Should i get koi or goldfish

So if your pond is small, start with goldfish. In addition to needing space to accommodate their larger size, koi need enough room to exercise their horizontal and vertical swimming muscles, as well as to get away from predators like heron. Deeper water also helps keep water temperatures more consistent, which helps koi survive winter cold and summer heat.

Failing to give any fish the room they need can lead to poorly oxygenated water, too much fish waste and, ultimately, a pond full of dead fish. As koi and goldfish get bigger, so does their need for space. Koi have an average lifespan of 20 to 30 years in the right conditions.

Of course, every species has its outliers when it comes to life expectancy. The oldest goldfish was supposedly a carnival prize named Goldie, whose owner claims she died at age You could always buy a little guy and wait for him to grow up, but expect to wait eight to 10 years for your little buddy to reach the size of the premium koi you see in our store.

What exactly makes koi so much more expensive than their goldfish cousins? A Goldfish only needs to be fed once a day, preferably in the morning, and you should only feed them what they can eat in about 2 minutes and then remove the rest. With a proper diet and well-maintained tank, a Goldfish can live for up to 15 years, and so they are generally a healthy pet. The biggest factor to look out for is stress, as this can often lead to illness and lack of appetite. Make sure their tank is clean, warm, and that the PH balance is good, plus keep them in a calm and serene environment to reduce stress.

They are fairly low maintenance and are generally healthy animals that live long lives, and so are a great choice for families with children. This is probably the fastest and easiest way to tell the difference between a goldfish and a koi.

What are these little barbels anyway? Related Post : Goldfish Vs. It seems it is just another thing that is unique to each species and gives them their own special appearance. Koi have a larger percentage of their muscle mass in front of the leading edge of their dorsal fins. Some older, well-fed goldfish can get quite robust on the area behind their heads between their heads and where their dorsal fins start.

But one thing that makes some goldfish different than koi is that they can have double tail fins. This can indicate the fish is another type of pond goldfish like a Wakin, Fantail or Jikin. Many goldfish kept in ponds are usually solid orange, white or orange and white also known as sarasa. The Shubunkin goldfish has the body shape of a Comet with longer fins, but is a calico coloration of white, black and orange. Koi have a huge variety of color patterns and scale types, many of which are not seen in goldfish.

See also: Koi Fish For Sale. But according to some sources, the reason they can be so different is that their ancestors are actually two different kinds of carp. This means though they both come from carp, they were hybridized from different species of carp with different genetic makeup.

Fancy goldfish are not as good of an option for either the fast kind of goldfish or koi due to their delicate nature. Sign up to receive our latest articles, tips, tricks, and guides, plus discounts on top products, to hit your inbox every week! Betta Goldfish Fishkeeping Supplies. Lindsey Stanton Last Updated: Oct 06 Now: It is hard to confuse fancy goldfish with koi due to their drastically different body shapes.

Slim-bodied fish i. Commons, Comets, Shubunkins might be a bit more tricky. Some of these methods are more reliable than others. All combined, it should help to paint the picture of the fish you are trying to identify.

Presence of a Pair of Barbels vs. Koi should be kept in ponds with water that is at least a meter deep, as this will ensure they have enough room to swim and water does not easily freeze in winter. If you live in a location that experiences colder temperatures, you should ensure that your pond is closer to 1.

Deeper water also does not experience temperature fluctuations as quickly, with it providing better insulation for fish during hibernation. This same concept applies to goldfish, though in temperate conditions they only require a pond depth of about half a meter. In cooler climates, a meter deep should suffice to prevent the water from freezing totally unless you live in a particularly harsh climate. Some varieties of goldfish can survive outdoors in winter, simply congregating at the warmer, unfrozen bottom of the pond and becoming more sluggish until spring arrives.

Most goldfish species can be placed into a large aquarium or holding tank until warmer weather in spring arrives, which makes them a little easier to handle in very cold climates in comparison to koi carp. As previously mentioned, both koi and goldfish are best suited to particular pH levels and water parameters.

Water quality should be tested regularly once per week at approximately the same time of the day is recommended , and affordable test sticks can be purchased that will detect levels of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH all at once by simply dipping the stick into the water.

Any level of ammonia or nitrite can be fatal to koi and goldfish, and both of these toxins are more likely to be present in water with higher pH levels or ponds containing too many fish.

A proper filtration system is vital to the health and survival of your pond as a whole, and aquatic plants can also be strategically used in ponds as they will help absorb excess nitrogen and nutrients, thus preventing deadly overdose eutrophication.

As well as the higher equipment purchase price, larger equipment costs more to run per month, so you should also factor future costs into your purchase budget. Koi should be fed two to four times per day in summer months, which may equate to quite a lot of food depending on the size of your stock! For the best health, you should always consider a high quality feed designed for optimal health, immune support, growth, and color — this will ensure your pond fish are thriving, not just surviving!

Check here for out top koi feed guide. As with koi, the standard goldfish feeding frequency is two to four times per day, but should decrease jointly with temperature. As opportunistic feeders, goldfish will continue to eat if food is provided to them — a useful mannerism in the wild where food is not always abundant and there exists competition and natural selection, but deadly in captivity.

Standard goldfish food is rich in carbohydrates but relatively low in protein, similar to commercial koi feeds. Again, you should opt for a higher quality feed which provides all the ingredients goldfish need to grow strong and healthy.

Next to maintaining good water quality, having a good quality feed is probably the second most important aspect of optimal pond keeping! Check here for out top goldfish feed guide. Overall, the feeding and water quality requirements of goldfish and koi are similar. The main detail to bear in mind is that koi are larger than goldfish.

As such, they require a more sizeable pond, more food, produce more waste, and necessitate stronger filtration equipment. This all equates to more monthly costs and initial investments! While goldfish are considered by some to be hardier than koi, their needs vary more widely depending upon breed. Although smaller than koi, they produce a greater amount of waste in relation to their body size and as such require more dissolved oxygen and more frequent pond cleaning.