A dive into Dr Vernard's love for koi fish

Growing up a country boy, it's no surprise that Vernard Hodges, DVM, the co-star of the popular television show, Critter Fixers: Country Vets, acquired an affinity for nature and the animals that live in it.

In this dvm360^® interview, he explains who particularly inspired his love for koi fish, how to care for these charming creatures, and more.

The following is a partial transcript of the video.

Vernard Hodges, DVM: I grew up in rural Georgia long before there was the internet or there was social media. So I'd go down to the river, and collect turtles and frogs and fish. And I always wanted to be the first Black Jacques Cousteau, I thought I was going to go down into the deepest voyages of the ocean and do those things. So, my love of aquatics started a long, long time ago. I've been raising koi fish probably about 40 years. My dad who adopted me was, he was Asian, and so he raised koi as a little boy. And he kind of imprinted that love of koi for me...

How many koi do we have? I don't know, we have a farm with some, so hundreds. Oftentimes, you know, in the south, [koi fish] do really, really well. When the temperature warms, they are really active and you simply feed them, you make sure that they have the nutrition, everything. And if you want to have some [koi fish] babies, you have to put the proper substrate in for them to lay their eggs. In wintertime, the thing is, they don't eat as much. I mean, sometimes they may go weeks without eating, so they make the perfect pet, and they live a long time.

Challenges with koi, I mean koi can range from the $2 koi you go and buy at Petsmart or these different places, to over $10,000 to $20,000 or so I mean there can be a lot of financial risks and financial things that go into these, so you want to make sure you keep these fish alive.

Watch the full video on Medical World News™ here.