Good food choice?

[Ta2ude]

What do you suggest for a quality food?

[Jackie Ramo]

For me, personally, there is not one food that is the magic pill. Fish like humans and dogs need a variety of foods. This includes a variety of pellets as well as fresh fruit and veggies a few shrimp and garden worms.

[luke frisbee]

for what size koi, for when, and what do you want to have happen? :frisbee:

[Ta2ude]

Luke there are six 8 inch koi, I am feeding them now indoors at about 62 degrees and I want them to get big and healthy.

[Werner]

Ta2ude---

Here's a recpie from Bil Wight who has done the most research on scratch Koi food recipes:

Gelatin based food mix. This is the latest recipe. So far it holds together better in the water and forms a nice malleable dough. It freezes well, if it is a bit sticky, when thawed, just dust it with a bit of seaweed flour.

For 1 Kg (approx)

600g fish paste
150g seaweed flour
40g clay
100g egg white powder. (aka albumin in the UK from carp bait sellers eg http://www.ccmoore.com/ £8 a kilo.)
6 Vit B complex pills
1/2 teaspoon of vit C powder
Two cloves of garlic.

The paste is easier now. You need a mincer/grinder tho, not a blender.

I cook up the herring or mackerel with no water, allow to cool and add an equal weight of prawn heads, put it thru the mincer and mix together. Gives a lovely thick paste. Bag it into 600g amounts and freeze. Obviously the base paste can be made in fairly large amounts if you wish. 5 kilos of herring plus 5 kilos of prawn heads will give enough paste to make 16 kilos of food.

On the day, take 600g of the thawed fish paste, and stir in 100g of egg white powder until it goes to a sticky paste.
Mix in six crushed vit B tabs and 1/4 teaspoon Vit C powder, followed by 25 ccs oil (codliver and safflower/sunflower 50:50 plus a bit of wheatgerm oil if you like).
Then stir in 40g Refresh clay, and when that is mixed weigh out 150g seaweed flour. Add the flour and knead well to make a dough. Don't use all the seaweed flour if you don't need it, as too much will make the paste too dry and crumbly.

Also feed some fresh veg like squash, sweet potatoes etc and some live food, prawn tails and mussels. For squash or pumpkin, I skin it and cube it into suitable sizes, drop it into boiling water , bring to the boil and simmer for about 3 - 4 minutes, less for small cubes, more for big. I then put it immediately into cold water to stop it cooking. I don't bother skinning sweet potatoes.

Crab/fish sticks are a good additive to cut up and feed. Nighttimes when it is wet out, I go out with a bucket with a perforated lid, collecting snails. Put enough crushed dry cardboard in fro them to sit on, and in a good day you can get enough for the fish for two or three days. Crush them so the shell shatters and throw them in whole.

You must be very careful not to harvest snails in areas where slug pellets are used. Small slugs are fine, but the big ones are a bit tough.

[Merlin]

Great recipe , but CRUSHED SNAILS !wow! I will stay clear of !rofl

[Jackie Ramo]

I throw the snails in whole the big guys crush them without me getting my fingers sticky. Also GG can't see the little slugs, she needs the big ones.

[TASSAJARA]

Werner, that recipe sounds too good for the fish, It might not all make it to the pond. :lol:
I love cooking, but sandy would kill me if I put anything near what you described into our blender. They are going to just get what I buy like the dogs do. BTW, you should be glade, I have bought food from you. :smile:

[Jackie Ramo]

So Werner is putting himself out of busniess here, can't have that!!!

Frankly if Smith found out I was cooking for the fish it would be grounds for divorce. He puts up with me cooking for the dog and not for him but the fish... no I don't think so :smile:

[Busy B]

I wonder how freezer burnt halibut and salmon would do?...Too much protein?

[Jackie Ramo]

I don't see why it would be to much protien. I feed worms and slugs and shrimp spring and fall. Certainly a few treats won't hurt.

[Werner]

Jeez--What a bunch of wuzzies. :lol:

For serious prepared food, Hikari gold floats my boat, but, I still like Tetra for being the most transparent Koi food. It creates much less waste and slimy filter clogging matter than any of the others I've tried.

I think my new slogan will be: "Werner's Water Gardens, putting himself out of business for decades":???:

Hi Tassajara :wave:

[Ian]

Thanks Werner for posting that recipe here. Don,t play in the kitchen much so the koi are spared :grin:
I like Hikari Wheat germ for most of the year and when water hits 70F then Gold and or excel if you want brighter reds. This year tried Yokozuna with a higher protein in the warm months and was very pleased.

[Jackie Ramo]

The medikoi I got from Terri is very good, the fish like it and less waste in the filter so far. I also feed Danaichi in summer they really like it and its another clean food.

Werer I am surprised you talk of Tetra, I have my old guy Tweet who was raised on Tetra and truly loves it but perhaps I've been listening to bad press on other boards :grin:

[Werner]

JACKIE--The plethora of prepared Koi foods out there is truly amazing. Part of the popularity is due to profit margins, part due to ease of manufacturing. Getting past the market hype is also difficult, since the claims are sometimes astounding to the point of incredibility. Perhaps we should eat it, after all it could make us immortal :roll:

Ingredient lists and nutritional information are not much help, as fish meal could be fish guts, meat protein could be derived from chicken feathers or dog hair and then who's checking these factories for the correct amount of ingredients, especially when they just completed a run of dog or cat food.

I've received quite a few samples of different kind of Koi and Fish food and in my real world tests, have found them lacking. Dainichi for example, in my indoor display Aquariums, colored my water brown and produced a slimy coating on my filter pads that was hard to remove with a normal pad rinse.

Tetra, in my situation, creates the least waste and has the most and longest scientific research behind it, that's why I still recomend it.

How's about this new slogan: "WWG inc The Truth Shall Keep Me Poor :unsure: "

[Busy B]

:lol:

There's not many options here..not too many people have ponds so Tetra is normally the staple. That and Laguna.

I online ordered in some Hikari wheatgerm..maybe it was just the change of taste, but they were quite happy.

[Jackie Ramo]

Werner, I've not had problems with Danaichi food although I read some one said their filters smelled of garlic when using it. Over feeding was my thought!! But then I never feed my fish the amount that folks say they should get. None of them seem to suffer from excess hunger or look skinny. They sure do like it and poop less out.

I find the fish poop a lot on Tetra but that it breaks down easily. I like the medikoi I got from Terri but the other Japanese food I don't like and won't buy again if I remember the name of it... Old Tweet will be so happy to see some Tetra in his mix again.So you've made someone happy with your post!

I also feed more that one type of pellet figuring this way all the bases are covered.

[Werner]

Jackie-- It's my understanding Medi Koi is a medicated food and should not be fed unless a illness is present, are your fish sick?

My display tanks in the store hold quite a number of fish which are never overfed. In order to keep the water crystal clear we use Marineland Penguin bio wheel filters. I noticed the coloration problem with Dainichi almost immediately and the slimy filter problem within 3 days. You probably wouldnt notice it in a pond at all or as much. A call the the Rep. was answered by the algae we use for the color and binders we use for the slime.

Indigestible binders are another thing that should be stated on the label. My understanding is that some foods contain as much as 40% while 25% seems to be the low. The $ 5.00 a lb now becomes $ 9.00 and clogs up your filter 15% faster.

Like you I believe in a variety of live, prepared (at home) and manufactured foods, after all I wouldn't want to eat broccoli every night (or at any time for that matter).

How's about this one: "Overhead Is Not A Garage Door"

[Terri]

Actually what I gave Jackie was MEDI CARP - not Medi Koi. Medi Carp is not a medicated food - bad name choice on the manufacturer's part I suppose as it's often confused with Medi Koi.

[Werner]

Allrightie then--Thanks Terri

Another: We've Lost 3 Billion bacteria This Week

[luke frisbee]

don't shoot me but I heard that there was a new food coming
Better and cheaper than all the others...the preliminary name for it has been suggested..if you go to other sites you may find out about it...i just can't say it...i just can't (you'd be so mad at me !bonk )

[Werner]

Well color me purple and call me a grape this will be sooooo great, another speck of vomit into Koikingdomcom :-(

another: Please Them All, Watch Us Fall

[Jackie Ramo]

I like the 3 billion one Werner


!rofl Luke dear we are never mad at you....

[koicrazy]

Used Ogata regular in warmer time of year. Ogata wheat germ in the cooler season, Was real happy with growth and whites got alot better. Marc

[luke frisbee]

anybody get the King Koiphenator Food yet? !rofl

[Jackie Ramo]

Yeah I got 3 bags, hubby thinks it tastes great :lol:

[Ian]

You would be joking luke????

[luke frisbee]

What about the "King" part? You didn't hear?

actually he is still gathering the great koi nutritionists and compiling the formula....in an E-store near you SOON. (so he said) :lol:

[Jackie Ramo]

Actually I've had spam mails in the past offering some food for sale. Didn't buy it. Hubby is fat enough without extra treats :grin:

[Ian]

O.k Luke, Terri filled me in a little... but we stay well clear of the dark side.. Just hope they don't get raided by the FBI and set themselves on fire :-?
What is the story Luke and do we need a priest for this??