Cool. Now if I could just get my ex. to fix it for me: )

Ok I have tweaked and experimented with this recipe. Just try to keep the protein at between 35 to 40% during the times grow the most. For zones 5 and 6 that should be from mid June to at least mid August. I post my fall recipe in the next coming weeks.

If you do not use krill or shrimp tails you need to find a way to get more calcium in the food. You could use smelt finely ground up as it includes the bones (that is too gross for me) or you can make a trip to the health food store and see if you can use a supplement to add. I use a drink mix product that has 50 fruits and veggies. Basically it has all the nutrients and vitamins that the Koi need. It is heavy on the sprirulina and kelp. You can look at the back of packages of Koi food to find out how much vitamins are in the package and try to duplicate that. This gets a little more involved but it is not hard.

I now routinely add broccoli, carrots, and depending on what I buy at the store or market I add strawberries, blueberries, cauliflower, peas, ect. I just try to make sure that I do not add so much that the Koi are not getting enough protein. Also if I do not add shrimp (which is high in cholesterol) I tend to add about a tsp of olive oil to the batch. I am thinking of adding brine shrimp to the next batch.

Make sure you get wheat germ and not wheat bran. The packages look about the same. Also I stopped adding flour to the mix and use just wheat germ.

If anyone has any advice or additions to this recipe please feel free post. We all learn from each other.

Regards,
Lisa

this may sound crazy but i'm jewish and i can't bring shirmp into my home. what can i use in place of the shirmp.. any ideas.. thanks a bunch.. laura

A chap I who raises "feeder fish" for a local bait shop uses cat food. The label on the cheap dry cat food reads about the same as the label on the cheap pond pellets.

Loriques the shrimp is not necessary. Just try to get some calcium in and an added egg adds cholesterol. I use a supplement from the health food store that is called 50 greens or something like that. It is mostly spirilina and sea kelp, veggies, fruits and vitamins, iron, calcium ect.

Albert- the fish food recipe is similiar to a high quality Koi food. Cheap pond pellets.....well you get what you pay for and that is usually Wheat or Corn meal as the main ingrediant. My fish have to fast over a long Ohio winter so I need to keep that in mind and also that they do not have many other alternative food sources in my pond.

Regards,
Lisa

Just want to state my facts as I have personally experienced them since using the recipe for Lisa's fish food.

My pond is in it's fifth year. I started with six 5 inch koi and two shubunkins. The only thing I fed my fish during the first four years were Cheerios, watermelon, canteloupe, zuchinni and Tetra Pond food sticks. Five of my fish did not seem to grow and their coloring was bland, however the white ogon butterfly was always a little bit larger than the other five. The orange coloring on the other fish looked like a light peach and the black coloring was gray.

Last spring I purchased six more koi that were five inches long. Same as the koi I started with five years ago. This year I started making my own fish food using Lisa's (goodkarma's) recipe and I can't believe what has happened. The five year olds are larger and their coloring is very vibrant, the koi I bought last year have caught up to the older larger fish (five year olds). All of the other fish are also this size. These younger fish were only about seven inches long this spring. I would guess they are now approximately 18 inches long, or longer. Here is a picture to show you exactly what I mean.

The large white fish to the left of the photo is my 5 year old white ogon butterfly, the fish in the center right behind the white ogon is also 5 years old (orange and black ginrin) and the fish on the right is the 2 year old I bought last spring (white with black down the middle of its back). If you compare them, they are all the same size (the small brat in the middle is a shubunkin). If you look closely in the top of the pic you can see some of the fry that were born in the pond this spring. They are now about 4-5 inches long. I supplement the homemade fish food with Hikari Gold which they are refusing to eat since I have been making Lisa's food. Another good thing with this food is that it is a sinking food. Koi are naturally bottom feeders. The only purpose for floating fish food is to enable you to see your fish when they come to the surface to eat. As I said the facts speak for themselves.

{{gwi:202570}}

Jenny

@goodkarma can you post pictures of final looking of this koi food? :)

When you say chop fish, shrimps, etc...you mean until a creamy consistency? I mean, do i need a food processor?

Good recipe! I do not do shrimp either (or anything that comes from the sea that does not have both fins and scales). Catfish don't have scales that i know of. I did want to add that for calcium, ground fish bones, OR the egg shell which are both loaded with calcium. I learned that when using the egg shell, make sure it is from a raw egg. Cooked egg shells are indigestable. I like the idea of the green stuff from the health food store. I have a large can of Miracle Greens which is really expensive, but loaded with nutrients. A little tweeking and my koi will be eating kosher home-made food. I was thinking a food dehydrator insted of cooking it so hot which destroys nutrients. Anyone ever try a dehydrator? Else an oven at 115* untill dry... Thanks!

I had big hopes for this recipe and unfortunately my koi didn't like it. I made it as is, using tilapia. They ate it and then spit it out. My little mosquito minnows loved it tho. Maybe I will try one more time using a stinkier fish like cod, since tilapia is so mild, and more shrimp. Wish it worked for me because it sounded promising. Thanks for the recipe.

you went through all that trouble and they didn't like it!
Ungrateful little buggers...let em eat cake!

I have a question for goodkarma, regarding the Koi fish food recipe. After they've been formed into patties and baked how do I feed them? Do I break off little pieces of the patties or lay the whole pattyin the water and let them go at it? I've been feeding them Hikari Gold and they went into a feeding frenzy when I threw it into the pond. But since they started eating again now that it's spring they seem to be eating only because they have to. I'm going to try your recipe so please advise.

This post was edited by DramaQueen1 on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 14:19

Drama you probraly have your answer by now. I haven't been on this forum for a long time and came back for a peak and found your question. To answer just break up the patties. I would start with a small amount. They might not recognize it as food the first time, but they will find it later when they nose on the bottom for food.

After you bake a batch you can put some in the freezer and use it later. Let it thaw first. You can also drip some OJ on the patties before feeding for some extra Vitamin C which is helpful early in spring.