How to tell a good Koi food

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How to tell a good Koi food from a bad one

It is a mandatory requirement for me that when buying any food for any of my pets that a detailed breakdown of what is inside the packet is given clearly and visibly on the packet itself.

And that these breakdowns are independently verified!

With any quality Koi food one should be able to identify what the composition of the food is. The most important parameters for Koi food are the percentages by mass of protein, fat, moisture, ash and fibre.

By and large protein is seen as the most important factor in this analysis. All fish, and this includes our beloved Koi, need plenty of protein in their diet as part of the rigours of living in a watery and hence oxygen poor environment.

But protein content is not the be all and end all of Koi food. For instance, on a budget Koi food the protein content might be slightly lower - but in the case of Hikari the diet is still a balanced one that will keep your Koi healthy and happy (although they may not grow as fast).

What often happens with some less than reputable manufacturers is that the protein content of the food is grossly overstated and that the quality of this protein may not be suitable for Koi. After all, protein does come in many shapes, forms and flavours - and of course price.

Good quality protein suitable for Koi is not cheap. Koi are relatively slow growing fish that consume food heavily. Carp are a great commercial food fish where a lower grade protein can be used to bulk them up reasonably quickly, but in terms of building strong and large Koi nothing less than top quality protein will do the trick.

What this means is that at a minimum a good quality Koi food needs to have a high protein count - at least 35%. That said, be wary of any food that contains too much protein - silkworm pupae for instance run at around 67% protein which is off the scale in terms of protein content. In fact, this is so high that it should only be fed sparingly as a supplement when the water is at least 16C or you run the risk of seriously compromising your Koi's digestive system.

As in life, good balance is the key!

You will notice that moisture and ash are things that are of no nutritional benefit to your Koi whatsoever. Moisture that have in abundance, and ash they cannot sadly break down - it being a waste product that they themselves simply excrete.

But once again, there is no Koi food that can or should claim a zero moisture %age. Such a food would be completely denuded of all water rendering it of questionable value as the only way of removing all the water would be to cook it beyond the point where any usable protein or nutrients would be left behind.

A 10% moisture level is perfectly acceptable - and you will see that at 10% the food will appear to be perfectly dry to you and I.

Then we move to ash. 15% is tolerable, 12% is better. Less than 10% and someone is not telling you the whole truth - unless the food is amazingly expensive. It is in fact difficult to remove ash from any food - even fillet steak contains a small percentage of ash. But you don't want to buy a Koi food with an ash content of 20%.

We have saved the best for last. Fat is the tricky one. A high fat content of say 8-9% is not necessarily good, and less than 3% is not desirable either. BUT it depends strongly on the food formulation as to the impact that it makes. Once again, there are many different fats that can be added and 8% of Fat A might be a complete waste of time whereas 3% of Fat B is infinitely better for your Koi.

This is often the case when low quality dog foods are compared with Koi food. Check it out sometime!

And no, the short answer is that feeding your Koi dog pellets is not a great idea. It is cheap and Koi do indeed survive on such diets, but the longer term picture is one of an unbalanced diet (from the Koi's perspective!) with the long term consequences thereof...

Selecting Koi food comes down to knowing and trusting WHAT you are buying. The analysis guides are just that - a  guide. So if even this rough and ready approach to what you are getting is missing from the food bag put it down and walk away. You will be saving yourself and your Koi in the long run.

After all the most expensive Koi is a dead Koi. No matter how much you may have saved using inferior quality Koi food, a dead fish is an infinite loss of your hard earned money! A healthy and happy fish though is what the Koi hobby is all about!

About Hikari

Why Hikari?

Who is Hikari?

Pricing Information

Hikari Koi & Aquarium Fish Food Price List at a glance

Our Guarantee!

Help!

My fish don't want to eat Hikari! (not likely!)

Koi Food Facts

Koi Nutrition

How to tell a good food (protein content)

Spirulina

The 'Hikari Germ and waste reduction

Mixing foods

Saki Hikari Growth diet results

Want to re-sell Hikari?
Information specifically for dealers

Good Koi foods vs bad Koi foods