Koi, What now?

[steeledarren]

hello there i am new to this site and am in need of a bit of advice. For the last year i have been running a 60 litre tetra art aquarium with hob filter. The only fish i have in it is a malaysian koi between 4 and 5 inches in length. I am a real koi fan. I dont have room in my garden for a pond so i bought a tank to enjoy watching it swim around. I have found myself getting quite attached to the tank lately. The thing i need help with is that i am wanting to add something else to the tank a bit different but am not sure what would be a good idea. could some one please spae a bit of time and give a bit of advice, thankyou

 

[jsoong]

That is a 15 gal tank, far too small for the koi. <I am sure you know that koi can grow to 2-3 feet in length ....> You are prob. at the limit of the bioload already with the small koi, you will need to find larger accommodations for the koi soon. So I don't think adding anything else is wise.

 

[FastFly67]

agreed. i'm not sure where you are but thankfully it's getting to be spring time. look for someone with a deep pond and let that fish go

 

[HooKooDooKu]

According to this web site, you need a MINIMUM of a 40 gallon tank for the Koi. Aquarium Lore: Koi

Other wise, Koi is basically in the goldfish community, so other types of goldfish can be kept with he Koi (at least until he grows to the size that he can eat his tank mates).

 

[RoseHippi]

Koi are are pond fish and need 300 gallon each to reach their 3 foot size and be healthy.

 

[steeledarren]

Thankyou for the advice people, i have alreay found a new home for the koi, a nice big pond at my friend dads house. As he is going to a new home i will be left with an empty tank, could anyone please tell me what fish i could get and how many of them for the tank size. I would prefer something that is easier to keep as i am just finding my feet at the moment. Thankyou

 

[RoseHippi]

Guppies are great beginnier fish. They breed like rabbits so two females and one male well get your going.

 

[steeledarren]

thankyou for your advive, apart from guppies what else could i get. also when i take the koi out of the tank could i add immediately add new fish or should i take any precautions

 

[RoseHippi]

I would do a good cleaning on the tank but leave the media in the filter to seed the tank. Then do water test to make sure it is cycled.
Platies are good too and White cloud mountain minnows are easy to care for. Just don't over stock.

 

[steeledarren]

how many fish in total would you say?

 

[RoseHippi]

Depends on what you get.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

The rule of thumb is one inch of fish for every gallon of water (fresh water, the rules are different for salt water). And that is based on their adult size, not the size you bring them home in.

But that is just a VERY rough starting point as different sized and shaped fish will have different bio-loads than simply measuring fish length.

 

[Sibley]

The rule of thumb is 1" of fish per 1 gallon of water. And you should research to see how large your fish will get when they are adults. In many cases the fishstore fish are not full grown so you can't use their current size.

And a lot of people go with 1" of fish per 2 gallons of water, just to be on the safe side for their bioload.