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 How to Get Your Pet Koi to Eat Out of Your Hand!
It is certainly relaxing to sit by your koi pond, watching the fish swimming lazily through the water.
Having koi can be even more rewarding and entertaining when the fish will eat out of your hand. You can learn a lot about a fish's personality by letting it nuzzle your hand when it is hungry.
You'll need patience to train your koi to eat from your hand. Wild
animals have a natural fear of anything that they feel may hurt them.
Since you're a lot bigger than they are, the koi will see you as a
threat at first. Just be patient in your training, and they'll soon
overcome their fear, just as other animals will do.
It is easiest to train the fish, if you start the training from the
very beginning. You can train fish that you have had in your pond for a
while, but it is a lot easier to train them if you start the training
with the first feeding.
Normally, when you feed fish, you would scatter the food on top of the
water. Don't do this. You want to train the fish to eat from your hand,
not from the surface of the pond. Kneel down next to the pond with a
feed bag, and place a few pellets in your hand. Submerge your hand into
the water, and let the pellets fall out slowly. The fish may seem to be
ignoring you, but they know that you're there with your hand in the
water, and they know that the food is there. Keep on doing this every
time that you feed them.
Over time, one or two fish will swim up and eat. The rest of the fish
will soon follow. Continue to slowly drop pellets into the water, until
you've fed them the normal amount of food. Keep doing this for about a
week.
After a week, kneel next to the pond with the feed bag, as you did the
previous week. Instead of dropping the pellets slowly from your hand,
hold the pellets in your palm. Keep your hand steady, and wait.
Eventually the fish will come over and eat from your hand. Be sure not
to make any quick movements, or you'll just scare the fish. Remove your
empty hand, and repeat the process until you've fed the fish their
normal amount. If the fish refuse to eat from your hand, then don't
feed them. One day without food won't harm them, and it will teach them
that if they don't eat from your hand, they won't get fed.
After you've gotten the fish to eat out of your palm, then you can
teach the fish to take the food from your fingertips. Take a pellet
between your fingertips, and place your hand in the water. Eventually,
the boldest fish will approach to eat, and others will follow. Again,
if they won't take the food, then let them miss a meal.
Once the fish are eating from your hand, then you can alternate between
handfeeding and regular feeding. Having the fish eating out of your
hand is a great way to interact with your koi.
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About the Author
Tim is the webmaster of Water Gardens & Fountains, a great resource for water gardening enthusiasts.
Published At: www.Isnare.com / Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=355021&ca=Pets
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