Do you think your koi fish is aggressive and do eat their babies?
Are you contemplating on leaving Koi fish with their babies?
Read on in this article as I will talk about koi fish and their baby eating potential.
Do Koi Eat Their Babies?
Koi fish are not aggressive fish, but they can eat their babies. It is not because they have the cannibal act in them. It is mainly because koi fish babies are usually tiny, and the parent and other koi can mistake them for insects.
Do Koi Eat Their Own Eggs?
Yes. Koi fish are one of many fish species that are known to eat their own eggs. The fry of koi fish have tiny little mouths and they need to be fed appropriately.
During this time adult koi fish who are grazing on plant and animal matter, may find a batch of koi fish eggs or fry and they will open their mouth and consume in just like they would with bugs or flies.
If you want to care for the koi fish eggs and prevent them from being eaten by the adults, you will need to remove them. If you don’t do so in time, the koi fish adults will consume most of the eggs.
This is an act of opportunistic feeding, but also one that preserves the space of the pond to make sure that it doesn’t become overcrowded.
Why Do Koi Fish Eat Their Babies?
Your koi fish eating its babies might not be all its fault. It is because baby koi fish and eggs look more like the food you feed to koi fish. This resemblance confuses the koi causing it to feed on its own babies (it probably will know what it did when it tastes it, baby).
Baby koi fish and eggs can come in yellow color, which is the same color as that of the flakes you feed to them. When they see these babies, they think it is their regular flakes and eat the babies. You have to keep an eye on your koi fish to save you from losing these little upcoming generations.
Baby koi fish sometimes look like insects, and other live feeds of koi. When they come across these babies, they do not know, and they feed on them. Do not be worried as this is not an aggressive behavior but an ignorant one.
Once the fish starts to become bigger and resemble an adult koi fish, you will see that the koi fish will stop going after them as food. Koi fish grow rapidly in their fists to the second year, making them grow to a large size rapidly. It makes it comforting that your baby koi fish will be free from size danger after a little while.
How to Prevent Koi from Eating Their Babies
You might want to lose any of your baby koi fish to the adults, so here are some of the ways to prevent your koi from eating their babies.
- Separation : One of the best ways to save your koi fish from eating their babies is to separate them from the adults. Once the baby fish are ready, you should remove them from the tank and place them in another tank to raise them. If you don’t have an extra tank, you can use a partition to separate them from the baby-eating adults.
- Plants : The presence of plants in the tank will save your baby fish from being eaten. When koi fish lay their egg, they like to lay them under plant leaves as a means of security. When these fish hatch and grow, they tend to play and swim around the plants.
When taking the baby koi from the tank or pond, you should not take all. Take the agile and healthy-looking ones as they will save you a lot of stress when raising them. The unhealthy ones can transmit the disease to others and might not be productive, so you should leave it at the adult’s mercy.
The baby koi fish will stay by the plant while the plant gives them protection against the adult koi. If you do not put plants in the tank, the koi fish will lay their eggs randomly in the tank. The babies might not even have enough chance to live before they hatch.
How Do I Protect My Baby Koi?
The best way to provide maximum protection to your baby koi fish is to keep an eye on them. It will help you get the necessary details and provide the fish’s needs as soon as it calls. It will also help you get rid of its problems, see the next way to go, and even see its reaction to food and its environment.
The best way to keep an eye on it is to put the baby koi in a controlled tank. Make sure the tank has the appropriate amount of oxygen for the fish. Also, cover the filter with a filter medium to avoid your baby koi from being sucked into the filter.
The addition of plants to the tank will also be a valuable addition.
Will Baby Koi Survive in a Pond?
Your baby koi will survive in a pond if you provide adequate requirements. You also have to protect them from adult koi if they are present in the pond. If you do the needful, your koi will survive and thrive in ponds.
Can Baby Koi Survive Winter?
Your baby koi will survive winter, provided that the water does not freeze. It can be quite challenging to use outdoor ponds in these situations when the temperature drops. You will need to use the appropriate heating equipment to keep the temperature intact.
Koi fish will eat6b their babies, but this is not out of sheer wickedness or cannibalism. It is because they mistake these babies for their food, insects, and other live feeds. You need to make sure you protect the baby koi from the adults.
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