Koi Digestion Explained | Feed Good Koi Food To Avoid obese koi & Sick Koi Fish
So How Do Koi Carp Digest Their Food?
A Koi is an efficient eating machine; designed to absorb nutrients that are useful, and discard what its body can't utilize.
A Koi carp's digestive system has evolved over the centuries to be able to eat and digest a multitude of different food substances; some that are highly resistant to being chemically reduced into finer particles.
The koi food and koi treats that are sold to pond keepers world wide is totally and utterly different from the natural diet of Koi, living in the wild. The digestive tract of Koi carp is designed to assimilate far more stubborn substances than laboratory manufactured koi food. These foods however will help you to avoid obese Koi and sick koi fish.
Koi Food Digestion Explained
In Koi carp, food is efficiently broken down into what is advantageous and what isn't. Nutritious goodness is digested and absorbed. Anything that isn't useful is expelled through its vent (anus).
This mechanical and physical process is aided by numerous food receptors that are highly sensitive to the presence of food. Koi are equipped with extremely good eye sight, a fantastic sense of smell and excellent hearing.
These highly tuned senses help the Koi to easily discern if they are about to receive a meal. You may have noticed that Koi appear to be excited and rise to the surface when they see a human presence, near the pond. They believe they are about to be fed.
When fish food or a tasty morsel, such as insect larvae enters the Koi's mouth it comes into contact with pharyngeal teeth. These teeth are perfect for grinding down the food substance into much smaller particles; these particles then pass into the Koi's digestive system.
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Koi, despite being known as the pigs of the pond will spit out any food source deemed not to be edible or suitable. From the buccal cavity (The buccal cavity can be very well seen in the opened mouth), food is passed through the esophagus to the koi carp's intestinal tract.
The lining of the intestine is covered with cilia and goblet cells; designed to help smoothly ease the ground down food to the anterior intestines. On average the length of a Koi carp's intestines is at least twice the length of its body.
These intestines are responsible for absorbing into the blood stream, the nutritional goodness of the food source consumed.
In comparison to the human digestive system a koi carp has a much simpler digestive system.
The major difference between the digestive systems is the absence of a stomach. A stomach contains glands and sacs that secrete various digestive enzymes that are responsible for breaking down food, for absorption into the blood stream.
Due to the pharyngeal teeth being so efficient at grinding down food it has been argued that the Omnivorous Koi species doesn't need pepsin to liquefy protein, unlike its carnivorous fish cousins.
Are Koi Healthier When Reared On Formulated Koi Food?
Commercially bred koi are fed special foods that encourage maximum growth and coloration in the shortest time span whilst encouraging the least amount of waste. These foods, formulated and developed in labs, eventually find there way into the commercial market where they are bought and fed to our own pond dwelling Koi carp.
Whilst this formulated koi food will certainly encourage maximum growth, it has been argued that these food sources don't utilize the Koi's digestive system to its fullest.
As stated earlier wild koi are certainly capable for thriving on hardier food types.
By feeding quality koi food are we doing the Koi a favor or are we actually doing them more harm than good?
This is one question that will arise for many years to come! Personally, I believe that you aren't harming your fish, and are actually doing them a favor by feeding them a koi food that provides all the essential nutrients and minerals. This specialized diet will help prevent obese koi And Sick Koi Fish.
Furthermore, by feeding a food source that encourages less waste you are benefitting the koi (cleaner environment in which to live) and doing yourself a favor; less waste means less strain on your biological pond filter.
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