Learn more about koi carp? Tortoises are adorable animals and they are great pets to keep in your home. Here we explore the top five reasons why you should consider getting a tortoise as a pet.

With some space to enjoy and some lettuce to chomp on, a tortoise will be pretty happy. Tortoises are very affordable to keep in your home.

Once they are set up with a comfortable space to enjoy, there will be very little cost to upkeep them. Their food is cheap and their space remains clean for long periods without needing to be changed.

Tortoises will also be around for a long time. They can live from 14 to 30 years or more depending on the species, which means you will have a friend for years to come.

Unlike most other pets, you will be able to enjoy your tortoise for vast periods of your life. Tortoises are far more harmless than cats and dogs.

While they may bite your finger if you put it in their mouth, little damage will be done. A tortoise is a very safe pet to have in the home and is great when you have children too.

Wild populations are now at risk from hybridization with released or introduced domestic stock. They are also threatened by river control — wild carp need flooded areas in order to reproduce.

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There are 2 ways of doing so:. Adding a bit of pond water to the container and wait 10 minutes, then repeating the process until the temperature in the tub equals that of the pond.

Using Stress Coat. It is beneficial in calming the koi, but also easy and safe to use. Monitor the Situation Even after the initial process of introducing the koi into the pond, you should continue to oversee the situation until the koi are fully adapted to their new surroundings.

Additional tip : Arrange the pond in a way that would be the most suitable for the koi. That means making sure there are things on the surface, but also in the pond itself that can provide cover and safety.

An average lifespan of a koi fish is around 40 years. That means further maintenance of the pond and proper care are necessary. Here are a few quick tips and tools :.

Feeding: Be careful not to overfeed the koi, it contaminates the water causing the growth of bacteria. Feeding them once a day is enough. Crowd Control: Overpopulated pond is a health risk.

Keep track of the number of fish and plants. A well-designed outdoor pond has areas too deep for herons to stand, overhangs high enough above the water that mammals cannot reach in, and shade trees overhead to block the view of aerial passers-by.

It may prove necessary to string nets or wires above the surface. A pond usually includes a pump and filtration system to keep the water clear.

Koi are an omnivorous fish. They eat a wide variety of foods, including peas, lettuce, and watermelon. Koi food is designed not only to be nutritionally balanced, but also to float so as to encourage them to come to the surface.

When they are eating, koi can be checked for parasites and ulcers. Naturally, koi are bottom feeders with a mouth configuration adapted for that.

Some koi have a tendency to eat mostly from the bottom, so food producers create a mixed sinking and floating combination food. Koi recognize the persons feeding them and gather around them at feeding times.

They can be trained to take food from one's hand. In the winter, their digestive systems slow nearly to a halt, and they eat very little, perhaps no more than nibbles of algae from the bottom.

Their appetites do not come back until the water becomes warm in the spring. Koi have been reported to achieve ages of — years.

In July , a study of the growth rings of one of the koi's scales reported that Hanako was years old. Koi are very hardy. With proper care, they resist many of the parasites that affect more sensitive tropical fish species, such as Trichodina , Epistylis , and Ichthyophthirius multifiliis infections.

Water pH is important for maintaining koi's health. Two of the biggest health concerns among koi breeders are the koi herpes virus KHV and rhabdovirus carpio, which causes spring viraemia of carp SVC.

No treatment is known for either disease. Some koi farms in Israel use the KV3 vaccine, developed by Prof. Israel is currently the only country in the world to vaccinate koi against the KHV.

The vaccine is injected into the fish when they are under one year old, and is accentuated by using an ultraviolet light.

In , spring viraemia struck an ornamental koi farm in Kernersville, North Carolina , and required complete depopulation of the ponds and a lengthy quarantine period.

For a while after this, some koi farmers in neighboring states stopped importing fish for fear of infecting their own stocks. When koi naturally breed on their own they tend to spawn in the spring and summer seasons.

The male will start following the female, swimming right behind her and nudging her. After the female koi releases her eggs they sink to the bottom of the pond and stay there.

A sticky outer shell around the egg helps keep it in place so it does not float around. Although the female can produce many spawns, many of the fry do not survive due to being eaten by others.

On average if the egg survives around 4—7 days the fry will be hatched from the egg. Neither the female nor the male care for the eggs or young in any way.

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