Koi fish for an Aquarium..Opinions please?

Question

Yes, I know they are pond fish...but I absolutely love these fish. I live in NYC, so I dont have a pond. But I'm getting ready to move into a loft and I have more than enough space for the right size aquarium, I want my aquarium to have:

2 Koi
2 Butterfly Koi
I am positive that I won't have more than 4 Koi fish in the aquarium..

As far as tank mates, I want about or maybe more of:

4 Calico Shunbunkins
4 Comets
4 Rynkin
2 Moors
5 Veiltails

What size Tank would you recommend for these fish?
Feel free to provide any advice..Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

I have three koi between 4" and 7" long that I keep in a 55 gallon aquarium indoors, and they do just fine. They have been in there for 18 months now with no problems. I also have 15-20 koi between 6" and 24" that I keep in an outdoor pond, and truthfully, the only difference is that the ones indoors grow much more slowly. Other than that, they are every bit as active, people-oriented, healthy, etc. In fact, my indoor ones are probably more healthy because I am not constantly fighting parasites introduced by birds visiting and bathing in the aquarium the way I do with the pond!

I recommend the koivet.com website - I rely on that site alot for diagnosing and correcting problems, etc. And koi ARE a very dirty, destructive fish. They LOVE to tear plants out of the gravel, etc., and eat pretty much any live plant you try to grow in there. Larger ones will also crunch down snails. That is one precaution I'd recommend you to take if you decide to put koi in an aquarium -make the gravel small. Koi have been known to pick the gravel pieces up to suck the algae and other critters off, only to swallow the rocks and have them lodge in their gills (this can kill them if not treated immediately). So, the gravel should be small enough, relative to the size of your fish, to pass through their gills with no problems. And make sure you have adequate water filtration - in the past I've run a biowheel but recently switched to a penguin. You may even want to consider over-filtration because ensuring good water quality is the number one good thing you can do for your fish.

Feed a good quality koi pellet - not flakes, and supplement with green leafy lettuce, watermelon slices, orange slices, etc. Even small pieces of wheat bread or cheerios make good treats for koi.

And having said all that, I think I would pass on the suggested tank mates. They get along just fine when they are the same size, and you don't have to worry about koi eating goldfish young - around 10" is about the minimum spawning size for koi, and water temperature plays a part, too. Once their eggs hatch, the adult koi will not eat anything that they can recognize as a fish - so as soon as their young (or anything else's young) get to be at least an inch long or so, they'd be fine with much larger koi. Goldfish are not so picky, though - they WOULD eat young koi. Plus, the moors and the veiltails, etc., are made more for floating and looking pretty - koi can sometimes be quite energetic and acrobatic swimmers, and might stress out some of the more "lazy" swimmers like the moors.

My final reason against housing goldfish is because compared to koi, they are just plain dumb. Koi are extremely friendly, trainable fish. After having koi, I would never go back to goldfish - not nearly as friendly or trainable. Plus, koi tend to elect a "queen" (I guess it can sometimes be a king, but we've always ended up with queens) - the dominant fish that the others look to and follow, etc. If you get a good, people-oriented, smart koi as the queen, all your koi follow suit. If you get a goofy, shy, goldfish as the queen, your koi won't live up to their potential and will be timid and goofy, too, just like the goldfish.

Anyway, that's just my two cents' worth as a longtime fish keeper and koi afficianado (both indoor and out). I say go for it - I think you'll be just fine if you start out slowly and don't get too many fish for your tank, too quickly, and stick with all koi if that's the direction you're going to go.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Honestly wow, youwill need one heck of a tank.

Perhaps a better idea since you are getting a loft, Why not a built in pond in your home. Since it is enclosed and out of the weather, this can be done very easily (with your land lord's approval)

Building an indoor pond is quite easy with the right materials. Using rubberized pond lining and interlocking brick. your pond doesn't have to be more than 18 inches deep so the water displacement would actually be less than a tank. Design or have someone design this indoor water garden for you. I would omit the rynkin, moors and veiltails. Remember, koi eat shubunkin young and shubs eat koi young.

I had a friend do this in his game room and it was beautiful. He only has 3 koi and 2 comets.

Depending on the size of your loft, you may reconsider and keep only 1 or 2 fish.

Just an idea.

Answer 3

Either way koi get really big. And betta fiish just require a simple 2-3 gallons. They are both two really diffrent fish. If you have a pond or something really big like that get a koi. If you just have a bowl that's not too small then get a betta. Your choice. Also Koi can be very expensive to keep in a tank. They cost a lot of money and require a big tank if they are not in a pond. Your choice.

Answer 4

As the others have said, you would need a very large tank of at least 1000 gallons. You also wouldn't be able to keep all those fish together anyway. Koi and single tailed goldfish like the comets and the shubunkins are fine together but the other fish you listed are fancies and really shouldn't be kept with the larger faster fish as they will be out competed for food.

I'll break down how much each fish would need if you plan on keeping them to adults.
Each koi would need 250 gallons, 4= 1000 gallons
Shubunkins need 40-50 each, 4=160-200
Comets need 40-50 each, 4 = 160-200
Ryukins need 20 each, 4= 80
Moors need 20 each, 2 = 40
Veiltails need 20 each, 5 = 100

Answer 5

Just for the 4 Koi you need at least a 75 to 100 Gallon tank, to start off with, as far as the other fish you need several hundred gallons of water to keep the water clean and the fish alive, they also need lots of space. Your loft may not be able to accommodate the weight of an aquarium that size. It would weigh 800lbs per 100 gallons at least.

Answer 6

190 gallons for those goldfish tankmates alone. I'd say no less than 950-1000 gallons. You are in a loft so you need to ask the landlord your maximum tank size. Every 10 gallons of tank weighs 100 pounds when full and you don't know if your floor will even stand up to a 55 gallon or more.

Answer 7

rough estimate, minimum 1080gallons. I agree with the first person about it not being able to handle the weight. with water, gravel, fish, equipment, ect... it will be VERY heavy.

check out this site, it's very informative, if you read the whole thing. it does say something like having 6 in a 125 gallon tank they are speaking of young koi, and state that you'll have to get a much bigger tank for these koi as they grow:
http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/detail.aspx?aid=9604&cid=3784&search=

if you want koi, why not find a place that's wil;ling to take your koi as they get older? get younger koi, then once they start to get too large for your tank, give them somewhere else and get new small ones. even with small koi though you're going to need to cut back on the number of fish. goldfish are very large, messy fish, and need lots of room.

Answer 8

Our koi weigh between 4 - 5 kgs and are about 1 and a half feet long. They grow and develop according to how much water you have in your system. . They need oxygenated water 24 hours a day.

Answer 9

koi are japanese gold fish or carp.the fish will gro to the size of the aquarium. i would use a 25 to 50 gal tank.also koi can swallow comets

Answer 10

i have an idea get a spa and turn it into an indoor pond, lol x