Hi Everyone, great report on Kodama Koi Food from Mr. Duke Nguyen.
Enjoy!!
My name is Duke Nguyen. I live, work and enjoy my Koi hobby in the Bay Area, California, USA.
I’ve started collecting Koi since 1994. It started as a small landscaping project in the backyard, complemented by a 200-gallon ornament pond. Two years after that, my 10-thousand-gallon pond was built and I never looked back!
HOW I STARTED THE KOI HOBBY
I’ve always been fascinated about fish in general since childhood but never gotten the opportunity to seriously collect and enjoy them. My first, tiny little pond was supposed to keep gold fish. I still remember my first trip to the local fish shop. I did not bring home any gold fish but few Matsuba babies and few Ogon to follow! I was completely hypnotized by the beauty of their colors and body shapes. It was much more interesting than gold fish that I first had in mind!
Koi hobbyist beginners these days should appreciate the Internet and its widespread of Koi information, comparing to 20 years ago. It really helps to learn the Koi keeping techniques and appreciations much faster.
Also around this time frame, in 1997, that’s when I ran into the Koi of my life.
It was a nisai Kohaku from Dainichi Koi Farm, introduced by Kodama Koi Farm. Genki Nishikigoi was also a dealer of it. I named her Yoko and ended up keeping it for 10 years until she died accidentally in 2007. She is so far the most accomplished Koi that I’ve ever found. Not only in her quality and beauty, resembling the most famous koi in All Japan GC history named Loulan (Loren), she was also a beast growing to over 90cm. She was 93cm when she died and looked ever young. I could only wonder what she could have been if being alive for few more years, even until now! ( See pictures below)
*** Side Note: Loulan is one of the most famous koi in the Nishikigoi history. She was the first koi in history which won the All Japan GC title TWICE; 22nd, 1990 and 24th, 1992 AJKS.
Follow the below link if you are interested in the story of Loulan.
http://www.caribbeankoi.com/the-loulan-story/the-loulan-story
HOW I FEED
Getting back to the koi food, I have tried different koi food myself; Hikari, Hi-Silk, Danichi Growth, FD, to name a few. However, this year I have an opportunity to try Kodama koi food, specifically All Season and Color Up. My feeding routine is the same every year which is starting in late April or early May depending on the weather, and ending in mid-to-end of October. After it ends, I don’t feed anything else until the start of next season. With usual ramp-up, I usually feed lightly in May and June. I really focus on heavy feeding in July, August and September when the weather is consistently warm. October is the month to taper off and end the feeding. In short, I feed the Koi for 6 months and rest them for another 6.
Selecting a right koi food is one of the important aspects of successful koi keeping. Bad koi food can ruin the shape, colors and health of the Koi easily. Bad one also fouls your water and makes your Koi prone to diseases.
To me, nutrition and absorption are keys to choose a koi food. Nutrition reflects the quality and freshness of ingredients in the food while absorption tells you how much percentage of the food that your Koi can retain in their systems and turn into useful energy. Nutritious food with not so good absorption will be a bad choice because much of it will become wastes in your water and your money down the drain! This can cause issues with pond algae control in your environment and lead to scooping out lots of string algae.
EXPERIENCE WITH KODAMA KOI FOOD
Since I’ve tried the Kodama koi food, I’ve been very surprised how little waste I’ve got in my pond and filter, i.e., the absorption rate is excellent! That really helps to lighten up the bio-load of my filter and makes my job easier keeping my Koi healthy. In regards to the nutrition, despite of what printed in the labels, you can tell and smell the quality and freshness of the food every time you open a bag of Kodama Koi food. You can test it yourselves by smell-n-tell another brand of koi food and compare!
In conclusion, I’ve been feeding my Koi with Kodama koi food for 3 months now and I am very happy with its results. It is still early to tell how much of the koi growth that I get out of the food because it’s only half way through. But I can see my Koi are bulking up and importantly, very healthy this year.
It is now a push to the end and I will come back with my final report in 3 months. Then I can share with you some results; numbers and pictures of my Koi. For now, happy koi keeping everyone!
ORDER YOUR KODAMA KOI FOOD NOW
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Mr. Kodama Koi Food – All Season$99.00 – $352.00 -
Mr. Kodama Koi Food – Color Up$123.75 – $445.50
