This Section Is For Advanced Hobbyists Discussing new original cutting edge Experimental and Trial Treatments and Surgical Techniques, here we take koi health and pond keeping to the next level
greg wrote:Maybe this is something as a group we can develop the same as the "pond software" and put into the open as a tool to use.
If we could link it up with a RELIABLE chart as a length to weight calculator too then people wouldn't need to pull all their koi out and weigh them etc to get into the ball park feeding regime. (Tom which calculator do you use for this?)
I'd certainly be interested!
Good idea Greg. I entered Toms 16 monsters into my spreadsheet and it came out extremely close to his figures. Total length 1088, Total Kg 85.373
Maybe somebody could weigh a few Koi and then check out the spread sheet for accuracy.
The weight of food is a variable so that people can decide for themselves. Older Koi don't need large amounts of high protein food but Tosai do.
I have been tinkering with Dave's chart for a few days now. Throwing up some interesting results!
I have not had the opportunity to pull a koi out yet and weigh it to check the weight to cm figures for myself but here is how it laid out for me.
3000 gallon pond
14 koi (mixed male and female)
total length (cm) - 852
total weight (grams) 58,870
Feed rates. (per day)
0.1% - 59g
0.5% - 294g
1% - 589g
2% - 1177g
3% - 1766g
Now the interesting thing is that last year (albeit with smaller / less koi) i was feeding 400-600grams daily at my maximum feeding regime and temperature and i got results that were good enough (not great but still grew 2 x 65cm+ sansai) then i was only feeding between 1 - 1.5% (as a guess).
Not sure my pond could handle 1.7kg of food per day recommended for maximum growth and then i felt like there was food pretty much permanently on the surface last year although i am currently feeding a mix of left over (kusuri w/germ and Medicarp) and there is noticeably a different interest level between the two foods. Both of these foods have a higher interest level in them than last years food (coppens) that is for certain.
Next step is to pull a couple of koi out and weight them i think to check the calculations.
I feed 3 times a day in main season, mix’s of growth, health and beauty. Fish seem happy but I was considering an auto-feeder, as I suspect I’m overfeeding a bit and not consistent with amounts feed.
A local supplier was most insistent that I should feed once a day only so it did not matter how many time settings I could have the feeder make!
I've always worked on the principle of little and often. Whats the general opinion?
I agree with you on little and often. Jasper from EA Did an article in koi nations before it folded saying less frequent larger feeds allow the fish to utilise the food more efficiently but made no reference to the best thing for growing the fish. The way i think about it is feeding little and often keeps the fish full of food they can easily extract nutrients from whereas less frequent feeds mean the fish have to put more effort into extracting more from the food in their gut so utilise a greater percentage of the food but at a cost.
I also agree with a little and often...... I think that is proven and I am really surprised a dealer said once a day. The motality of fish digestive systems is based on them browsing and they dont have a real stomach for holding large quanities of food after a binge which is then slowly realised into the intestines.
I would very much like to hear any expalanations that support the "once a day diet" !
