Koi ponds!! :)

[purplemuffin]

Oh I miss our koi. They were so pretty. My parents are so determined to get new koi, but I'm not letting them until we are ready and we do this right. I really want to do as much reading as possible to have a...well, as close to fool-proof koi pond as possible. It's going to be tough to convince them to let the little baby koi grow into their full size before deciding we need more koi to fill in the space. The good thing is they know not to mess with a good thing. If I can get a large enough pond that has plants and looks nice and can handle rain and such, they might not try and mess with it without my consent. We just had too small of a pond and not enough plants. And a...really pathetic filter. o_O

I personally don't want more koi until a long time from now(I'm still heartbroken to be honest...), but my parents are pushing for them hard, so I need to study quick. I might PM some of you who are super knowledgeable on koi so I can get a quick study guide and know where to look for the right info.

[Mavi]

Oh no! What happened to your koi, purple muffin?!

Koi maiden- I just realized that although I've never taken a picture of my pond before, it's on Randall's website in his portfolio!
If you type in clarkekoi.com and then click on "portfolio" it's on the eighth page (there are side to side arrows)
It's the L shaped one.

[purplemuffin]

They just didn't survive the move. I don't know what happened really, I tried to follow every bit of instruction on transporting them exactly. Part of me feels that they just went into shock. While I tried to keep their water clean as possible, with me being gone at school I don't think my parents really kept up with things like water changes, which they needed in their small 'pond'. So the move and the stress and then being in cleaner water. I tried to let them acclimate perfectly, but it just didn't work.. I don't know. They died very quickly, it was completely heartbreaking. I had tried so hard. My parents aren't good with fish, and they kept taking the wrong advice. By the time I got home I was just doing my best to get them back on track, and it seemed like it was going well. They grew so much! They were feeder size when we got them, and the biggest one was 14 inches when he/she died. :( Now they want a new pond, but they said they'd listen to me this time. I'm actually about to write a new thread about this in a moment.

[thekoimaiden]

Mavi, I was thinking about getting some between 6 and 8 inches. I love watching them grow; I also love the price when they are that small. Again, my only worry is quarantine. I'll work it out later, tho. I've still got a few months before I can add any koi.

$500000 ?!?!?! Holy smokes that's a brand new car!!!!! I know I've seen blue fin tuna go for something like that, but a single koi? It must have been a perfect tancho. I kinda want to see this half a million dollar koi.

I have one large koi who can be a bit pushy with food. Halloween. She's the largest and the piggiest. I've actually had better luck when I introdcue my koi in groups of 2. The two new guys just hang together for a bit before they find their place in the school. When I introduced one little guy on his own (Suzaku the kohaku, my newest edition) he hid for months. I would only see him around feeding time and only for a second. It took him a whole year to get comfortable with the group.

Oh. My. God. Mavi, your pond is amazing!! It's huge!!! I would love to see some pictures of your fish next summer. They must be huge!!!

Originally Posted by Mavi

Zappity- the key to cutting down on the maintenance you have to do is the long run is to not cut corners when building.

+1000000 This is the best advice! Never cut corners with a pond. It will kill you in the long run. Ponds are expensive endeavors. But if you have the time, the money, and the will, they are wonderful places to retreat.

Muffin, I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. *hugs* I would be devastated to lose my koi. But you are right to wait and research. Be sure to remind your parents that koi ponds are life-long commitments. Even if you decide to get rid of the koi, you will still have a huge hole in your backyard which is an insurance liability. I think your best bet is to find a local koi expert. There are certain quarks of the different locations we all live in which local pond expert will be best versed in. Mavi has her pond guy, and I have mine. They really make a difference. Ponds are different than aquariums. It really is best to bring in outside help when constructing it. You might also want to find a local koi pond club. They can help, too. Or a good koi forum. You'll find great advice there.

EDIT: Muffin, I did a quick search on Texas Koi Clubs and found a few. I found some based in Houston and some in Dallas. I don't know which would be closer to you. They might be something to look into, tho.

[purplemuffin]

It was not fun. I've heard that common goldfish and such are slightly hardier, and stay a little smaller than koi, so I was considering reading up on instead giving them a goldfish pond. But I've got a lot of reading to do.

Thanks for the search, I do live in the DFW area, actually near Arlington. I'll see if I can check them out and they can give me some answers. Would they deal in goldfish also, or just koi specifically? :)

[thekoimaiden]

Originally Posted by purplemuffin

It was not fun. I've heard that common goldfish and such are slightly hardier, and stay a little smaller than koi, so I was considering reading up on instead giving them a goldfish pond. But I've got a lot of reading to do.

Thanks for the search, I do live in the DFW area, actually near Arlington. I'll see if I can check them out and they can give me some answers. Would they deal in goldfish also, or just koi specifically? :)

I have cousins in that area. My grandparents used to live in Houston, but they traded the heat for the snow and moved to Ohio. It seems like most of the clubs deal in goldfish and koi ponds. I found one in the Dallas area and a one for all of Texas. Texas Koi & Fancy Gold Fish Society - Home and Dallas Koi Kichi Group - Home I'm hoping those guys can give you some help. Sometimes silly parents need to hear the same things that we say from other adults.

Goldfish would be another good alternative. They do stay smaller and are a little hardier. Your pond wouldn't need to be a huge to house a good number of them. With shubunkins and comets you still have a good choice of colors and fin types. Wakins are another interest goldfish that are best kept in ponds.

[Mavi]

Goining a koi club would kill me :P I would come home with so much stuff I don't need :P
Thanks koi maiden! :) I'm very fond of my pond :) and as you can see its big enough that three more koi wouldn't overstock it in the least.
Most of the fish are around 15-20 inches but then corporal banana dwarfs them completely. He's almost 32 inches now!
How big is Halloween?
Introducing them in pairs is a really good idea.

Purple muffin, I'm so sorry for your loss that must have been devastating.
I have the same parent problem, with my betta when I'm away from home they used to over feed him because they think I'm starving him.
They are under the impression that they need absolutely zero maintenance. Luckily they don't take the same attitude with the koi.

If you really want some smaller hardier pond fish Shubunkins are like around goldfish size but they have beautiful long fins and they have patterning like sanke koi. They are quite beautiful.

[purplemuffin]

We had a shubunkins mixed in with our koi as well, he was actually a surprise dropped off in our pond from our neighbor. We just went outside after a storm and there were two new fish in the pond and our neighbor had packed up and moved out. It was very strange. But they were both beautiful. A ryukin and a shubunkins were the fish gifted to us, I loved them both.

I have an idea for the pond that would make it work. But in our new house it looks like the only space in the back yard would allow for a 5x5x3(MAYBE 4' deep) pond. With a decent filter, how many goldfish do you think would work in that size? I want to make it look very modern--a perfect square with thick concrete slabs, would look very much like modern japanese architecture. A nice equally modern waterfall in the back helping out with water circulation. The whole pond area would be very sleek and I think the modern 'look' might help prevent any random new fish purchases that could over stock the pond. It would already look nice with only a few goldfish in it.

In that size what filter/amount of goldfish would be suggested for low maintenance? :/

[BettaMommy531rip]

Is it possible just to put 1-2 koi in a VERY large tank?

[Mavi]

Purple muffin. I'm not sure, you should find some way of calculating the gallonage. Then it would be easier to figure out how many should fit.

Bettamommy531rip, I would never ever keep koi in a tank! How big of a tank are you talking about