How To Grow Koi

A clean pond environment, proper filtration, and high quality food will keep koi alive and healthy. To actively grow your koi however takes a bit more than that. Growing koi requires increased water use, obsessive feeding schedules, high amounts of oxygen, and a professional koi pond filtration system.

HERE ARE 7 SECRETS TO GROWING KOI…

Secret #1

More food…Koi must be fed every 1-2 hours throughout the day. A high quality and high protein type feed is required. A proper food for growing koi will typically have 40% protein content.

Secret #2

Fresh water…The more you feed the more the accumulation of nutrients there are. More than just nutrients, there are other growth inhibiting compounds that can build up in a koi pond when feeding aggressively. To remove both the nutrients in the water and growth inhibitors, you will need to perform regular water changes. The goal is to keep your Nitrogen (Nitrate) levels either at, or below 5ppm in order to achieve optimal growth potential.

Secret #3

Proper biological filtration & circulation…Water changes remove the nutrients that build up inside of the pond when you’re feeding your koi many times per day. The conversion of nutrients however, is done only by a biological filter system. With more feeding comes more Ammonia, and in order to convert this ammonia fast enough for it to not harm your koi you will need proper circulation and plenty of biological filtering capacity for your koi pond. Generally speaking you want to circulate a the full volume of your koi pond 3-4 times per hour through your biological filter system. One reason people have additional but smaller “grow out ponds” is that is it much more cost effective to get the proper size biological filtration and proper circulation rate with a smaller number of gallons. For instance a 5,000 gallon pond would require a minimum of 15,000 gallons per hour of circulation through a large filtration system to achieve enough filtration to manage feeding your koi 6+ times a day. That can get expensive!

Secret #4

Oxygen…and lots of it. Oxygen super charges the good bacteria inside your biological filtration system AND supercharges feed conversion rates (pounds of food per turning into pounds of weight added to your koi). There are many ways to add oxygen to your koi pond but a waterfall alone is not a reliable or large enough source of oxygen for a growing koi.

Secret #5

Stunted growth…The first few years of life are the most critical for physical development, and if the resources are not provided the true potential will never be reached.

Secret #6

Variety dependent…Some varieties just grow faster and larger than others. Genetics will also play a part in how large and fast your koi will grow. Generally speaking the newer fancier patterned koi varieties do not grow quite as large as some of the older more original varieties such as Kohaku, Tancho, Showa, and Sanke. One reason large (30”- 40”) koi are valued at such high prices is because the energy and dedication that grows into getting them that large.

Secret #7

A lot of love, care, and attention is required!!!