penance

They eat but only tetramin flakes ... I fed them the recommended koi food but they don't even notice that it's there but when I splash in a few flakes they gobble it up.

They are young koi so perhaps they don't like the small little balls? Is it possibly that the food is too hard? I'm thinking to replace the tetramin and as soon as I can buy goldfish flake food for them. Easy solution?

Nick G

How big are they? Are they in a tank or a pond?

penance

They are I'm a tank while I'm planning their move to a container pond ... I would say about 4 inches both koi. I bought them both from a petco so I'm not even sure if they were fed koi food from the start

gremlin

They were probably fed flakes. That is what they are used to. They can learn to eat the pellets, and the pellets are actually cleaner to feed. They hold their shape longer and don't dirty the water as bad as flakes. Also, because they float just below the waterline, the fish can eat them without gulping so much air. When they are hungry, sprinkle a few pellets in, then a very few flakes on top of the pellets. They may or may not recognize the pellets as food yet, but they will eventually get curious and "taste" them. Your koi babies will not starve themselves, so leave the pellets for them to explore. Only give them about 3-4 flakes and 3-4 pellets. They will gobble up the flakes, and they may nose around the pellets looking for more flakes. They will eventually get hungry enough to try the pellets. I have had to convert goldfish from flake to pelleted foods, and had no problems with feeding straight pellets from day one. Of course, they were ones added to my pond so they had the example of the other goldfish eating the pellets - and the moss.

betta-cat

You could pre-soak the pellets for a few minutes, that would change the texture. Once they figure it out, you won't have any problems. I give mostly pellets outside but give them flakes now and then. I pre-soak the larger sticks though, somehow the sticks seem so hard.