How Long Can Koi Last On Their Own?

When one decides to keep a fish as a pet, along with the excitement and fun associated with the job, comes the huge responsibility of taking care to feed it on time and ensure a proper aquatic environment, for its adequate growth and development.

As with all pets, critical care is essential for their wellbeing, more so with fish who cannot opt for alternate sources of food or move to a more suitable living location while living in a pond. If you have a pet Koi, it is important for you to exercise special care to neither over or under feed it, as it will have a profound impact on its growth and development pattern.

But sometimes if the owner of the pet Koi has to leave the species for sometime on their own, it is advisable to know how long they can live safely without anyone to feed them. Koi are known to last a couple of weeks, on their own, provided your pond filter system is working perfectly.

Koi are a messy species, and the more they eat the more they pollute their surroundings. If Koi have to live in a pond which has a poor working or broken down filter system, then their health and life might be at risk, because Koi cannot survive in water with high toxicity levels.

Koi can make do without food for around 2 weeks, though it is not an ideal situation. They can feed on pond algae, plants and engage in bottom sifting of the pond, to feed on small aquatic life. But as a fully grown and healthy Koi has a substantial appetite, without engaging in overeating, it is best to either ask someone else to feed the Koi the required amount on a regular basis, or make some other arrangement, to avoid any adverse effect on the natural growth pattern of the Koi.   

Another important factor to take into account is the temperature of the pond water, as it has a significant impact on the metabolic activity of the Koi. Koi tend to eat more in water temperatures of 74F while have a low metabolic activity in temperatures less than 54F.

It is ideal to carefully consider all the factors before leaving your Koi on their own.