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To keep Koi fish in an aquarium, you want to try to replicate their natural
environment, just like you would do with any other fish. Koi fish require
very clean fast-moving water, highly-oxygenated water, and they need a very
large environment. They get very, very large. Even though freshwater fish,
their size will be limited to the size of the aquarium, their growth will
be very stunted; their gill plates will keep growing, their fins will keep
growing. They're going to get a hunchback appearance to them. You want to
go with a very large aquarium. I don't recommend Koi for a small aquarium;
when I mean small, anything less than 200 gallons. The Koi will just
outgrow that, they're not going to be happy in there.
If you are going to keep Koi in an aquarium, you want to make sure that you
have very, very good filtration; strong, fast-moving water, highly-
oxygenized. You want to keep the pH between 7.2 and 7.6. They like slightly
basic pH. You want to feed them very good foods, vegetable-based foods. You
also want to maintain the water temperature where they need it to be so
their immune systems can function properly. They do not fare well in warm
water, so it's best to run a chiller on a Koi aquarium. You want to keep
the water temperature to low to mid-60's. That is where I feel they do
best. The oxygen levels will also stay higher by keeping that water
temperature a little bit cooler.
You do not need a lot of decorations for them. They do need some areas
where they can hide when they feel a little scared. They are pretty open,
fast-moving fish so give them a lot of room to swim in, and don't clutter
the aquarium with decorations. They're not like Jungle Fish or Reef Fish
that spend all their day hiding in a cave. They are out cruising around,
scraping algae off of rocks. You want to have a nice, clean, open
environment for them.
If you like fish that look like Koi, maybe go with goldfish, Comets,
Ryukins; any of the . . . they're smaller, they do better in an aquarium
than Koi. Koi, I feel, do best in an outdoor pond setting.