Feeding your Koi can be fun and you can even train them to eat out of your hand, but if you want your Koi to be healthy and long lived, you need to feed them the proper Koi food. Koi are omnivores which means they need both plant and animal based foods in order to thrive. Giving them a varied and interesting diet will help keep them happy and healthy.

Koi are not very picky about what they eat, so you do have to be careful about what you feed them. You don’t want to give them food that is harmful to them as they won’t know enough not to eat it. As a basis, you want to buy a good quality flake or pellet food as recommended by your local pet store. Choose one that meets most of the nutritional demands of the fish, but be prepared to also supplement their diet with some other types of foods.

Some other types of Koi food you might consider are things that they might naturally eat. Think about what you would find in a natural pond. Tadpoles, worms and the like might all be interesting fodder for your Koi fish. You can dig these up, but it might be better to buy them from your local pet store so you can be sure they are free from contaminants.

Prawns are a delight for humans and Koi alike! They are high in protein so are actually quite good for your fish. You can typically find these frozen and you want to be sure to thaw them out before feeding them to your fish. Koi love them, so they are a good treat to use if you want to train your fish for hand feeding.

If you are looking for some interesting treats to feed your Koi but don’t have time to run out to the store you need look no further than your own kitchen. Lettuce and leafy greens have vitamins and minerals that are just as good for your Koi as they are for you. You can attach the lettuce to something in the pond and watch the fish nibble on it, or tear it up into small piece and float it. Koi also like fruit but you should feed them this sparingly. Break the fruit up into small pieces and be sure to remove any that isn’t eaten in the first half hour as it can spoil quickly in the hot summer sun.

Not all food makes good Koi food and some things such as grapes and beans should be avoided as they may be difficult for your fish to digest due to the hard outer skin.