The Top Five Tips For New Koi Hobbyists

As part of our Readers Question Time feature one of our Facebook followers recently asked "What do you consider to be the best advice for someone starting their journey into koi keeping?"

Funnily enough, I’ve recently produced an article for the Italian Koi Association and they asked me a very similar question!

Whether you’ve recently got into koi keeping, or are thinking about setting up your own pond, here are my five top tips for successfully keeping koi:

1. Buy a test kit

It is absolutely essential that you buy a test kit to check your water parameters are suitable for your koi. There are so many variables that can affect the quality of your water and in my opinion you should not own fish without a test kit to understand what is going on it their environment. A small investment in a test kit could save a lot of heartache in the long run if your fish become ill, or even die.

Linked to getting a test kit, it is important that a hobbyist keeps a record of their water levels over time. If your pond develops a problem the historical information will help to identify when a change occurred and will help to pinpoint what has caused the issue.

2. Find the right retailer for you

My second recommendation is to find a koi retailer that you feel you can trust, and can return to for advice in the future. If you are starting out the best way to get a feel for the retailer is to visit their shop (right now this may not be easy with Covid restrictions and we’d recommend that you wait until it is safe for you to travel) and ask some general questions to understand how helpful they may be. You’ll also get a good feeling for the retailer based on the quality and appearance of their stock – if the fish look healthy, or if for example they are flashing, or showing any other signs of discomfort.

Over time, the more you use your trusted koi retailer, the more they will understand your specific pond set up and they more they will be able to provide invaluable advice to you.

If you get a poor feeling for a retailer then simply walk away before you purchase – there are lots of other retailers out there that will be able to help you.

3. Observe your fish

You need to know when your fish are happy and to do this you need to observe them regularly. Look out for any changes in the way they behave as this will alert you to any problems in your pond, whether that is as a result of a parasite, or as a water problem.

It is important that you learn to observe the water as well as the fish – how it smells, as well as how it looks.

4. Act on problems immediately

As soon as you see a problem in your pond, act on it straight away. Catching a parasite or change in water quality early on could mean the difference between your koi being healthy or dying and infecting the rest of your stock in a matter of hours.

5. Think about what you're feeding your koi

Nutrition is vital to keeping koi healthy, don’t buy a certain food just because it is the cheapest. I would recommend always reading the ingredients, and on the whole go for a product that is high in fishmeal. Some lower quality products include high percentages of cereal or poultrymeal, I would avoid these at all costs as they are not as easy for the fish to digest which can lead to future problems in your pond.

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