What is a Koi Fish? Interesting & Fun Facts About It - How long do Koi Fish live? PetAddict

What is a Koi Fish? Koi fish is known as the National Fish of Japan, also known as Nishikigoi Carp (錦鯉) with its vibrant colors, feng shui meaning to bring luck, and is loved by many people worldwide. After thousands of years of domesticating, hybridizing, and bred, this fish produces more valuable types. This is also a costly fish. However, not everyone knows about the type of fish commonly kept in this aquarium. Let’s find out with Pet addict right away the characteristics, how to raise and take care.

Where are Koi Fish From?

Koi fish is originally from China; over hundreds of years has been domesticated by the Japanese, creating more than 100 species of colorful Koi fish today. Therefore, the Japanese Koi breed is better than the Chinese Koi, so people usually know more about the Japanese Koi.
They have been widely available and easily traded since 1914, when Japan had an exhibition of the breed in honor of Prince Hirohito in Tokyo. At the same time, the island of Niigata was officially renamed Niigata Koi, marking a turning point for the development of this special fish.
Until 1950, Japan sent experts to the United States to study and learn more about breeding methods and breeding. Since then, Koi fish has had the opportunity to spread around the world until now.

Shape Characteristics

Koi fish currently has more than 100 varieties, divided into 13 main types, with the following characteristics: It will often have a beautiful body, are extremely graceful, flexible with bright and vibrant colors so that it is often of high value.

Koi fish has a shape similar to a squid, with the body system as the main axis. The body has many beautiful colors and extremely diverse markings. Koi fish’s body is divided into 3 parts: head, body, and tail. The head of the Koi fish includes the eyes, the mouth, the body has pectoral fins, dorsal fins, the pelvic fins, and the tail has anal fins, the caudal fin will grow continuously, the whole body will be covered with a thick layer of scales.

Different varieties of Koi fish will have different characteristics from color, markings, appearance, and size… The average length of it falls between 80-100cm, especially some types of Koi formerly well-grown can be up to 2m long.

Behavior, Growth Ability of Koi Fish

Koi fish are gentle fish, relatively easy to keep. However, the care needs to be very meticulous and thorough.
Koi live on quite a lot on weather conditions and the surrounding environment. If the ambient temperature changes, the color, and shape of the fish will also change.

Koi fish have quite good health; previously, it can live up to 230 years, but through many generations of breeding, life expectancy has decreased significantly. If cared for in ideal conditions, their current lifespan can be 25-40 years.

When keeping Koi fish, they must be used to the breeding environment for a few years, after which they will begin to lay eggs. With a 2-3 years old female, Koi can lay 150-200 thousand eggs at a time.

Koi fish usually spawn at 4-5 am; eggs from 24-48 hours later will hatch in temperature from 28-30 degrees Celsius.

How to Raise and Care for Koi Fish?

Fish Culture Temperature

The best temperature to raise Koi fish is from 20-25 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is too high, the fish will die easily, and if the temperature is too low, it will affect the ability to grow and reproduce.

Please do not change the temperature of the water suddenly because it will cause the fish to die. In addition, when it is colder in winter and hotter in summer, it is necessary to maintain a stable lake temperature.

Conditions of the Aquarium

Maintaining the pH in the aquarium at 7.0 – 7.5 is reasonable to avoid increasing the hardness of the water. The higher the hardness, the more oxygen will condense on the surface of the aquarium and make the fish more likely to die due to lack of oxygen in the water.

Do not plant aquatic plants in Koi ponds because they eat and excrete food, contaminating water sources.

Koi fish need a lot of oxygen to breathe, so you must install an aeration pump to maintain oxygen for them. The filtration system is like a human spectrum leaf, which helps clean the air and improve the water quality in the lake.

The aquarium needs to have a large enough area, a minimum depth from 1.2 – 1.8m; The best area is about 2-3m². In addition, the aquarium needs to be built in a location that can harmonize with the 4-season weather.

In winter, it is necessary to cover the lake so as not to reduce the temperature. Keep the aquarium clean and reduce the amount of food the fish eat every day. In the spring and summer, Koi fish will grow best, so changing the amount of food and water in the tank is necessary.

The Technique of Koi Fish into the Aquarium

Before putting Koi fish in a new aquarium, you need to leave the fish bag in the tank for about 15 minutes to let the fish get used to the temperature, then open the bag’s mouth to release the fish. Doing so will help the Koi not to experience heat shock when exposed to the lake water environment.

Dropping Koi fish into the lake needs to be gentle, not to scratch the fish. Fish should not be moved too much to avoid infection after stocking. You should release it in the morning or when it is cool; avoid releasing it when it is hot.

Newly built ponds need to be soaked in water and rinsed about 2-3 times, then released Koi fish to feed.

It is recommended to use WINMID at a dose of 100g/200m³ of water to disinfect the water in the tank before stocking fish, then install the air filter pump system. After about 24 hours, you can release the Koi fish into the tank to raise as usual.

What do Koi Fish eat?

Common foods for Koi fish can be bread crumbs, some vegetables, and processed and processed shellfish. Absolutely do not feed Koi moldy foods and no longer fresh, especially do not feed fish larvae, insects …

It is recommended to feed Koi fish with foods containing propolis, vitamins, and spirulina to enhance resistance and prevent some possible diseases.

Koi should be fed every few hours, a little food at a time. During the day, feed from 6 a.m to 11 a.m; from 2 pm to 6 pm, absolutely do not feed fish at night.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are Koi Fish so special?
Koi are a type of carp, a common fish that can be found all over the world, but what makes Koi so special is their coloring and lineage. There are regular competitions to name the top koi and just like prized dog breeds, Japanese people take koi breeding very seriously.

How much does a Koi Fish cost?
One fish typically costs between $10 and $380. Lower costs usually are for koi from a pet store whereas higher costs come from a breeder. Some koi can cost $10,000 or more.

Are Koi Fish dangerous to humans?
It is a question as old as koi are, which is over one hundred years, and the answer is simple – yes koi do bite. A koi bite will only tickle you, but their little nibbles help them eat food from the bottom of your pond and can be dangerous to other fish.

Do Koi Fish recognize their owners?
Strikingly like us, koi are equipped with long-term memory and they also have the same senses that humans do. Not only are Koi great at remembering faces but they can even recognize their own names – try it at home!

How long do Koi Fish live?
When properly raised and cared for, it can live up to 20 years, sometimes longer.

What do Koi Fish represent?
It represents associate with the strength of character, perseverance, accomplishment, and courage.

Conclusion

With the above sharing, hopefully, you have learned more information about Koi fish. And follow Petaddict.net to know more interesting fish species.

Source: https://petaddict.net/what-is-a-koi-fish/