koi Koi and aquariums

[delta6]

Hello dear fish friends. Yesterday, I watched an old aquarium co-op video (RFT) from 3 tears ago on koi with Zak from koi.com. At some point of the video, the topic of keeping koi in aquariums was discussed. I am interested in knowing the current consensus and minimum water volume etc.

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by delta6

[gardenman]

In the short term with very young fish it's very doable. But a two inch koi today, fed properly will likely be an eighteen inch koi this time next year. They're very fast growing fish when handled properly. They don't ever stop growing either. The largest koi I've heard of was four feet long and weighed over ninety pounds. That would be a very big aquarium fishy. Housing newly acquired koi in an aquarium can be smart as it's easier to observe and treat them while getting them accustomed to your food, but for the long term, it's pretty impractical. They're also powerful fish who can jump with significant power, and most tank covers will lose a confrontation with a large jumping koi. Professional koi keepers tend to use very impressive filters to handle the waste. Rotary drum filters combined with bakki showers is kind of the gold standard for koi keepers. Aquariums are great for the short term, but you really need thousands of gallons to keep them over the long term.

[delta6]

Thank you very much for the super detailed response and the very usefull information. I do not realistically see myself with anything larger than a 125g for the next 5 years so I ll better think about goldfish instead..😏

[gardenman]

7 minutes ago, delta6 said:

Thank you very much for the super detailed response and the very usefull information. I do not realistically see myself with anything larger than a 125g for the next 5 years so I ll better think about goldfish instead..😏

If you're bored sometime look up "Japanese koi harvest" on YouTube for some videos of them rounding up some of their bigger koi in their mud ponds. The size of some of those fish is very impressive.  And by and large, they're still young koi. They're typically just two to three years old.  Koi can live much longer than that and they keep growing their whole life. If all you see are the koi in pet shops, you don't think they'll get very large. Even their extra large or jumbo koi are typically a foot or so long. They can get much, much bigger than that.

[FrozenFins]

I feel like koi get so big that they aren't a "aquarium fish" but a "pond fish" because of how big of a tank they need. I would say 1000 gallons. 

[delta6]

1 hour ago, gardenman said:

If you're bored sometime look up "Japanese koi harvest" on YouTube for some videos of them rounding up some of their bigger koi in their mud ponds. The size of some of those fish is very impressive.  And by and large, they're still young koi. They're typically just two to three years old.  Koi can live much longer than that and they keep growing their whole life. If all you see are the koi in pet shops, you don't think they'll get very large. Even their extra large or jumbo koi are typically a foot or so long. They can get much, much bigger than that.

Thanks. I will check that when I have time.. 😀

[delta6]

21 minutes ago, James Black said:

I feel like koi get so big that they aren't a "aquarium fish" but a "pond fish" because of how big of a tank they need. I would say 1000 gallons. 

Indeed, that was my impression too for many years. And I understand the reasons. Hopefully one day I can have a pond..