What do you folks recommend? My first two purchases were the food from Kodama Farms. I bought both the floating "Color Up" and the "Wheat Germ" in the Medium Pellet size & mixed the two, supposedly for best results. The Koi feasted mightily on this; it didn't gum anything else but I felt it was expensive. Next purchase was via Fosters & Smith. Apparently I should have been more careful with the pellet size. While my aquatic kids are more than willing to eat this, it both feels & looks like it might take at least 10 or more of these miniscule "pellets" to = one of the Kodami pellets. Certainly far more reasonably priced.
What do you find is the best "bang for your feeding buck", of the floating variety pellet? Do you have a link to the source for purchase of what you recommend?
Inching closer & closer to being able to provide pond snaps post Aquaplankton treatment!!
Bonita 10
Best Food for Koi
I buy Blue Ridge for both quality and price.
I get it from ebay...JonRocketShop sells a 50lb bag for $69 and free shipping to your door! It's a clean food, floats, and doesn't cloud the water. About 1/4 pellet.
When I want a higher protein, I get it from WaterJewels, also on ebay. $32.50 for 12lbs, again free shipping to your door.
Hmmmm..... MM. I need to take a look at those sellers. Seems to me I am paying more than that.
Thanks for the info.,
I like both of their food because it's designed for koi. Some food sold is for tilapia, catfish, etc, and isn't as good quality-wise. The water stays clean, and the koi's colors stay bright.
I buy from Arthur Aquatics. I got 50 lbs. for $50. something. Have not had any intestinal problems from it. Floating 1/4" pellets don't cloud water. He has sales on it from time to time but I only buy when I need it. Like getting fresh food. Free shipping at the time I bought it.
36 protein for koi only.
I also give them a little PLAIN cherrios for desert which they love. I'm going to start feeding them sliced oranges and peas. Peas keep their digestive system cleaned out. Just pop them out of skins and mash them into little balls and they will eat it.
Good luck with your fishies.
Bonnie, I just feed them peas right out of the bag, as is. I get the jumbo bag of frozen peas from Publix and thaw them out. Any reason you squash them first? Just curious.
I threw in some heads of romaine the other night, they were turning a little brown, even though they were still ok to eat. They devoured it down to the little stumpy core. I've also done large slices of watermelon, which they also loved. I had to scoop the rind out 2 days later, but the fleshy guts were gone.
Got instructions to squish peas out of shells from owner of Anderson Koi Farm in Cal. Guess its just to insure they can eat them easy. I'm beginning to think they will eat about anything green. They are smarter than we are.
I have given them watermelon now that you mention it. Same owner said that was just water to them and not nutritional but green stuff was good for them.
Heck I just listen to what everybody does and try it once. You know how it is everybody does the same thing a different way. Makes life interesting.
Thanks especially to MM & BG - I placed an order for a 20 lb bag yesterday via jonrocketshop, which turns out, the product itself is via Arthur Aquatics! I purchased only the 20 lbs, as the picture on their site was not clear if it was the larger, 1/4" pellets, which my kids prefer (& the size virtually everyone mentioned). I also couldn't find a phone number nor an e-mail address on the e-bay site, or I would have asked in advance. However, when they wrote to confirm my order, I did get an e-mail address. That should allow me in the future to be able to narrow down my purchases to exactly what it is I need for my aquatic children.
I don't get to post nearly as much as I would like due to my crazy, hectic work schedule. Nevertheless, in the few short weeks this site has proven repeatedly to be such a boon to me!
As a novice, every step I take is based on what information I can find at the time. For example, I bought the original Koi food via Kodama Farms, as that was the best info I had & could be absolutely sure I'd be giving the kids high quality food. I next tried Fosters & Smith, as they tend to have great prices & usually great products. The price of their product wasn't too bad & it shipped free. However, the pellets were more like "crumbles" in size & my gang doesn't go for that nearly as much as the 1/4" pellets.
Would you believe the order I just placed is OVER half the cost of the Kodama Farms food? Doubtless it will be equally nutritious & I believe it will be the 1/4" sized. I've already written to them to find out which of the pellets from their site is good for color enhancement. The next purchase will likely be two bags - one of the "regular" pellets that I will blend with the "color enhancing". I believe in that way I will be providing them "The best of both worlds"!
BTW, Happy Mother's Day for all of you who are also Mom's of "aquatic children"!!
That food would also be good for goldfish?? I know they are not the spendy guys but they deserve good food too.
Bonita, there is a specific method of feeding color enhancing food. I saw it on a you tube of Andy Moo's. He owns Anderson Koi Farm in Anaheim, Cal. I think that's what I googled.
Also, another site you may find helpful is Dr. Eric Johnson a fish vet in Ga. He's made some real good you tube videos. Aqua Meds is one of his sponsors. When you have sick fish another good site in KoiCrisis.com. Dr. Johnson is also affiliated with that. He strongly stresses water quality when fish act sick. 1 UT has a checklist in order of what you check first before using any meds.
I have had sick fish and lost a lot too so learned the hard way but that doesn't mean it can't happen again. Merry Mary just lost a bunch of her very good ones and that's heartbreaking and I'm sure she has been raising koi for a long time. I feel so bad for her. I never would have considered toad sperm a hazard but now thanks to her sharing I know. I also called a prof at UF and had a chat with him.
Oberon, my son Jeff bought a Wakin which is a goldfish also and it is beautiful. Pronounced Wa Keen. Check them out on the web. Lots of great pictures.
Bonnie
Thanks Bonnie, I will. I had heard that Dr. Johnson had retired and his 'practice' was taken over by another guy. I spoke with him last year when going through my debacle with those koi I got out of Washington.
Oberon46 - And the forum at large - Are there places for buying Koi we should, as "ponders" put on a "blacklist", so to speak? (Or, not having posted enough on Dave's Garden to be aware of all the protocols, is that best left for private chats among "water garden forum" members?)
Thanks!
Bonita10
Sedona, AZ
This message was edited May 10, 2014 12:25 PM
I know we've discussed some bad plant sellers. I believe there's a list, if they are registered with DG, where you get to evaluate them (sort of like a DG Angie's List)
I personally like to buy locally when I buy. I like to see their behavior and body flaws or attributes. I have bought 2 at big koi show that were from out of state breeders but had good luck with them. M. Mary had given me a bunch that were fine until other got sick and it about infected the whole pond. I still have some from M. Mary that now are good sized. As far as color they can change over the years. It's all kind of like a crap shoot. You grow some you loose some. So many factors can influence their health it's sometimes difficult. I'm still hopping for a totally blue one but that may never happen. They seem rare. I have a couple that have a littler blue shading on sides but I really would love to get a solid blue one. I can hope.
Thanks Bonnie. I am excited to see how my little ones develop. Probably just muddy mutts but still interesting. The hard part will be if they are must muddy mutts what to do with them. I wouldn't want them proliferating in the pond. And it wouldn't be like flipping them on the bank for the seagulls.
I'm only about 15 miles from M. Mary but rarely see a seagull around here. See more sand hill cranes. Only a few come now into our pasture but years ago we had hundreds and it was a beautiful site. They love cracked corn but we aren't supposed to feed them. Haha
I had been buying from Arthur aquatics for years with no problem I also give mine earthworms from my garden.
I buy the small peas and gives them straight from the bag.
I will try the cheerios.
Belle
Got an e-mail and Arthur Aquatics has a sale on fish food now.
Drats! Just ordered 50lbs!
Bonnie
what do you think about the food? I am looking at the bulk koi food. 20# for $28. I have been looking to order more food and really have not wanted to spend $40 for 20#.
I am looking at 20# because I lost the food I had leftover from last year, so only want to buy a years worth at a time.
Let me know.
Thanks for the heads up on the food.
Carolyn
I just ordered another 50 lbs for $63.00 with free shipping.
Belle
Belle, that's what I pay on ebay. I've always been happy with it. I believe he also sells 20 lbs bag.
Carolyn,
I buy in 50lb. bags cause here we feed sometimes through the winter cause water temps don't drop very often. Now that I have those larger pigs (fish) we use up more food. I feed them twice a day usually. Not today cause we had bad thunder & lightening storm and I don't go out in that.
I store it in AC utility room and just fill large plastic container to take out near pond and leave.
So far haven't lost any to mildew or dampness cause AC keeps room cool.
If you can get by with 20 lb. for a season you are lucky. My smaller fish act like they are starving every time I feed them. Got 1 I can pop a pellet right into her mouth.
Hope all your fish are doing fine.
Bonnie
Fish are doing well Bonnie..... ^_^
I am hoping that the 20# is enough. If not, then I can get some at Lowes or Petsmart to get me through. At least I won't have the rot that I did end up with if I do it this way and if there is anything leftover, it will fit in the tub in the kitchen with the spring/fall food.
I always buy the 50lbs and store them in the huge dog food container I found at pet smart. I had never noticed spoilage.
Belle
Normally I don't have anything spoiling either. We always had ours in a garbage can we had just for the koi food, but it stayed outside year round. This past year, moisture must have gotten into the can and it ruined a half a 44# bag of koi food. We won't be doing that anymore - especially seeing as I have the spring/fall koi food in a tub in the kitchen.