Re: [GSAS-Member] What do you feed your young Koi?

["Clifford Miller" <clifford@clevergeek.com>]

Just to chime in, I've been feeding mine mostly crushed up Aquamax.  It's
a floating trout chow that I buy in 50# bags from the feed store next to
molbaks.

If you want to try it, my larger ones would pick it off the surface, catch
it on the way down, and vaccuum it off the substrate.  I'd be happy to
pitch in a freezerbag or so if you're interested.  That said, at this
point you might want to wait for Bette or Erik to jump in, because their
koi were almost big enough to eat my koi.  (the joke was on them, because
Steev remembered to bring a "thanks for participating" prize, which I
think I won with a lot of grace...)

The aquamax is fairly high protein, and I occasionally also offer them
little bits of my homemade mbuna food, which is mostly frozen peas, random
veggies, shrimp, and spirolina.  (although the mbuna are herbivores, so
it's mostly veggies/peas)

As an aside, if anyone in the group is looking for more koi, I think I
still have more than a dozen "small koi" (as in, way smaller than the ones
I brought to the meeting, which were way smaller than most of the others
there), which range in size from around .5-1" inch or so...

I also wouldn't mind getting rid of 5 blue paradise fish and a white
cloud, if anyone wants a free "unheated fish package", these guys are all
decent candidates.

Cliff

> Yep, those little buggers of mine have been turning their nose up at flake
> food the whole time Ive had them; sorry about that Shango!  (I do believe
> you got yours from my bunch).  And it wasnt for lack of trying, believe
> me.
>
> I myself have been crushing up Hikari Gold Koi food all this time; it is
> possible they have gotten finicky (OK, spoiled) because of it.  It was
> easy
> for them to see, sank fairly slowly, and they had time to grab it while it
> did; plus it would hang on plant leaves if it made it that far down.  If
> they could see pieces of food on plants, etc they would pick it off if
> they
> were still hungry, but only the small and really hungry ones did I ever
> see
> eating stuff off the bottom.
>
> You can get a small bag of Hikari Gold Koi food at The Fish Store for
> something around 5 clams... just make sure to get the small size pellets;
> even that size I crush into smaller bits on a plastic lid with a glass.
>
> I did try other stuff with varied success during the grow-out phase; Steev
> told me when I first got them that anything suitable for goldfish or
> cichlids was also fine for the koi, so most of the variety they got from
> me
> came from within that category.  The Gold was by far the best though, as
> was
> keeping the temp approx at Summer growing temperatures in the tank.  So
> now
> everyone knows my secrets for next year!  ;+)
>
> Have fun with them Shango, I sure have and am looking forward to seeing
> how
> all these guys grow out colorwise.  Everyone that still has some, please
> keep us updated as you see fit...  ;+)
>
> Cheers,
> Connie
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GSAS-Member mailing list
> GSAS-Member@thekrib.com
> http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member
>


_______________________________________________
GSAS-Member mailing list
GSAS-Member@thekrib.com
http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member