I've been wondering, how much room does a single koi need? I'm guessing more than 30 gallons per fish, but I am probably wrong. They're so cool, I love the little mustache thing. So, anyone know? Also, can they live in a normal tank, or do they need a pond? I know they need a lot of oxygen in the water...

They do best in a pond with a minimum of 100 gallons of water per
fish. Some koi keepers will give a fish 1,000 or 10,000 gallons of
water per fish. This allows the fish to grow to it's full potential,
which is over 2 1/2 feet in length.(much longer than my arm )
Along with lots of water space, you need lots of filtration and
aeration/current too.

I'm not sure if your able to access it yet, but check out the koi
section sometime. There is loads of info there.

Yes koi need alot of room to grow. We just built a new pond of 320 gallons. It houses our two butterfly koi. Many koi people will say that this is way to small for two koi. But this is the largest we can go in our yard. This is the max number of koi I can keep in this pond. I do have two small comet goldfish just to keep them company. But right now we are enjoying them and I make sure the water is always clean and perfect for them.

pm94 is right about the 100 gal min but larger is always better.

The rule of thumb for koi is 250 gl's each minimum. Remember these fish can get to 32" or bigger, give and take here,lol!

Those mustache things are called barbels, sometimes refered to as whiskers!

Phreno, as you can see different folks have different opinions about the size a koi needs. Do some reading first then make your choice as to weather you can support the needs of a koi.

Good Luck.....

In my 500 gallon I have 3 koi - the largest is about 12 inches. I am already thinking of finding him a new home....but am having a hard time letting go.

Thats the big overall problem with Koi........ in the long run, they need lots of room. I don't advocate keeping them in a tank at all, but certainly its up to the owners. Even those nice little whisky barrel set ups and preforms are not cool in the long run for Koi.

The risk is stunting there growth, at two years of age (tosai) they should be around 12" or better. Some will grow faster then other's. A fish growing to its invironment is a myth of a sort. Pheromones being mother natures answer to things. Still, some fish are not phased at all by the amount of pheromones in the water and will continue to grow regardless.....

Goldie's are poo factory's, but Koi are even messier in that aspect.

I know of a 55 gl with about 6-7 koi in it, the tank is very nasty even with a bio filter on it. Its over stocked even with the one, what used to be a 2 inch fish, in little over a year it is now about 14" and has outgrown all the others. A very pretty Soragoi. Three of them have not grown in the last year, about 10" and one small butterfly that has not gotten any bigger then 2........ They could clean the tank everday and it will still be nasty...........

I only hope the owners will build the pond they keep sying they are this summer!

A 55 gallon with a 14" koi in it!? Thats awful. This past December I rescued two one inch koi from our feeder tank at work. Right now one is about 4" and the other is pushing 6." Keep in mind theyve grown from one inch to those sizes in just a few months. Now that the weather is warming up Im expecting a lot more growth. I rescued them knowing that they will be getting a large pond this summer when I move. There is no way I can keep these two fish in even my 100 gallon for any long period of time.

And yes they need at least 100-200 gallons per fish while they are small (the size of mine) and more like 1,000 each as they grow. Yes, those little preform ponds will not contain them for long!

If my fish get to big ill sell them to a good home or sell them back to the pet store.

Wow, that's a lot of water for one fish. I don't have a backyard big enough for that!

Ok, so they're called whiskers/barbells? Are there any goldfish that have those? They're adorable...

Nope, its strictly a koi thing. Although when koi and pond goldfish breed together, then the offspring might have barbels here and there....