Koi Question

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seraph

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 21, 2009
74
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Glen Ellyn, IL
I got a little 3 inch koi last winter and he had beautiful orange, red and black metallic colors. Once spring time came around, I moved him into the pond. This winter I pulled him out and put him in my 125 gallon and noticed he lost the orange and red colors and is now black and white...is this common?

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SDC11328-1.jpg


sorry for the poor resolution, i'll try to get a current picture of him...
 
At the size you have, your koi will change colors as it matures. The koi could fade out and lose all its color, or it can improve on its colors it all ready has. I have koi that look totally different after a year. They look nothing like when i first got them.
 
seraph;4770285; said:
I got a little 3 inch koi last winter and he had beautiful orange, red and black metallic colors. Once spring time came around, I moved him into the pond. This winter I pulled him out and put him in my 125 gallon and noticed he lost the orange and red colors and is now black and white...is this common?

0125001857.jpg


SDC11328-1.jpg


sorry for the poor resolution, i'll try to get a current picture of him...
Click to expand...

Some notes when keeping koi and points that can influence change:

  • Genes! ( Bloodline of koi) How strong was genetics and what did the mother/father koi pass on to it's sibling
  • Water Quality! Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, KH, GH, ORP, Conductivity are just a few. Different koi can sometimes favor different water conditions. It is one of the reasons that koi are breed and raised in diffirent regions of Japan.
  • Diet! Often over looked a koi's diet is important to it's developement. If feed the wrong diet can also possibly lead to the koi finishing/peaking too early or bleaching if you will. Hence you end up with a great koi early on and turns ugly later on. One thing is for sure, when looking at the quality of koi.....you can't make a bad fish good with just food alone. It starts with the genes! :)
 
Noting on this as well, if you bought these fish from a corporate pet store, they more than likely won't turn out into anything special. They get all the culled patterened low grade koi.

Only once I found a nice koi at a petstore. Petco- as is his name as well.. he's a great looking fish, but his growth is stunted.
 
We have one Koi from Petco - grows faster than our 3 other koi, but color is not as good as the Koi from our local landscaping company that employs a KOI pond specialist year round. You get what you pay for (most of the time) but some times you can get lucky.
 
Natural food sources and natural sunlight also play a componet.

Like stated earilier, Koi will change color as the grow and mature.

How big and deep is the outdoor pond? Why not leave him out?
 
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