Fish Fairy Strikes Again!!!

brads

brads

AC Members
Jan 29, 2007
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Spokane, WA
O
M
G...

Just when you think it's safe to get out of bed... Whammo, your buddy calls and says, "Hey, I got a couple of Koi for your pond!" My friend, that would be George. You'd like George. He's blind but funny you know. Funny in a hysterical way. What can I say other than, don't get him started. Well anyway, seems him and his wife heard some pond store giving away stuff on the radio and so they ran down there and won me some Koi!!! Hey, I don't know anything about Koi. Oh well, they could'a got me tulips. I hate tulips.

Anyway, I now have two Koi. Don't ask me what kind. (Are there more then one kind? I don't know.) All I know is they're brown. One's about 3" and the other's 4". I put them in my pond with my two comets. Somebody tell me about Koi please. :help:
 
It's a 90 gallon w/waterfall. Ummm, 5' long x 2 1/2' wide x 2' deep. Too small I know. Any idea how long before they outgrow it?
 
5' long x 2 1/2' wide x 2' deep - thats a lot more than 90g ... considering those dimensions is closer to 190g.

So is it 90g or 190g?

I would imagine that in the winter the pond would completely freeze; unless of course you are heating it.
 
Sorry, I thought it was a 90g. I just laid a tape measure out on the floor and the dimensions aren't too far off. Maybe only 18" deep and the edges are round so... maybe it's bigger than 90g. 120g? Got it from K-Mart three or four years ago. Somewhere in there. Oh, winter. It doesn't completly freeze. Last year was our coldest winter in I don't know when and it froze about 1/2 - 2/3 way.

note: when I originally put the pond in I didn't plan on fish. Then along came the Comets which are supposed to be nigh indestructable. Keep a hole in the ice for gas exchange and they'll be fine. And now the Koi. I don't know anything about Koi. Don't get me wrong, I love fish in the pond. It's just that it all started out with the idea of sitting there with Iced Tea and listening to the water trickle. IE: not made for fish.
 
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brads said:
Sorry, I thought it was a 90g. I just laid a tape measure out on the floor and the dimensions aren't too far off. Maybe only 18" deep and the edges are round so... maybe it's bigger than 90g. 120g?

OK, I did the math and you're right. It's definately bigger than 90g. Probably more like 140g. That's a good thing right!?!
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Your pond is WAY too small for Koi. Koi are supposed to grow to nearly 3' long and need a minimum of 300G per fish... and that's with good filtration and good water. The Koi will become extremely stunted and have many health issues from being in an undersized pond. Having the extra fish will also affect the health of your two comets. If the pond is 140G, it would be the bare minimum size for the two comets as long as you have adequate filtration so I would rehome the Koi to someone with a BIG pond. It will be better for the Koi and for your existing fish.

Your pond isn't very deep so I would not try overwintering the comets in the pond. They may have survived the freeze but it could just have easily killed them. A pond should be closer to 3' deep for overwintering so the bottom of the pond stays a little warmer due to geothermal heating since the ground stays around 68F at that depth all year long. You should check with some gardening sites to see what your frost line is in your area. I would suspect it's deeper than 18" since you are so far up north.

Maybe you could buy a plastic kiddie pool and bring them into your garage or basement or somewhere else during the winter. This page has lots of articles on overwintering so get really familiar with the process. It's very important to prepare the pond and the fish for the overwinter process. http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/index.html
 
GoldLenny said:
Your pond is WAY too small for Koi. Koi are supposed to grow to nearly 3' long and need a minimum of 300G per fish...

...so I would rehome the Koi to someone with a BIG pond. It will be better for the Koi and for your existing fish.

Yeah, I was affraid of that. I'm thinking about calling this pond place where they came from. They stock our local Jaoanese Garden with Koi. Maybe I can donate them. On purpose or maybe even accidently. It's a beautiful place and has a hugh pond with many Koi. They would be very well taken care of there. Have to wait until they get a little bigger though. Maybe by the end of summer. Thanks for your reply. :)
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