How to Start Koi Farming Business & Make Money

We have come across the beautiful and colorful koi fish in the outdoor ponds and water gardens. They are big, with bright colors, and make any suitable garden pond or large water feature look extremely attractive. What is more attractive is that you can make a huge profit from koi farming.

Koi are decorative species of fish that were only found in red, white, black, and blue. However, they are now bred in different combinations of all the colors in the rainbow. Koi breeding was first done by the Japanese. In the 20^th Century, Koi breeding began in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Read: How to Start a Fish Farming Business

Nowadays, Koi is one of the most popular and favorite fish in the world. Pet koi are available in many places from the commercial farms. Considering the demand for Koi, you can go for Koi farming and earn good profits.

Steps to Follow for Koi Farming

 1. The Pond for Koi Farming

 In the first place, you have to choose the pond for koi farming.  The ponds need not be very specialized or expensive, but you have to take special care to ensure that there is no predator to harm the Koi.

You can do the Koi Farming in a small pond that can hold about four to six feet of water. But remember one thing; Koi Farming needs clean water in the pond. So, you have to make arrangements for a proper filtration system, so that clean water is available for the healthy growth of Koi.

2. The Breeding

Breeding stock is the most important part of your Koi Farming. First, you have to decide on the type of Koi you want to breed. The orange or red-colored Koi can be a good option since it yields good money.

The bigger the Koi becomes, the more money it will give you. For example, Sansai is a type of Koi which grows ready for sale in the third year. It is more expensive than Nisai, which becomes ready for sale in 2 years.

You have to get a high-quality Koi breeding stock to get good and healthy Koi for selling. Here you have to follow the age-old assumption of healthy parents giving birth to healthy children. Make sure that the breeding fish are at least 3 years old because that is their age of being sexually active.

You can start your Koi farming with two or three high-quality Koi. Breed them properly and start making your stock. In case you want to add up more Koi, you have to make arrangements to keep the new ones separate from the bigger ones.

 3. Feeding the Koi Fish

After the first step of breeding is done, you have to start feeding the Koi. This is a very important step, as you have to ensure healthy growth as well as the bright and colorful look of the koi. Give them hatched brine shrimp so that their skin and scales grow glowing.

Feeding is expensive, but you have to bear it, for the prospect of your Koi farming business. Koi need protein for growth. So, give them fish food containing about 40% protein.  Feeding properly will be gainful for you in the culling process.

Remember, the Koi needs more protein in the initial stage. As they grow up, they require less protein. During winter, as the water of the pond becomes cold, the Koi won’t need that much food as their metabolism becomes slow.

Here are some interesting points for you to remember while feeding the Koi fish.

• Feed the Koi up to four times a day and each time for about five minutes.
• Koi fish is a foodie and not at all selective. Give them small bugs and insects, plants and algae anything, they will relish.
• Koi love to eat what you eat. They prefer food like rice, cereal, lettuce, peas, watermelon, and many more.
• Try not to feed the Koi before the storm. This is because the oxygen level reduces during the rains, and the Koi need more oxygen to digest food.
• The fishes of your Koi farming pond will start recognizing you as their feeder after some time. Then, they will start greeting you as soon as you come near the pond.

4. Culling

 When your Koi start giving eggs, it is the culling or selecting time for you. The Koi will give more than 500,000 eggs at a time. All of them will not hatch into little fish. You have to select from the ones that hatched out.

There will be some fish that are not good-looking. You cannot sell them in the market. So, you have to select them and remove them from your pond and keep the ones that are good to look at.

It will not be very easy for you as a Koi farmer, but it is necessary from the business point of view. So you have to remove them as fast as you can.

5. Selling the Koi

 After following all these processes, comes the final and profit earning process for you. That is the selling of the mature Koi.

It takes some time to build up your name as a quality producer. But, with hard work and the right marketing methods, you will be able to earn a good profit from Koi farming.

Now let us focus on the price of the Koi in the market.  Big companies in Koi Farming can sell between 20,000 to 30,000 fish annually from your Koi Farm. The price of a Koi can range from $15 to $5000 approximately. So, you can calculate your returns.

For selling the Koi on your Koi farm, take some good photos of the fish.   Take many photos so that you have the option to choose. Post these photos on Social Networking sites or use any website or email to show the fish for sale.

For making a profit from Koi Farming, you can start with the common varieties like Sanke, Kohaku, Showa, and Shusui. There are other varieties too.

Read: How To Start A Tilapia Fish Farming Business

These are some of the common points for you to follow for making a profit from Koi Farming. It is a wise decision for you to start Koi Farming. You have to be a little patient and have a good idea of the fish. Then you are sure to make a good profit from Koi Farming.