Japankoi Hirasawa - vers. Breeding forms - Cyprinus Carpio - 20-25cm

With Japankoi from Hirasawa you can elegantly enhance your pond. The high-quality noble animals have a size of 18-20 cm and continue to color with increasing age. Here you can put together a great group of your favorites yourself, but you can also find more breeding forms in the store.

Choose your Hirasawa Japankoi in the size 18-20 cm from these varieties yourself: Hi Utsuri, Kin ki Utsuri, Kohaku, Mukashi Ogon, Sanke, Showa, Yamabuki.

Koi are sociable group fish, which you should keep with at least four other Koi. The particular variety is rather unimportant, as long as the animals are as equal in size as possible. We recommend a pond size that allows for 1-2 m³ per Koi, or at least 12-15,000 liters of water, and has a very good filter system. Koi basically need a very good water hygiene. Therefore, check the water values of the Koi pond regularly with a meaningful water test and take measures if necessary.

To prevent the Koi pond from freezing in winter, it should be at least 1.2 meters, better even 2 meters deep, so that the animals can hibernate in peace. Alternatively, koi can be removed from the pond in late fall and overwintered in a cold-water aquarium. However, pure outdoor keeping has a better effect on their growth and health. Pond oxydators and pond outflow stones can be used to optimize gas exchange and enrich the water with oxygen, which is an important aspect, especially in summer.

The ideal by-fish are rudd and roach, which not only can be fed with the same food in the pond, but also do not have any incompatibilities with the medications required for koi. The same applies to grass carp, tench, gudgeon, moderlieschen or orfe. Rather unsuitable, however, are, among others, sturgeons, since these usually only "really turn on" in the pond during the cold season and could "disturb" the resting Koi considerably. In addition, koi not infrequently contract liver and kidney disease from eating sturgeon food; sturgeon, on the other hand, being bony fish, tend not to tolerate algaecides and other copper-based medications. Sunfish, sticklebacks or bitterlings are also unsuitable co-fish for the koi.

Koi are omnivores, which also "carp-typically" dig in the pond mud. In doing so, they seek out tiny crustaceans, insects, worms, leeches and larvae. They also indulge in small treats such as silkworms or mealworms. Since they also feed on plants, they may eat soft foliage from pond plants, so you should add a few plants every now and then to keep your pond in balance. Water lilies and hard-stemmed reeds or bulrushes at the pond's edge, however, are usually left alone. They will also accept scalded vegetables just as readily. To avoid nutrient deficiencies, however, we recommend that you feed them a high-quality Koi food adapted to their needs, taking into account the respective season.