Do koi eat plants?

 Yes, koi can and do eat plants, and in plant-free ponds, some koi keepers feed their fish on whole lettuces to provide some roughage. In the main pond plants can be damaged by koi as they root in and around them in their search for aquatic invertebrates.

Some koi will eat all the plants that are placed with them while in other ponds they won’t eat any. This could be down to a number of factors including not getting enough food or being dietary deficient.

But most of the times when water lilies don’t do well with koi its because the delicate shoots are damaged early in the season and the rhizomes are dug at and exposed. A mature, potted lily with large floating leaves and soil protected by a deep layer of large stones is usually ok with most koi. Usually!    

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