Koi Food in India

Well another hot topic and personal review on something that is much less talked about in India  .

"Koi food "– well India especially the south has no so called cold season –water temperature hardly drops below 10⁰  C, well this simply means your koi are ready to eat at any point of time .

Growth rates currently achieved in India actually match those of Japanese mud ponds, sometimes better it too!. People I know have done it .What do they Feed ??

Well they predominantly feed what is available in India..

Now what is available in India and what do they contain ?.Here is a quick review on what is available .

A primary market leader is the Perfect Companion Group . They are leading with their Optimum Brand Koi Feed …

Let’s look at one by one …..and we can help you get them at the cheapest rates – note we are not dealers but enthusiasts who want to help you with the info. Also all of  these have been personally used by me , well actually by my Koi..

A primary market leader is the Perfect Companion Group . They are leading with their Optimum Brand Koi Feed …

Optimum Nishikigoi (~ Rs 2000 for 3 Kgs )

Selling Points

• Is a special formulation for all  carp fish
• Daliy Use  Formular  with spirulina 3 %  suitable for carp fish  to help your carp maintain  bright  coloration.
• Ergo Design elliptical shape conforms to the fish's mouth shape and esophagus making it  very easy to capture and swallow.
• Decrease head and bone deformities, and prevent “plump fish” conformation by reducing fat deposition. 
• Complete nutrition  and Vitamins
• Non - Water fouling

Flavor(s) and Size(s)

• Large pellet : 3 kg., 7kg.

Review

Does what it actually promises, but pls be warned ,the food contains high amount of spriulina , so much that the colour is green , now what’s is wrong ? Spirunila is not easily digestible by Koi and is almost never completely digested .So expect a lot of waste on the pre-filters and for person like me it is a daily task ..

Now spriulina gives only red color so too much and the entire fish goes pink even the whites -- no problem for the bigger fish as it would not be noticeable, but for smaller fish you tend to see it.

But the beauty of the food is in the shape , it can be easily eaten by fish of all size (not fry of course)..

 Were to buy …

You can contact us in case you are facing any difficulties getting this locally   or you can always use e-bay.

Available with  Mr Ayappan of PVR Koi farms , PVR farms use only this product for their KOI..

Optimum Hi Pro Growth and Colour (~Rs 2000 for 3 Kgs )

Selling Points

• Spirulina  6 %  : Suitable for all carp fish to  enhance the coloration of fish
• Contains  Astaxanthin enhances the brilliant natural color of carp fish
• Helps promote growth, decrease head and bone deformities, and prevent “plump fish” conformation by reducing fat deposition.
• Complete nutrition  and Vitamins 13 variances
• Non - Water fouling

Flavor(s) and Size(s)

• Small Pellet : 1.5 kg., 15 kg.  Medium Pellet : 1.5 kg., 7kg., 15 kg.  Large Pellet : 1.5 kg., 7kg.,15 kg

Review .

A good food for overall development but the cons would be the colour additive “Astaxanthin” and added , your smaller kois will turn pink for sure but its not an actual damage and will go away as soon as you reduce or stop feeding for some time , the effect is not noticeable in larger kois. The pros would be that Koi growth is faster and the food is easily digestible as well as less waste on pre-filter.

Many other types of Otimum Hi Pro (High Protein )is available  but in smaller bags.

Available with  Mr Purush Narayan of Genichi farms.

Godrej Aquafeed .

Most commonly available and really cost effective but comes in huge sacks meant for fish farmers and not for kois ..I would seriously recommend against using  this ,but in emergencies while waiting for koi special food . There is nothing wrong in the contents as far as I know, but its designed to beef fish up and not necessary adhere to body conformation.

‘Hikari’ the world leader in volume business for Koi has recently entered India .Lets have a quick look at some of the brands available .

Hikari Economy (~2000 INR )

A Basic, Daily Diet For Koi Offering Quality & Value Only The Market Leader Could Develop

1. A balanced nutrient profile providing the basic nutritional components your pond pet requires to develop at a predictable pace.
2. Includes Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate, naturally rich in Carotenoids, to help prevent fading over time and improve brilliance.
3. A floating pellet free of artificial colors and flavors, offering your aquatic pet the nutrition they require and you a value oriented feeding cost.
4. Contains stabilized vitamin C which has been shown to reduce stress in fish kept in an enclosed aquatic environment. Stress can lead to an increased risk of health issues.

Well  Value for money and recommended Personally by me .The beauty is in the packaging with a quick release  cotton thread seal ..

Now getting on to foods that have not been tested by me 

Sakai Hikari

Advanced diet for specific purposes .

Well if you want the Shiroji to glow or the red to deepen then use the sakai range for a show or special koi . Would not recommend using always .

Were to buy …

You can contact us in case you are facing any difficulties getting this locally   or you can always use e-bay.

At this juncture I would like to mention Mr Vinit Desai who has most of Hikari brands of  food available.Mr Desai has endeared himself to us with his "virtuoso" customer service,and we will be ordering from him again soon .

Aqua-Life-Store

 Pls do mention that you have been redirected from us .

Blessed Water ---TDS and Koi

Well there is magic in water, And some waters are Truly Blessed ,its true and every Koi keeper understands this .how to get magical water was a quest that koi keepers have tried over the years , they have tried to add magical substances to the water to enhance beauty and growth .

Different chemical additives, and mud have been tried , People have argued either ways about the effectiveness, but the new trend is to remove stuff from water .

Keepers have tried to remove stuff from waters with different kind of filters over the years and we have finally arrived at Bakki Towers fed by rotary drums .. the journey  is far from over …if there was even a significant percentage of research like the ones going in to the latest electronic products then ,I would not be surprised that we would have some kind of very small “electrostaticaly  ionised” filters that can remove what exactly we want to remove at different stages .

Now remember this, most fish like Koi , Arowana  come from rivers , or small water streams puddle wetlands eg Betta etc.  so they are enriched by Rainwater ,(there are always exceptions like lake Malawi cichlids which survive in alkaline waters )

Now what is special about rain water – Let me introduce a new word Here “TDS” i.e. Total dissolved solids. Rain water is the purest form of water available in nature..

Now rain water will have a TDS of round about 12 PPM(parts per million) i.e. only  0.0012% of the entire volume is anything other than pure H₂0 . After it falls down to earth it flows down mixes with different substances on land and then the water will have a TDS of around 40 PPM .I am taking about water flowing in tropical river here ,like those flowing out of the Western Ghats or Himalayas .

Now what do you notice about the fish at the origins of these rivers ,like  Mahseer & Himalayan Cat fish – or the Mekong Catfish & Giant Carp , or the Arapaimas of the Amazon .

The same goes for the mountains of Nigata ..!

They grow huge, healthy and  have a huge span of life .isn’t that what we are trying to do .

Lets have a basic look at your normal water cycle that any Koi Keeper would follow. Fresh tap water at a TDS ~ 40 PPM , when feeds fish releases waste. 10 % water changes happen over each week. so in the time  of a week in a well stocked tank  your TDS would have risen to ~80 PPM.

Now even after a week or two more your TDS would have raised to 150 and by the end of the month your TDS would have risen to above 200 .. Water containing TDS concentrations below 1000 mg/litre is usually acceptable for human consumption, but is supposed to taste better than water at less than 200 PPM .Now hard water drinkers from places like “Bangalore” ,who are dependent on deep bore water tend to disagree ..But believe me once they get hooked to the taste of something like River Cavery, they would change ..

Now so how can you replicate this in an pond– invest in a TDS meter ,for starters .

–I have heard a lot about RO(Reverse Osmosis) water being the new magical water, not RO water directly but a small percentage mixed with the normal Pond water. To balance and keep the TDS at around 40 – You can do the process manually by adding an RO stage between your filtration system , You don’t even need the system that adds some solids back so that  the TDS is raised slightly . You can manually control these systems and  turn the RO device on alternate days or so, while monitoring the TDS in the tank periodically , As an RO output will be small no sudden changes will affect the fish..

Frequent water changes really can help you control TDS as well as lot of other  things- but huge water wastage is the downside  here .. you can do a 10% daily change as well as a 50% water change weekly , But this becomes a slow & tedious process .

Rain water feeding is a cost effective and great way, provided that you are in  south western Area Like Goa ,Mangalore etc ,blessed or cursed  (depending on your view point ) by almost 6 Months of rains and after that summer showers too .. You can hook up your tank with an overflow and rain water feed directly …Precaution against pH crash needs to be in place . 

For  an overall Koi keeper scenario RO Purifiers are a great option and if you connect part of the filter output to the system  and work it for enough time every week , or bring out your own schedule monitoring the TDS keeping it under 100 PPM, you have won half the battle..

Now well all i have done is to prove that , we cannot raise large Koi with a higher TDS !! but the vice versa is not always true .. Low TDS always  does not mean larger KOI ! It depends on Factors like Protein in food and Genetics too , But if you have the other parameters right , then the TDS helps out a lot .

It just accelerates the growth to the best possible extents...