Koi Information & Care

Koi (Japanese koi) are ornamental domesticated varieties of the common carp Cyprinus carpio.In Japanese, the word koi simply means carp.The English word koi to refer to the beautiful fish.

Koi varieties are distinguished by coloration, patterning, and scalation. Butterfly koi, developed in the 1980s and notable for their long and flowing fins, are actually hybrids with Asian carp, and not considered true koi.

The common carp is a hardy fish, and koi retain that durability. They can be kept in anything from small containers to large outdoor ponds, although they quickly grow to 30 cm (1 ft) and can get much bigger, so the traditional indoor aquarium is less desirable than a round plastic tub. Koi are basically cold water fish, so it's advisable to have a half-meter or more of depth in areas of the world that become warm during the summer.

Koi are bottom-feeders, so koi food is not only nutritionally balanced, but designed to float so as to encourage them to come to the surface. Koi will recognize the person feeding them and gather around at dinnertime. They can even be trained to take the food from one's hand. In the winter their digestive system slows nearly to a halt, and they eat very little, perhaps no more than nibbles of algae from the bottom, and their appetite won't come back until the water warms up in the spring.

From wikipedia.org