Koi fish aquarium questions?
January 28, 2010 by KOI Section
Filed under Koi Facts
I have an aquarium that I want to fill with koi fish. But I don’t know some very important facts about them.
1) What temperature should the water be?
2) How many can I get (the tank is 30 gallons)?
3) When can I introduce the fish into the tank? (It’s been full of clean well water and the filter has been running for about 24 hours)
1. No higher than 73F preferably. They prefer cooler temperatures.
2. NONE. Koi grow at least 24″ in length and require ponds of at least 1000 gallons. Small aquariums are out of the question.
3. Never koi. But after a fishless cycle of about 4-6 weeks you could introduce tropical community fish if you have a heater or without a heater you could house 2 fancy goldfish.
30 gallons is nowhere near enough to support even one koi. You could house a fancy goldfish in there though.
Koi are strictly pond-only fish, as they reach massive lengths and are heavy waste producers. In truth, many koi can grow larger than your tank is long.
If you were to house a goldfish, however, their care is very similar. They can tolerate cooler temperatures in the low 70s and high 60s, so do not require a heater. You would need to cycle the tank before adding the fish though, either by adding pure ammonia or fish food to decompose and start the cycle.
http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Fishless-Cycle
here is a link on how to do a fishless cycle, but there are many more links about it out there.
The tank is far too small for Koi, which can grow anywhere between 2-3ft in length. These fish require a large, well-filtered pond, not an aquarium. The absolute minimum pond size for these fish should be 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5m (l x w x d), or approximately 2000 gallons, however the bigger the better applies in the case of Koi carp.
In any case, the filter hasn’t been cycled, so you won’t be able to add fish until the filter has been able to build up a population of bacteria to break down ammonia and solid waste produced by the fish. I would recommend doing some more research into fishkeeping, and have a serious rethink as to what you intend to put into the tank. Take a look at http://www.theaquariumwiki.com
None, you can’t house koi in a 30 gallon tank! They get too large and produce too much ammonia. They will die young because they can’t grow. And no they don’t grow to the tank size.