01/12/2024
NEW KOI FOOD FOR BARBADOS
Since COVID, sourcing good quality Koi food has been difficult. Our previous feed manufacturer in Europe has been bought out by a U.S based corporation, which resulted in increased pricing and changes in ingredients. U.S manufacturers favor using by-products as ingredients to maximize profit. We have seen many of the manufacturers changing their main protein source used in koi food away from high quality fish meal (highly digestible and expensive) to be substituted with far lower quality protein sources like Chicken feathers. Yes CHICKEN FEATHERS!
Chicken feathers are almost pure protein, they are made of Keratin, the same structural protein as hooves, hair and horns. The problem is that whilst feathers are technically very high in protein, fish cannot digest them and they pass through the Koi’s body to pollute your pond and block filters. This cynical move by manufacturers allows them to claim the food is “high protein” which is theoretically true, but very misleading. The best most digestible protein source in Koi feed is fish meal and this should always be the main ingredient.
Manufacturers have other tricks up their sleeve and often use an array of cheap bulking or filler ingredients like wheat middlings, rice bran, ground corn etc. The main purpose of these is to increase the volume of the feed, but they add little or no nutritional value and are largely undigestible. Customers purchase these big bags of feed thinking they are getting a bargain, when in reality a large percentage of the “food” is useless fillers that pass through the fish and pollute your Pond. Another tactic is to puff up the food with air. Have you ever picked up a big bag of koi sticks only to find it weighs next to nothing. TIP… always compare feed pound for pound!
Many of our customers have been frustrated that our previous high quality koi feeds were no longer available. We simply could not justify importing these lower quality substitutes and so for the last two years we have been in search of a new manufacturer of quality Koi food
The search is finally over and we are proud to announce that we are now the official Caribbean distributors for Kusuri Koi food. Kusuri has a well-earned reputation for producing premium Koi related products with uncompromising quality and value. We have selected “Kusuri Multiseason” as the product of choice for Barbados as it is the only professional Koi feed formulated for hot climates. It contains 42% protein, with the main ingredient being premium white fish meal. The feed contains a host of other premium ingredients and is highly digestible meaning less fish waste, cleaner ponds and less filter cleaning. Because the food is so concentrated you should feed less, which makes it great value.
Kusuri Multiseason is now available at our store and even better our pricing is lower than the UK list price. Check out the ingredients below. We are open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am till 4pm. The Koi store is located at the Paradise Nature Park, Balls, ChristChurch.
