Koi Question! (again :) )

L

LOK

AC Members
Sep 7, 2006
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Hey all.. I have not been here for a while, the process of moving across country.. I gave my fish I had, Orandas and Ryukin to a friend that owns a pet/fish shop where I used to live..

anyway, This is the thing, I want to have maybe 3 Koi inside, how big a tank do I need?

I was checking out a nice glass 265gallon tank and thought that 2 or 3 Koi would be ok in there. What do you guys think?
 
Hey Lok, koi can grow upwards of two to three feet long-- each-- and they're extremely active swimmers. You'd need a very, very, very large tank to keep even a few koi. You could keep maybe one koi in that size tank. Koi need about 300 gallons for the first fish, 50 per additional fish. That's why they're typically pond fish.

If you're looking to have a similar fish indoors, I'd go with comet goldfish. You could keep a rather large school in a 265, say 10 or so depending on filtration. In my opinion, they're more fun than koi anyway and easier to keep.
 
flaringshutter said:
Hey Lok, koi can grow upwards of two to three feet long-- each-- and they're extremely active swimmers. You'd need a very, very, very large tank to keep even a few koi. You could keep maybe one koi in that size tank. Koi need about 300 gallons for the first fish, 50 per additional fish. That's why they're typically pond fish.

If you're looking to have a similar fish indoors, I'd go with comet goldfish. You could keep a rather large school in a 265, say 10 or so depending on filtration. In my opinion, they're more fun than koi anyway and easier to keep.
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Thanks!

I'm not real familer with Comets, do they generally sell these and fish stores?
 
you know those big tanks with a ton of feeder goldfish, those are comets, most pet stores have em
 
Malbri said:
you know those big tanks with a ton of feeder goldfish, those are comets, most pet stores have em
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I was going to ask...

back in my cichlid days, I had some big Oscars and would get them feeders. :(

So, if I put 5 of them in my 200+ gallon tank they'll get big??
 
LOK said:
So, if I put 5 of them in my 200+ gallon tank they'll get big??
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oh yes, give them room to grow, and boy do they grow! you can usually pick the comets out in a tank of feeders. look for the fish with the longest tails, that's the giveaway. in young comets, the tail will be nearly as long as the body of the fish. those are the ones you want. you can buy commons, just your plain old feeders, and they grow very large and are nearly as pretty as comets, but i love the comets for their long fins.

check out the photos in the goldfish link in my signature. the white fish is a common, the orange is a comet.
 
flaringshutter said:
oh yes, give them room to grow, and boy do they grow! you can usually pick the comets out in a tank of feeders. look for the fish with the longest tails, that's the giveaway. in young comets, the tail will be nearly as long as the body of the fish. those are the ones you want. you can buy commons, just your plain old feeders, and they grow very large and are nearly as pretty as comets, but i love the comets for their long fins.

check out the photos in the goldfish link in my signature. the white fish is a common, the orange is a comet.
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Beautiful fish!

You are making me re-think my Koi in a tank plan. The common is beautiful!, both are actually. So they will get big? I mean how big? I want like 4 or 5 big fish in a huge tank. You think 4 commons would be better than 2 Koi?
 
thanks! my two big darlings are 10 inches each. comets and commons can both get over one foot long each, possibly larger depending on diet, genetics, etc.

i think 4 commons would certainly be better than two koi. not to diss koi, they're great, but realistically they get too large for an indoor tank. 4 comets would grow very large and be very happy in a nice big tank- say 100 gallons and upwards.
 
flaringshutter said:
thanks! my two big darlings are 10 inches each. comets and commons can both get over one foot long each, possibly larger depending on diet, genetics, etc.

i think 4 commons would certainly be better than two koi. not to diss koi, they're great, but realistically they get too large for an indoor tank. 4 comets would grow very large and be very happy in a nice big tank- say 100 gallons and upwards.
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Thanks, I think I'll go that way..

I have not got my big tank yet as I'm waiting to close on my new house. but I might get some small commons/commets and put them in a small tank for a month or so and then move them into the huge one
 
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