All the sources say that, while your koi pellets contain complete nutrition for your koi, they will really appreciate a more varied diet. From what we've read, you can feed your koi pretty much anything you'd eat yourself, as long as you don't give them huge portions, take care to make it as digestable as possible (after all, they don't have stomachs), and try to keep it near water or ambient temperature. On these principles, we've decided to conduct some experiments.
| Date | Treat | Preparation | Results | Zealots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 May 2007 | Romaine lettuce | Blanched (boiled, then cooled) | The leafier bits were more appreciated than the white, heartier bits. This treat was ignored or spat out by most of the koi, but a few of them really liked it, so we didn't have much to fish out at the end of feeding time. | Lance, Toad, Hoover, Pesca |
| 28 May 2007 | Oranges (from our tree) | Peeled, half-slices | Everybody sucked on them. They sucked on them and then spat them out repeatedly until they were more digestable. When they were trying to consume the rinds, their respiration increased dramatically (Toad was especially worrisome), but everyone recovered once they'd managed to gum the rinds into something manageable. | Buttercup, Robin, Zombie |
| 1 June 2007 | Honey Nut Cheerios | From the box | I am a little disappointed. One source said they love Cheerios, another said they love Honey Nut Cheerios, and another said they enjoy honey, so we thought this would be great. But the fish were way more excited about their regular food pellets, and there was no fighting over Cheerios. A couple fish even avoided them. But they were inconsistent about it. Eventually I saw every fish consume at least one Cheerio. | Maybe Asphalt and Earl |
| 10 June 2007 | In'n'Out french fries | Softer bits pulled into 1/2-inch pieces | They seemed to like them just fine, but weren't too excited. That's about how I feel about them too. | |
| 11 June 2007 | Apricots | Pulled into mushy chunks small enough to fit in their gaping maws | It took them a while to figure out that they were food, which worried me because apricots don't float. But then my fruit-lovers got a whiff and everyone wanted a piece. These don't cause respiratory weirdness like the oranges do, but the koi are way less excited about them, so you might have leftovers to pull off the bottom at the end. | Earl, Robin, Buttercup, Lance, Pesca |
| 12 June 2007 | Wheat bread | Pulled into small chunks | Most of the koi had a chunk, but I wasn't able to track everyone because I was mostly watching the little guy. Minnow didn't have any, but I'm not sure he didn't want to. | Ghost, Robin, Pesca |
| 13 June 2007 | Shrimp | Thawed the pre-cooked frozen kind to near-ambient temperature | It took them a while to figure out that this was food, but they all gave it a try. It was early afternoon, so they weren't as starved and didn't fight each other for it, but many of them clearly enjoyed this treat. | Fingerpaint, Asphalt, Ghost, Monet |
| 17 June 2007 | Banana | Cut into slices, then halved or quartered | At first I thought banana was going to be the new orange, the new favorite fruit. But after the initial excitement, only the fruit zealots spent much effort on consuming the bananas. Well, if you don't count Hoover, who didn't expend any more energy than normal on the task of eating. | Robin, Fingerpaint, Asphalt, Pesca, Buttercup |
| 2 July 2007 | Strawberry | Cut into small chunks | Pretty popular, certainly more popular than the banana. Similar to the oranges in that a single chunk gets spit out several times, but eventually they manage to consume them entirely. | Robin, Lance, Ghost, Pesca, Minnow |
