Monday, November 12, 2012

Koi & The Art Of Koi Pond Maintenance

By Roland Stockwell


If you love fish, keeping a koi pond in your yard can be a great way to enjoy the many different varieties of ornamental carp or koi fish. Originating in China and very popular in Japan and other Asian countries, Americans also are learning to love these special water features.

Koi fish are not just pretty, they also are hearty animals. Koi have been known to live for more than 100 years, so if you plan on keeping koi, they will be an animal you can enjoy for quite awhile. In fact, one koi was known to have lived 226 years. Not only do they have long lives, they are expensive to purchase. In fact, occasionally a particularly rare koi can cost as much as $100,000.

Koi come in many combinations of colors. You can find them in thousands of different hues, although white, black, red, orange and yellow are the most typically seen colors. There are even several competitions each year dedicated to judging the beauty of these fish. If you can't make it to a competition, you can read about them in one of the many koi magazines that are printed throughout the world.

Koi are highly social fish, and not only can they mix well with a few other species of fish, they will even take food from human hands when it is offered. These fish do love their food and might eat as much as two or three percent of their body weight in a given day. However, during winter, a koi's metabolism greatly slows down and you should feed them very little as they are unable to process large amounts of food and might become ill.

If you do wish to have a koi pond in your yard, you will need to ensure that the water stays clean in order to keep your fish healthy. It is always best to choose a natural, chemical-free product in the water, such as the Healthy Ponds Koi Pond Cleaner. This is an excellent product for koi pond algae control and koi pond cleaning. Other options are the AquaSpherePRO or the AquaLily Water Cleaner.

Each of these cleaners contains a positive mix of bacteria that continuously release into your koi pond for 30 days, reducing excess nutrients, ammonia and sludge. The Pond Cleaner and AquaLily are both plastic dispensers that hold a pack of bacteria. The AquaSpherePRO is a biodegradable sphere that contains the helpful bacteria, but as the month progresses the sphere itself biodegrades, so there is no dispenser to remove. All of these products are safe for fish, people and all wildlife and have been approved by veterinarians.




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