What Do Baby Koi Fish Eat? (Foods & Diet)
Baby koi fish are not able to consume foods that Koi fish eat, due to their ability to intake the foods and their digestive system. Hence, it is important to know what do baby koi fish eat.
Baby koi fish eat algae, brine shrimps, wheat germs, powdered fish flakes, and pellets. These foods are beneficial for their health and add value to their growth.
Do You Need To Feed Baby Koi Fish?
Of course, you need to feed baby koi fish. Baby koi fish need a diet consisting of required nutrition, and that’s why you need to feed them a variety of foods to meet their nutritional requirement for growth.
The baby koi have small mouths and special nutritional needs. As a result, they require nutritional food that is small enough for them to eat.
For the first few days, a liquid or suspended-particle meal is ideal. Remember to adjust the feeding amount according to the diet that works best for koi babies.
Too much food pollutes the water, and too little will starve the baby koi. You can buy live foods available in the market or start making your own.
Commercial foods, particularly baby koi meal kits, are a real blessing for newbies. Another option is tubed liquid food. Moreover, koi can eat human foods but it is not advisable for baby koi and live foods can be purchased in the form of eggs or hatched at home.
On the other hand, Brine shrimp is a good example. You can stock up on powdered fish flakes, freeze-dried krill powder, frozen daphnia cubes, and koi pellets.
Many people follow a popular chicken egg recipe for the first few days after birth, and this meal is entirely protein, which is essential for raising healthy children.
What Foods Can Baby Koi Fish Eat?
The smallest form of fish food, flake fish food, is preferred by small and baby koi. Pellets are best for medium-sized koi, while bars of fish food are best for larger koi.
Mostly contain a high protein content, a small amount of fat, and essential vitamins and nutrients.
Worms, larvae, tadpoles, shrimp, and clams are also popular. Bread and similar foods are difficult for your fish to digest.
You can also give them fish pellets. Check that they are in a small size that your baby koi fish can easily consume. The popular food that can baby koi fish eat is described below.
Algae
The blue-green algae are easily available in the water and grow on their own. They are tiny, only reaching half a millimeter in length.
So, they are simple and easy to eat for baby koi fish. Feeding algae to koi baby fish are beneficial in their faster growth, improving digestion, boosting the immune system, and helping prevent swollen abdomens.
With that, algae help in the Increased production of special enzymes that break down fats into energy.
Wheat Germ
It is not a toxic germ, so do not be concerned. This is just the part of the wheat that emerges and grows into a new plant, also known as the wheat seed.
Wheat germs are helpful in the improvement of the growth and development of baby koi fish.
It also contains vitamin E, which improves blood circulation, increases oxygen and nutrient, promotes balanced growth, and aids in disease prevention.
Brine Shrimp
Brine shrimp is known as bio-enrichment in terms of scientific explanation. Although Brine shrimp filter water by eating whatever they can find in it, which is not much due to their small size.
The nutrients they consume are passed on to the fish that eat them. Brine shrimps are especially beneficial for feeding newly hatched koi.
Fish Food
The smallest form of fish food, flake fish, is recommended for small and baby koi. Pellets are nutritious and beneficial to feeding your baby koi fish.
Moreover, it contains a high protein content, a small amount of fat, and essential vitamins and nutrients.
Worms, larvae, tadpoles, shrimp, and clams are also common among baby koi fish to eat. Before serving them any food, make sure to cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Throw a bunch into the pond. Allow the koi to eat as much as they can see before adding the next handful.
Any food that has been left in the pond must be removed, and this prevents it from degrading and lowering the water quality.
Best Foods To Feed Baby Koi Fish
You can feed your koi baby fish a variety of foods, including fresh foods, freeze-dried foods, and prepared foods.
Fresh and freeze-dried foods can be added as supplements to prepared pellets, designed to meet all the nutritional needs of baby koi fish.
Although prepared foods come in various shapes and sizes, they are also available in floating and sinking varieties.
Moreover, Fresh and freeze-dried foods include blood worms, brine shrimp, clams, and chopped vegetables and soft fruits to feed them.
All of them are suitable for supplemental feeding. Also, baby Koi fish eat algae, plants, insects, worms, seeds, and anything else you are serving them in their tank. Feeding your baby koi fish is simply a way for you and your fish to bond and have fun.
How To Feed Baby Koi Fish?
For the first week, feed liquid food frequently. The fry should be fed in small amounts four or five times per day as they grow.
Give them strained hard-boiled egg yolk for the first few days to help their stomachs expand. After one week, give newly hatched brine shrimp larvae.
Cut any food you are serving to them into smaller pieces to make it easy for baby koi fish to consume. Moreover, any food left in the pond must be removed, preventing it from degrading and lowering the water quality.
How Often & How Much To Feed Baby Koi Fish?
It is determined by their age, size, and season. But you can feed baby koi fish 4-5 times a day. Then there is the question of how much you are keen to invest in buying good food for them.
When it comes to baby koi food, buying in bulk is always cheaper. Some formulas have color-enhancing properties, while others are vitamin-fortified to help your koi fish’s immunity. Aside from that, it is often a matter of personal choice.
Feed your koi fish babies many as four times per day, and make sure to feed them only as much as they can eat in around five minutes.
Baby koi requires a 32-36 percent protein diet and 3-9 percent fat. You should also make sure that any baby koi food is low in phosphorus.
Too much phosphorous in a pond ecosystem will promote unchecked algae growth, causing additional health issues for koi and other fish species.
Can Baby Koi Fish Eat Pellets?
Pellets are one of the ideal foods to feed your baby koi fish. Food pellets are available in a variety of sizes.
There is an assumption that the larger the pellet, the more nutrients it holds. However, this is not true.
Small pellets have the same nutritional value as large pellets and are easier for baby koi to consume and digest.
Summary
Food that baby koi fish eat is easily available in the market and nearby stores. As baby koi fish need a balanced diet for their growth, you need to feed baby koi fish various foods.
Also, do not feed them a particular type of food continuously as it may lead to severe health problems due to deficiency of nutrition required from other foods.
