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  • Results 1 to 14 of 14

    Thread: Average grow for Koi

    1. #1
      hp is offline Senior Member
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      Average grow for Koi

      Hi everyone!

      I have seen people like Mitch growing his fish ~13 inches/year . And I remember reading in here that a lot members got good grow for their fishes in the first 2-3 years. However, Like Mitch, he’s in southern CA where he can feed his fishes all year round. The winter temp there is almost like our summer here in specific northwest.

      Here in specific northwest, if we are lucky, we can really feed the fishes from June to mid-September when the water tem is above 60F. My pond water is probably above 70F for less than 3 months a year (mid June to August in a hot year). And I remember reading in here that fishes grow best in ~70-80F?

      So, I am in my 2nd year koi ponding.. I saw most of my young fishes grow 2-3 inches last year with my feeding rate ~3 times/day during summer months. This year, I bought an auto feeder and will feed 7-8 times a day (less amount, more frequent, and total food will be much more than last year).

      So, my questions are:
      1. With an average koi (not jumbo tosai type), and average food, what is an average grow rate per month during feeding season (during their young age)? 1 inch/month?
      2. What is one thing you did/improved that give you notable grow? (like changing water more often, using higher protein food, etc..?)
      3. For those that live in seasonal growing regions like me, what is your experience in term of growing?

      I am just curious and want to learn so I know what to expect. I keep looking at my kois every day and don’t see them grow

      NOTE: Assuming that filter system is adequate to support feeding season, so I don’t want this thread to discuss about filter

      hp.

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    2. #2
      sactownkoi is offline Senior Member
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      Everyone have different technique on feeding fish. Is what ever best for your pond/fish and filter. To that said I feed my fish about 5-6 months out of the year and the other 5-6 is just fasting for them. So far I have raise 8 koi over 30" from tosai and the biggest one so far is 37". I start feeding very lightly usually the last week of May or the first week of June after they fast for the winter. Slowly increasing food each week and when the temperature starting to go down again for the fall (so for this area is like mid August to end of September) is when the feeding is very heavy like 7-8 times a day about 1.5 pounds of food for 12 koi and also increase water change too to keep up with the feeding. And lastly October I start to decrease there feeding slowing it down each week until about the first or second week of November and they start their fasting and the cycle begin all over again next year.

    3. #3
      hp is offline Senior Member
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      Thanks for sharing and that is very impressive. How long did it take to get to the current size?

      thanks,
      hp.

      Quote Originally Posted by sactownkoi View Post
      Everyone have different technique on feeding fish. Is what ever best for your pond/fish and filter. To that said I feed my fish about 5-6 months out of the year and the other 5-6 is just fasting for them. So far I have raise 8 koi over 30" from tosai and the biggest one so far is 37". I start feeding very lightly usually the last week of May or the first week of June after they fast for the winter. Slowly increasing food each week and when the temperature starting to go down again for the fall (so for this area is like mid August to end of September) is when the feeding is very heavy like 7-8 times a day about 1.5 pounds of food for 12 koi and also increase water change too to keep up with the feeding. And lastly October I start to decrease there feeding slowing it down each week until about the first or second week of November and they start their fasting and the cycle begin all over again next year.

    4. #4
      sactownkoi is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by hp View Post
      Thanks for sharing and that is very impressive. How long did it take to get to the current size?

      thanks,
      hp.
      It usually takes me about 6-7 years to get a koi over 30" my yamabuki is 37" now and she is 13 years old. I rehome 4 of them because is really hard on the filter so right now I have 4 koi over 30" in the pond. I have two showa one is at 31" and one is at 30" also a chagoi at 34" and of course the yama and the other 8 koi range from 12" to about 28".

    5. #5
      *Ci*'s Avatar
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      I live in the PacNW - similar climate to Seattle, same short growing season.

      I inherited two koi, an Ochiba at about 9” and a Chagoi at 6”, early summer of 2016. Two years later they are both at about 18”.
      I only feed twice or three times a day, The first two summers I used Kenzen, and then switched to an even higher quality food (based in the ingredients list) called Northfin, available to me in Canada.

      https://www.petland.ca/products/nort...ifferent-sizes

      I only feed a total of two tbls. of food per koi per day. Very small 600g. pond but with good filtration, flow thru and close attention to maintenance/water quality. I was hoping they would grow slowly!
      So, to answer your question, I attribute their size gains to their breeds, which are known to get big, water quality and to the foods I have chosen.

      The feeding ring is 18” diameter. The platinum longfin is a new addition at about 7”. We’ll see how fast she grows!
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      Last edited by *Ci*; 07-18-2018 at 02:17 PM.
      ________________________________________
      Cheers,
      Ci


    6. #6
      ricshaw is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by hp View Post
      So, my questions are:
      1. With an average koi (not jumbo tosai type), and average food, what is an average grow rate per month during feeding season (during their young age)? 1 inch/month?
      2. What is one thing you did/improved that give you notable grow? (like changing water more often, using higher protein food, etc..?)
      3. For those that live in seasonal growing regions like me, what is your experience in term of growing?
      1. I can't comment on growth rate per month, but I have noticed over the 40 years of growing tosai (my Koi hobby), genetics makes a huge difference. I use to get 2" - 4" a year, now 6" - 7" is more common.

      2. Breaking up feeding daily amount of food into 6 - 7 times a day during warmer months.

      3. Can't comment... live in Southern California.


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    7. #7
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      Do water changes, keep the water in good condition, and feed them. Genetics will do the rest. Your biggest issue was your temps. If you are looking for more growth, one of the best options is to extend your grow season. You can add a heater and get the pond warmer earlier in the season and keep it warmer longer into the fall before shutting it off for the winter. Alternatively you could look at heated holding tanks over the winter that can keep you growing year round. I have seen a number of garage tanks/ponds here that were done well and helped people get the growth they wanted.



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      Just because its not a Great Koi doesn't mean its not a Great Koi...Me circa 2013

    8. #8
      My2butterflies is offline Senior Member
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      I agree that for those of us that have short feeding seasons bringing them inside in the winter is the best way to get more growth.
      One of my koi that was between 3”-4” back in September of last year is now 16”. Meanwhile I have one that was bought the month before from the same batch it was 3” and is now only 7” maybe 8”(totally guessing here). The first one was wintered inside, and the second was kept outside. So big difference. Both are fed the same since the pond warmed up.

    9. #9
      OCkoiFan's Avatar
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      Hey friend thanks for the praise up
      I think somehow I got lucky with that kohaku
      Honestly I don’t feed my main pond that much from Dec to May but yes I kept the tosai under cover and did use some trick to keep water over or close to 70F to achieve that growth

      I would say you will need to grow them 1-1.2” avg/month in the best months
      Which means water temp closer to 75-77F
      High protein food over 40%
      Try feed 2-3% assume super filtration
      A lot water change don’t get nitrate over 20ppm
      I don’t do PP but a good friend addicted to it and cleanup DOC well

      I’m mix float and sink foods which give the tosai more chances to eat since they don’t go up wells
      Catfish gave me the ideal and even share the food last year

      Other than that time and experience trial and error
      Y’all get there too
      Chao
      M.Nguyen


    10. #10
      davidjensen's Avatar
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      Some fish grow faster than others. They either have the gene or they don’t. I have a yamabuki only 6 years old and 26” long. He is the fastest growing fish I’ve ever had. I also have a Showa 6 years old and only 16”. The amount of food you feed does not necessarily determine the growth rate. After many years with your pond you will know how much your filtration can handle and it’s this limitation that you need to watch for.
      Need more Koi

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    11. #11
      hp is offline Senior Member
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      Thanks everyone. Great inputs. Look like Genetic is critical and then we have to do everything else right to maximize its potential.

      I do have indoor growing tank in mind but maybe a few more years down the road. I am just focusing on the main pond for now, and made few modification to get it right first.

      hp.

    12. #12
      CALHOUN is offline Senior Member
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      I never could get a fish to 30” with my old pond so this time around for my fish I decided to try all jumbo tosai, they came from a few different breeders all imports. First off I was amazed at the size of them when I got them, a lot of them were 12-14” already in the spring when I got them. The first batch went in around the end of May and the second around the end of June. I have two that I think are close to 18” now! In my old pond that was a 3yold fish for me. My hopes are to grow 30” plus fish, I have taken videos and pictures before they went it so this fall I’ll pull some and see how much they actually grew. I have two fish that were not jumbo tosai, so will be fun to see if there’s any real difference in the end.

    13. #13
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      Quote Originally Posted by OCkoiFan View Post
      Hey friend thanks for the praise up
      I think somehow I got lucky with that kohaku
      Honestly I don’t feed my main pond that much from Dec to May but yes I kept the tosai under cover and did use some trick to keep water over or close to 70F to achieve that growth

      I would say you will need to grow them 1-1.2” avg/month in the best months
      Which means water temp closer to 75-77F
      High protein food over 40%
      Try feed 2-3% assume super filtration
      A lot water change don’t get nitrate over 20ppm
      I don’t do PP but a good friend addicted to it and cleanup DOC well

      I’m mix float and sink foods which give the tosai more chances to eat since they don’t go up wells
      Catfish gave me the ideal and even share the food last year

      Other than that time and experience trial and error
      Y’all get there too
      Chao

      I'm very intrigued by this thread. I have ten koi ranging from 30" to 13" (30", 27", 27",23", 23", 19", 17", 14", 13", 13") inches. Ive estimated the total weight of my ten fish to be about 30kgs (per koiphen calculator estimates). At 3%, I'm suppose to feed 900grams of food per day according to multiple sources. I have no doubt these sources are correct, however when I even attempt to feed this much, this get messy(even at 1%). As in, the koi intake the food, chew it up and start spitting food up to the point where the water has a ton of suspended food particles until they get sucked into the filter. Also, I do not like when there is uneaten floating food for more than a couple of minutes.

      It usually takes me about a week to feed 900 grams of food. I spread my feedings over 7 or 8 times a day too. I guess I really don't know what my question is, but I'm just perplexed how people are able to do this 3% body weight thing. I've never had problems with filtration and would like to push their growth but....... I guess I'm a little unsure about how to go about this. Can anyone share their pond conditions during these mass feedings..... in terms of suspended or leftover food, etc? I just want to make sure I don't kill my fish.

    14. #14
      OCkoiFan's Avatar
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      Zagkoi
      The percentage is just a ball park number given by fish industry lalala
      I feed my koi no where near the 3% mark because yes my water will be cloudy and sacrificed
      Usually I have a fixed number that set for the feeder and I observe morning and evening if they still hungry I would Give them a few more hand tosses
      Right now I’m feeding around 2% and by Oct to mid Nov that is the only month I would do close to 3% with more condition and observation
      1- temperature slowly drop down from 78F to 65F base on socal weather
      2- they eat more aggressively at this range to prep up for winter
      3- waterchange maybe once every other day
      4- the best food in the world will be mix and use for snacks “silkworms”
      Plus dumping a pound of high quality food vs low quality food does make a difference
      But hey I respect catfish chow as some people “favorite”

      Remember my system is different from your and only you know best about it
      M.Nguyen


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