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theinvisibleking

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Hello All,
Firstly a very good day to you and I hope everyone is keeping safe!
I understand my question may be a bit clichéd to all the experienced aquatists out there but please bear with my rookie questions;

I have a fresh water aquarium with a lone bala shark, a pair of small (Approx 4cm long) koi fish and a pair of small angel fish.

I currently feed them flake floating food. And as per various online websites, all the fishes I have are top feeders (a classification (a.k.a 'top, mid, bottom feeder' that I came to know recently) but what I observe is that I often see my koi scurrying along the bottom, eating what seems like they are feeding off scraps of food that fell down and my angel fish don't look so keen on eating the floating flake food.

So I am curious, do I need to buy food meant for mid and bottom feeders like pellets, granules etc ?

In addition, in the pet shops, I have seen color-enhancing flakes for goldfish, is that something I should get for my koi fish in addition to the flake food I feed normally ?

Furthermore, given the fish that I have, would someone be so kind as to advise me what all should I buy to feed my fishes to give them a complete diet because I really want to give my fishes a healthy, nourishing diet!

Thank you for your time!
 
Welcome to the forum!

I can not answer your initial question, someone else will inevitably come along for that.

I see a few problems here, but first, what is the size of your tank?? This is extremely important.

Koi fish can get up to 4 feet long if given the room so need an extremely large space.

Bala sharks can get up to 14 inches long, also need extremely large tank, and require to be in a school. This means at least 6.

The angelfish and bala sharks are tropical fish which need heating while the koi are a cool water species.
 
As an answer to the first question...

No. I don't think that you need to buy a specific different food. Any "Middle feeders" can be fed with floating food or pellets. I personally use flakes. Once you pour them on the surface, you can "hit" the flakes down with your finger. After about 2 times of doing this, they will start to slowly sink.

I mean, if you have the money... I say go for it. But, if you are on a budget, I don't recommend it.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. You can also use a small cup fill it a little with tank water put the flakes in and stir until the flacks are sunk and pour into you tank where ever you want to feed bottom feeders it will fall to the bottom.
 
Koi are related to goldfish and are primarily cold water fish. I raised 3 of them and they do get big. They are also related to carp which are bottom feeders. You should have them in a different tank from angelfish and bala sharks which are tropical fish as stated by @JuiceBox52 I fed my koi pond pellets.
 
Welcome!

I concur with what the others said. Koi are domesticated carp, and as such they will eat pretty much anything they can fit in their mouths, anywhere they can find it.

I too am interested to know how big your tank is. Koi generally are pond fish because they will outgrow pretty much any "normal" fish tanks. Bala sharks are big, active schoolers that need more space than most of us can afford to give them.
So, in regard to your first question, I'd say they can probably all eat the same high-quality flakes. But unless you have the sort of gigantic tank most of us can only dream of, you'll probably have to find new homes for the bala and the koi.
 
Oh, I forgot.

Hello and welcome to the forum! :hi: :fish:
 
Bala sharks are big, active schoolers that need more space than most of us can afford to give them.
Yes...

After doing some research a few years ago, here is what I found... You need to have a group of at least 6 Bala Sharks. The 6 young balas need to be in a 55g tank, minimum. Once they reach adulthood, they need at least a 180g tank, preferably bigger. How big is your tank?
 
I would definitely re-home the koi. In tropical temps I would expect them to double in length (that's about 4 times in mass) within 6 months. They are also amongst the most efficient sewage factories know to man - so keeping them in an indoor tank means a constant battle with water quality issues.
 
I would definitely re-home the koi. In tropical temps I would expect them to double in length (that's about 4 times in mass) within 6 months. They are also amongst the most efficient sewage factories know to man - so keeping them in an indoor tank means a constant battle with water quality issues.
I agree with @seangee, they are sewage factories, the 3 I had were in my 55 gallon tank and it was a constant battle to keep it clean, they are now happily living in a friends koi/goldfish pond
 

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