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How Long Do Koi Fish Live? How To Make Them Live Longer

I have a koi fish pond and when my nephew visited me he saw the koi pond. he said he learned from school that a koi fish can live u to 100 years. I was genuinely surprised. back then I was new to the aquarium world and did not know about this. Then I started searching for it and found more amazing facts about koi fish. But how long do koi fish live?

Rumors say some koi fish in japan live more than a thousand years. But, this is not a proven fact. If you can provide a good environment, good quality food, and all the other factors they need to live a healthy life, Your Koi may also live for more than 30 years.

how long do koi fish live

How long do Koi fish live?

They can live up to 30 years with out trouble. In Japan, some people consider Koi fish keeping to be a tradition. Koi fishes are symbols of good luck in Japanese and Chinese cultures. Japanese people kept koi fish in their homes since ancient times.

Koi fish or Nishikigoi is a breed of Amur carp fish. The colored version of Cyprinus rubrofuscus is named koi fish. Popular among various fish-keeping communities like pond fish lovers, and outdoor fish keepers, Koi fishes are somehow very expensive as pets. Some fishes have prices of over ten thousand dollars. Each and every koi fish have unique colors, patterns, and scalations. Colors like white, black, orange, red, cream and blue are the most common.

how long do koi fish grow

Koi fish can grow up to 36 inches depending on environmental and genetic factors. Domestic koi fish grow up to 15 inches long while original Japanese Koi grow 22 to 25 inches long. Also, specially bred jumbo koi usually grow up to 34 to 36 inches long. The most exciting thing about koi fish is they have a very long lifespan. Unlike other common pets, they can live twenty-five to thirty-five years. But, we can’t say they live exactly this no of years. It depends on many factors. So, let’s find out how long do koi fish live.

oldest koi fish ever

The recorded longest life span of a koi fish was 226 years. A koi fish named Hanako or the flower girl holds that record. Hanako was a tea-colored female koi fish who lived in japan. She is a beautiful Higoi koi fish. She died in July 1977 at the age of 226. 

How to give them a long life

how long do koi fish live

When provided with all essential requirements, like all other animals, even Koi fish can live their full life. If you have a clean pond with super clean water, and if your pond is big enough to hold a huge koi fish, your fish will live a long life happily. Ah! And also don’t forget about the food. 

Genes of the koi fish

Genes are the things in our bodies that carry various characteristics from parents to children. So, if your koi fishes parents are from a good family, where all of its members lived a long life, your one will also live a long life. The highest quality koi fishes rarely leave Japan. So, if you buy koi fish from your local market for a low price, that fish may be a domestically bred koi fish. So, they may not have as many good characters as Japanese ones. Original Japanese high-quality fish are very expensive. Usually, they will cost around 1000-3000 dollars. But some fish were sold for more than a million dollars. 

Provide good quality food

Food quality is a very important thing to upkeep good health in your koi fish. Many Koi keepers feed koi fish with excessive amounts of food to give them rapid growth. But, this will make them suffer from obesity. Obesity will cause many diseases, which will reduce the life expectancy of your koi fish. So, don’t overfeed them. But feed them with high-quality, nutritious food. So, they will live a happier and longer life.

Tank conditions

If you can provide good tank conditions such as

  1. Adequate oxygen
  2. preferable pH levels ( between 7.0 to 8.6)
  3. Good water quality (free of chlorine, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites)
  4. Free of diseases

KO fish will longer and happier

Related questions

How long do pond koi fish live?

pond fish can live up to 25-30 years depending on the environmental condition.

Can koi fish live for 100 years?

some say koi can live up to 100 years. But it is very rare. their normal life span change between 15 to 40 years. Sometimes they live up to 50 years. But 100 years koi fish is very rare.

How can you tell a Kois age?

not everyone is able to tell koi age. Only experience breeders can estimate the age of a koi fish. They use coloration. head size, fins size, scale size and various other parameters to estimate the age.

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About Dr.Chamika

Hello, I'm Dr. Chamika. I am a Researcher in Water quality, Aquatic organisms, and Environmental chemistry. I am a passionate fish keeper, with10 years of experience. My mission is to help other aquarists experience the joy of fish keeping.