How to Care for Healthy Koi Fry - Expert Tips from Adam Byer Koi Farm
At Adam Byer Koi Farm, we know that rearing koi fry can be a rewarding yet challenging experience. That's why we take great care in nurturing our fry in natural ponds and providing them with the best food and care possible. Get your koi fry off to a healthy start with our expert rearing tips.
We specialise in the challenging task of hatching and rearing koi fry using natural ponds, where they thrive on a diet of zooplankton. This approach helps ensure the development of high-quality, healthy koi.
We harvest the fry when they are approaching an inch long and feeding on artificial food.
It’s at this stage that we make the koi fry available for sale. They are available in the main breeding season and can be purchased from our website here: https://www.byerkoifarm.co.uk/collections/fry
We also supply our FRY ADVANCE food so you can keep the fry on the best food, helping them settle quickly and be as happy as possible in their new home. Available here: https://www.byerkoifarm.co.uk/collections/koi-fry-food.
The move from our facilities to their new homes is a big change for baby koi fry, and we offer these recommendations for how you can give them the best chance to thrive in their new home.
These recommendations for starting with koi fry are tips rather than a comprehensive guide, and assume the basic but essential skills of water management and koi husbandry are already mastered and being practiced.
Provide a settling in period of at least 2 weeks, by:
- Young fry need warm water. In late spring through to the end of summer, an ambient pond will be fine. If you're taking fry from us when temperatures are cooler, then heat the tank or pond to around 20C to receive your fry.
- Increasing the salinity in the pond before the fry arrive to between 0.6% and 0.75% and hold for 2 weeks after introducing the koi fry. Then halve the salinity the following week, and thereafter allow the salinity to drop through standard weekly water changes.
- Feed sparingly. In general terms, less is more. Wait a few hours after releasing your new fry before feeding them. Thereafter, feed twice per day as follows:
100 Fry: Half a teaspoon 500 Fry: 1 heaped teaspoon
250 Fry: 1 Level teaspoon 1000 Fry: 2 level teaspoons
This will probably feel like too little food… but, it will be sufficient for the koi fry and will help to limit the increased load on your filters which is more important.
- Monitor ammonia and nitrite parameters daily, and take action if required.
You will know when the settling in period is complete, because:
- The koi fry will be swimming with their fins out and looking lively.
- The koi fry will be eating the food provided very quickly.
- Monitoring the ammonia and nitrite over the settling in period will show the values have either stayed low, or risen and subsequently returned to low levels.
- At least 2 weeks will have passed.
After the settling in period:
- Make any changes in gradual steps, like the amount fed or changes to temperature.
- Feed an amount that the koi will consume within a few minutes, a few times per day
- Keep monitoring the ammonia and nitrite regularly; at least weekly.
When the fry reach 2-3 inches long, move them onto our TOSAI PLUS high protein, 2mm round pellet.
