koi food
with fruits/vegetables? By benefit I mean better quality food for
them and less toxic waste products. I noticed mine love to nibble on
lettuce. I am not sure what nutrients Koi need or if they could get
them all from veggies.

Koi will eat anything. They love oranges, good in vitamin C which is good
for their immune system. They love watermelon and mango. Squash, cucumber,
oatmeal, cheerios, and many other foods that I have forgotten to mention.
They love shrimp and squid. In the cooler temperatures of the season, the
lower protein foods are easier to digest, and don't create as much ammonia
for the filter to have to take care of. The commercial foods are prepared
with higher levels of protein. The high protein is required to grow large
healthy fish, but it should only be fed in warm water. The warmer the water
the higher the protein of the food.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"MC" wrote in message
om...
Is there any benefit to supplementing or replacing completely Koi food
with fruits/vegetables? By benefit I mean better quality food for
them and less toxic waste products. I noticed mine love to nibble on
lettuce. I am not sure what nutrients Koi need or if they could get
them all from veggies.

they arent vegetarians, in fact they got very short intestines and basically need
protein and fats... they dont metabolize carbs and certainly not "land based" carbs.

feed em chopped shrimp and that fake crab meat. feed very small amounts and let them
graze on the sweater algae on the side. if you can find a source of pretty clean
duckweed, that is good too. Both Ogata and Grand Champion got high quality food but
dont need to feed much and certainly not much at a time so it isnt in one end out the
other without time for digestion. that fouls the water. Ingrid

(MC) wrote:

Is there any benefit to supplementing or replacing completely Koi food
with fruits/vegetables? By benefit I mean better quality food for
them and less toxic waste products. I noticed mine love to nibble on
lettuce. I am not sure what nutrients Koi need or if they could get
them all from veggies.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

As a supplement!

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"MC" wrote in message
om...
Is there any benefit to supplementing or replacing completely Koi food
with fruits/vegetables? By benefit I mean better quality food for
them and less toxic waste products. I noticed mine love to nibble on
lettuce. I am not sure what nutrients Koi need or if they could get
them all from veggies.