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Appropriate Home. An outdoor pond or a large cool water aquarium with at least 50 gallons of water, an external power filter with a BIO-Wheel, and at most 1/4 of gravel, but no heater because Koi are cool water fish.
Recommended Diet. Floating food labeled for Goldfish and not labeled for Tropical Fish. Several brands of goldfish food are available in most stores that sell fish for ponds. Floating pellet foods are very good for larger pond fish and are also available in most stores that sell fish for ponds.
We have read advice elsewhere that all goldfish and Koi should be fed sinking food, because when fish take food off the surface of the water, they will swallow air bubbles that will cause problems.
I just watched my goldfish eat off the surface. After most mouthfuls of food, he burped a bubble of air out his gill. The ancestors of this fish have been eating food off the surface of the water for a very long time. Of course they also ate off the bottom and at all levels of the water between the top and bottom too.
So don't worry about your goldfish or Koi swallowing air while eating. Feeding food that floats is a good practice. If your fish don't eat all of the food in 10 minutes, get a net and remove the uneaten food.
Compatibility. Koi are usually kept with other Koi. Regular Koi will sometimes nip on the slower swimming Butterfly Koi. So, if you keep them together, be sure the Butterfly Koi are not being nipped and annoyed by the Koi.
Koi can also be kept with Pond Comets and Shubunkins, but not with Fantails, Orandas, or Telescopes, which swim slower, are less aggressive, and are not compatible with Pond Comets and Koi.
