POND CONSTRUCTION What size pellets should you use?


sure that the food you are giving them has a very high wheatgerm content as this enables them to digest the food easier. And during the autumn and spring times I personally would increase or decrease the protein content or wheatgerm accordingly to slowly change over from one to the other. For example in the autumn reduce the protein and increase the wheatgerm.


food. Therefore if you do tend to over feed a little they can more often than not cope with it. However when the temperature is 10°C or less the food can actually just sit in the gut and cause fatal consequences. Common sense plays a big factor in the


feeding of your koi. I tend to think that if the koi finish all the food given to them within a couple of minutes then that is sufficient until the next feed time.


How often should you feed your koi? When the water temperature is 18°C-plus you should be feeding your koi fairly heavily, but in quantities that they can manage. I try and feed them little and often rather than big amounts in just two or three feeds, as it far easier for the koi to digest that way. During the winter months feeding times


will reduce to as little as once every other day, and when the temperature of the water is below 8°C feeding will probably stop altogether.


What type of food should you give your koi? Again it all depends on the water temperature. During the summer months the koi need bulking up so that they have plenty of body fat to ensure they can survive the periods of time in the winter when they will not be being fed. The best food for your koi to gain weight and size is one with a fairly high protein level, and some also contain pro-biotic and other health additives. During the winter months you need to be


Ammonia and nitrite test showing that they are both ok


What size pellet should you use? If all of the koi in your pond are of a similar size of 45cm it would make sense to use a pellet of 6mm to 8mm in size. If they were all around 15cm then 3mm to 4mm pellets would be used. But what do you do when you have a


pond of all sizes? In this case I would always use the smaller size pellet as all the koi would be able to eat them, where as if you were to use the large size the small koi would struggle.


pond maintenance The pond is built, the filters are running and


the koi are now in residence. We can all sit back and enjoy the end result of our labour. You wish! To ensure a long and healthy life for your koi, you must do the maintenance that is required for the pond so what you need to be thinking about now is the maintenance that you will need to carry out on a regular basis.


Water testing Water testing is a must for all new ponds to ensure that the nitrogen cycle is completed without problems. It should then be carried out periodically (fortnightly) to ensure there are no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate peaks, or that the pH values have not changed dramatically and that there is plenty of dissolved oxygen in the water. All of these were covered in last month’s article on ‘Adding you Koi’ (June issue, pages 51 to 54).


We can all sit back and enjoy the end


result of our labour. You wish!


16 KOI CARP


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