Is Koi Fish Care Different From Taking Care Of Goldfish | Koi Fish Care Information
Koi fish care is much the same as taking care of goldfish. There are a few differences though. Koi are different from goldfish as koi grow much bigger then goldfish. Koi fish needs more space to live then its close relative the comet. Having koi fish ponds is the best environment for koi.
People need to first think of whether or not their koi fish are gonna live in an aquarium indoors or a koi fish pond outdoors. Koi should really be kept as pets outside in a koi pond due to the growth potential of these beautiful fish. People can still keep them in aquariums the only thing is that you will end up stunting their growth. If you decide to keep koi fish in an aquarium just make sure you give them the extra space to live in by limiting the fish you have by not overstocking your aquarium.
Taking care of koi in an aquarium is more maintenance and you should do regular water changes once a week about 25%. When filling your aquarium make sure you add Aqua Conditioner that will take out the chlorine out of the water and heavy metals. Also make sure you clean your filters as well, just make sure you don’t clean your filters at the same time you do a water change.
If you do this it may disturb the beneficial bacteria and throw your ecosystem out of whack. Just clean your filters say every a couple of days after doing a water change. Also when doing a water change make sure you add some Cycle to your aquarium which is thousands of beneficial bacteria that you add to your aquarium to keep everything stable. Regular water tests should be done once a week making sure all levels are safe for the fish. You should definitely be testing for PH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. There are some others you can test for but these are the most common ones.
My suggestion to people getting involved in the koi fish hobby is to either buy a very large aquarium so you may have koi in or decide to build a koi fish pond. Having koi in a garden pond is the much better alternative and your koi will thrive in such a large environment.
By having koi fish in a garden pond as well it reduces maintenance for you hobby. The more water you have the less maintenance there will be giving you more time to enjoy your koi. You should still keep an eye out when feeding your koi to make sure koi are healthy and there are no signs of koi fish diseases, sickness or injury.
Koi are really meant for ponds as koi fish are best viewed from above rather then the side like an aquarium. Having them in a koi pond doesn’t mean you don’t have to clean your filters or perform water tests. It just means you don’t have to do them as frequently.
Water in ponds takes more time to turn for the worse then a small aquarium as you have nature filtering the water and keeping the water safe for fish. The best form of filtration for a koi fish pond is through aquatic plants. One of the best plants used for filtration is the water lily as it filters the water and also helps keep algae bloom under control feeding on the same nutrients as algae feed on.
Instead of doing your koi fish pond maintenance once a week, do your maintenance once every 2 weeks or when needed. The more care you give your koi fish the healthier they will be and the longer they will live.
