I saw a koi at the pet shop yesterday and I fell in love with it at first sight I told the manager to keep it for me until I decide whether I should purchase it or not. Does koi necessarily need to be kept in a pond? I would like to know the requirements of the fish please somebody


I love you all

Hi bella, I don't know alot about koi, but I do know they atleast need 1000 gals. for the first fish and I presume they don't sell such huge aquariums, so it would probably be best if you kept the koi in a pond.

Oh!, and if you wish to research further, I recomd thi site ,
kio vet.com

Hi Bella,
Good recomendation from David for the web site. However to answer your question, the minimum is 250 gl's each koi. They can attain 32-36" fully grown. They grow fast also.
Its not hard to get attached to a koi,lol! However, do keep in mind that as messy as goldies are, Koi are worse in that dept.

You should consider that the koi can get 24 inches long, some get to 36. They make more waste than a gold fish. Because of this they need a larger area. While the fish will do fine in a fish tank for the first couple of years, it will grow. You'll have to either build a pond for it or you'll need to find the fish a new home. Eventually it will out grow a fish tank.

Another thing to consider. I beautiful baby koi will grow and sometimes (not always) they aren't so pretty when they get larger. It's generally the ugly duckling that turns into the swan, in koi. Koi change.

Scott

Oh! my bad

David, no you are actually correct. When I advertise koi in the paper (I give away the little fry) I will only give the fry to someone that has a koi pond no smaller than 1000 gallons, and they cannot be over stocked. Kathy is saying 250 gallons per koi, which is correct. BUT you don't want to put in a 250 gallon pond for ONE fish! Koi don't like being alone, they like to have someone with them. So I guess 500 gallon would be the smallest you could go, but only 2 fish. 1,000 gallons is much better. The more water you have the easier it is to keep your perameters undercontrol (that is if you aren't overstocked).

Scott

I thought, I was somewhat correct because I had asked the same question before on koivet.com and the helpful people there gave me the same answer.

Well I certaintly cant fit a pond, nor a tank that size in my little apartment Thank you for the info everybody I really appreciate it

from what i've read about koi, they are a great pet though. so when/if you get a house you could maybe get a small pond out back. Koi can recognize the person who feeds them and will take food by hand, unlike other fish. just a thought for the future.

when I had gold fish (commons) in my pond they would eat out of my hand. They were easier to train than the koi. After I took to goldy's out the Koi finally started eating out of my hand.

*grins* Scotts right David, not bad on your part! That would be a small pond (1000 gls) compared to most that have ponds with koi! And you know, a pond doesn't really have to be so much long or wide, I've seen ponds that the gallonage was/is mostly in the depth. And if you get snow or harsh winters, you want the depth anyway! Its alway's best to plan out the pond with greater water capacity as there seems there's alway's a koi that catch's ones eye's when out shopping for the most inocent purchase, you know, I need fish food, come home with a new koi kid......

Some Koi are just friendlier then others are Scott. *grins*