Koi Food Summer Diet

Having a koi pond requires patience, large amounts of responsibility, and proper knowledge of how to effectively care for your fish. Koi are much different from having a regular fresh water tank with goldfish. They have special requirements for survival, such as making sure that their water is at the correct temperature and that they are being fed the right foods. An important aspect of this is knowing how to feed your koi fish during the warmer months of spring and summer. By not altering their feeding slightly, you may put your fish at risk.

  1. Koi Summer Diet

    • Because warm water holds less oxygen, the balance between the fish population, food quality and amounts, and the water oxygen levels must be maintained to ensure successful growth and reproduction in your pond. In order to allow growth, you must increase the amount of food that your koi receive in warmer months. The koi are burning more calories when the weather is warm and they must have adequate supplementation to maintain a good weight.

      Of course, another danger is you may accidentally overfeed the koi. This can lead to cloudy, unstable water, as well as the potential for harmful bacteria to develop. As a rule of thumb, try not to feed your koi more than they can eat within five minutes. Scoop any uneaten food out of the pond after that amount of time. You can determine how much to feed by taking weight into account. Feed a small koi five percent of its body weight daily. For larger koi, feed only two percent of its weight per day. Measure the food by weight rather than by volume for maximum accuracy.

      Koi require lots of protein in summer months, so choose a feed high in protein. Giving koi a more protein-rich diet in summer ensures healthy growth, healthy reproduction, and the fuel needed to repair any internal tissue damage or other injuries that may have occurred. Give koi fish meal containing between 35 to 40 percent protein for best results. Do not give koi any foods that have gone stale, as it can cause death. Make sure the protein-enriched koi food is as fresh as you can get.

      Live food can be beneficial to summer diets. For example, earthworms act as a protein supplement during the summer. Frog tadpoles are similar to earthworms for koi in that they offer plenty of protein. You may also choose to import silkworm pupae from Japan during the summer as an additional protein source. However, do not feed koi on these live foods alone. Doing so can cause certain illnesses as well as mineral deficiencies in the fish.