The Ugly Truth About Finding Koi Fish For Sale

Stop buying cheap koi from hardware stores.

I just spent nine hours scrubbing algae out of a client’s massive concrete basin, and my arms feel like lead. But I still need to warn you about this.

You see a sign that says Koi Fish For Sale and you lose your mind. You think it is easy. Just dig a hole and throw them in.

It is not. Koi are basically giant, beautiful, water-breathing pigs that will absolutely destroy a small setup. They eat both plant and animal matter constantly and produce a mountain of waste.

Here is something that always gets me yelled at on forums. Plants do not belong in a koi pond. Period.

People spend hundreds of dollars on gorgeous water lilies just to watch their expensive fish shred them to pieces in ten minutes. Koi will use their sensory barbels to root around in the pots and dig effectively with their jaws. Just leave the plants out.

Back in 2018, I thought I was a genius. I found this sketchy online ad for Koi Fish For Sale at five bucks a pop and ordered ten of them. They arrived in leaking bags, carrying a horrific Koi Herpesvirus load that wiped out my entire existing collection within three days.

I literally sat in the mud next to my pond at 2 AM crying like a baby. I had to bleach the entire system. Cheap fish are never actually cheap.

What The Pet Store Guy Is Hiding From You

When you look at Koi Fish For Sale in those tiny glass tanks, remember they grow. Fast. A tiny fish will turn into a thirty-inch monster if it survives.

You need a massive koi pond. We are talking a minimum surface area of at least one hundred square feet, and even that is pushing it. They also require an extremely effective filtration system to maintain water quality.

Why Your Tap Water Is A Death Sentence

City water is pumped full of chlorine and chloramines. It keeps humans safe. It burns fish gills instantly and causes acute necrosis.

If you are seriously buying koi today, you must treat the water first. You need a massive bottle of water conditioner to remove those chemicals. Skip this, and you will just have a really expensive puddle of floating dead fish.

Do This Before You Buy Anything

Looking at Koi Fish For Sale online is fun. Actually keeping them alive takes real work. A lot.

Go outside right now and measure the exact footprint of your yard. If you do not have space for a pond with at least one hundred square feet of surface area, pick a different hobby in the next ten minutes before you waste your money