wintering koi fry indoors.. anyone done it?

Am moving out sometime after newyears, and am trying to leave the parents a little gift.


a 3,000 gallon pond. They've had a smaller (600 gallon) unit for last 5 years which has a good population of comets.

Current hold up is.. mosquitos have completely overran the neighborhood, putting the brakes on construction. I may even have to wait until oct or nov for the blasted bugs to fall to manageable levels.

So the question is, is it possible to overwinter koi fry in a coldwater aquarium and not have them completely overgrow it in a year? Have space for something in the 35-55 gallon range and would rather have some koi beyond the 6-7" range to add. Probably going to have a kohaku or two donated from an uncle that are at adult size.. plus a dozen bargin-basement 8" comets from the current pond.

In the unlikely event the pond isn't constructed I do have access to another grossly understocked pond (5,000+ gallons with less than 18 comets) that they could be placed in.

Thats what I was fearful of. Already knew I'd have to overfilter it if they were to have any chance.


Any idea what size a 3-4" fry would be after about 8 months? 10-14" ?

As I said before. This isn't for long term koi-keeping, just to overwinter a few (2 or 3) select ones to stock one of several large ponds the following spring.

So I have to ask then. I know some people are overwintering fry indoors.. what on earth are they using ? I'm not completely thrilled at using a 100+ gallon tank for fry, just to have to break it all down when i move in the spring..

then again if thats whats needed to support 2 or 3 till spring I may do it anyway..

AFG: Thank you for pointing out the collapseables. Have to check local tank prices, but I know that will prove useful when I finally get the smaller pond decommissioned.