A beginner's guide to Koi Keeping?

Question

Growing up the only pets that I had ownership to was Dogs, Cats and Birds, I never owned Fish, but I've always have been fascinated by them and other Aquatic mammals. One type of fish in particular and that's Koi Fish, where do i start?

What are the first things I should be learning in order to master the hobby of Koi Keeping?

Also, I'm just interested in raising my Koi as a hobby and for my personal experience only, I'm not interested in getting into the business of breeding or anything like that...

All advice is greatly appreciated....Thanx

Answer 1

Japanese koi fish has become an amazingly popular hobby over the last several decades, and rightly so.

Keeping koi fish is not only very enjoyable, but it is also a responsibility, as you have to keep an entire marine ecosystem, of which the koi is the pinnacle, healthy and vibrant.

This requires good knowledge as well as an adequate budget.

But the learning, as well as the admiration of these fish, is actually as fun a part of koi fish care, juts as much as watching your koi develop over the years before your eyes.

But it’s a good idea, especially for beginners, to do some learning first before setting up your first koi pond of course, as koi require an investment in time and learning.

Japanese koi have been popular because of these reasons:

1. They're very beautiful, as well as a sturdy with an ability to survive even in freezing conditions.

2. They're suited to large fishtanks as well as small outdoor ponds and can grow to over 1-2 feet in length, and this provides the rare pleasure to watch fish swim and prosper in a large outdoor or indoor tank/ponds in a more natural environment.

3. You’ll eventually be able to hand feed your koi when they gain your confidence, and this is a way that we humans really start to bond with our koi, and vice versa.

4. Some koi are worth thousands of dollars, and are a thriving industry for koi breeders.

5. They are believed to bring good fung shui, or luck, in Chinese culture.

There are various Japanese koi fish types and varieties available, and they’re classified by the Japanese, according to mainly their color characteristics.

It’s a good idea to view a few koi fish auctions online to get to know the koi species better and to decide if there are certain varieties that you’re more interested in. The resources here will give you an introduction to the koi varieties available.

If you’re new to koi care, get to know a quality local supplier or importer of Japanese koi, if there is one, and to find out more about the kind of stock that are available locally. Check out the information on websites on how to choose koi fish, if you’re looking for koi for sale online or locally. You’ll also find a list of the top online koi suppliers.

Looking at building a new koi fish pond in your garden? You'll need to know what factors to consider in terms of pond design, pond size and depth, pond construction before deciding to build your own koi fish pond or to have one built for you.

Probably the most important part of keeping koi, as well as getting the best quality stock that you can afford, is understanding and properly using important koi pond supplies. These supplies for your koi fish pond can be found locally or online, and your requirements will differ according to whether you’re setting up a new pond or maintaining, or improving your existing one.

Sometimes, getting your pond supplies online, if you know what you’re looking for, will mean that a much larger range of koi supplies becomes available to you, irrespective of where you live.

So here’s to happy koi and beautiful koi fish ponds, and to our great care of these most admired creatures.

The following websites will be of great help to yu:

http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/
http://www.aquariacentral.com/web/Garden_Ponds/Koi/
http://www.koicarp.net/beginners_corner/varieties.html

Answer 2

When keeping Koi, The Koi Pond is most of the work. You gotta keep the water in good condition, clean the filters, etc. Koi fish pets are not a cheap hobby. http://www.koifishponds.info

Answer 3

Koi can grow very, very large. An adult koi can grow up to 3 feet in length. As such, they can only be kept in ponds. One koi alone, as an adult, requires about 200 gallons of water. A koi pond can be relatively easy to care for once it is set up. You need excellent filtration. The rule is 10x the amount of water pumped per hour as the size of the pond. So, if you had a 500 gallon pond, you would need a filter that pumped 5,000 gallons of water per hour. In a pond this size, you could have maybe 3 koi at most. As juveniles, this combination is going to seem out of proportion because you only have 3 little 6 inch koi in there and, because of this, you may be tempted to get more. You will also be tempted because you will see sellers who have many koi in a small space. But, these fish aren't in that small space for long because they are being sold to customers. But if you remember that someday they will be 2-3 feet long, this will all make more sense. Cleaning would be relatively simple really. You would need to keep the leaves and other detritus off the bottom of the pond so that it didn't rot and foul the water. This can be done by scooping the leaves out of the water with a net like the ones used in pools. Water changes really wouldn't be necessary, but, instead, you would really only need to top off whatever water evaporated from the pond weekly. If you live in an area that freezes in winter, if you had circulating water underneath the ice, that would be sufficient. Otherwise, you would need to keep at least a 12 inch hole cut in the ice at all times so that the koi could get oxygen. You don't need to feed koi in the winter as their bodies go into a sort of hibernation where they metabolism slows down to deal with the cold, and thus, they don't need to eat. Feeding them at these times is bad because they wouldn't eat the food and it would rot and foul the water. Just make sure that you do research and read everything you can before actually buying the fish so that you will have a healthy environment for your koi to live. Good luck!

Answer 4

For any beginner, stay away from salt water, stick with tropical, and for easy to care for fish, African Chiclids come in many colors and shapes, and are very hard to kill. You have to deal with the chemicals, its part of owning a tank, no chlorine in the water, and proper PH is vital. Do some reasearch before you start killing little Nemo~ A 10 gallon tank is usually allot cheaper than the smaller 5 gallon ones.