New Koi!!!!

[fish_freak]

Ok people I live in Connecticut and my new house has a free flowing pond. I have know idea what the temp is now but I know that all winter the pond did not freeze over because it is fed by underground water. My question is when should I put my new 4" koi in this pond. I bought them early because I wanted to try and get some from last years supplys so I knew that they lived through the winter without parasites. I wasnt able to find any so I got some from the first shipment my LFS got this year so I could put them in a tank and watched for illness for a couple of months before I put them in the pond but I am wondering when I should wait untill scince the koi are not in dorment state. Thanks
Also I am putting 2 kio in this pond but do you think it could hold three? Its about 1600 gallons or more and as mentioned above is free flowing so it shouldnt have a waste problem

 

[TJcanada]

What is the temperature you are keeping them at in the tank? This will determine when it would be fiesible to add them to the pond. One word of caution, adding any fish to a pond with temps ranging in the 55-68*F mark might be cause for concern - ponder's term this temp range as areomonas alley - were these "nasty" bacteria are in full upswing while good nitrifying bacteria is just starting to repoplulate and the pond fish(Koi/goldfish/etc) immune systems are not quite awake yet... in a sense they are more vulnerable to parasitic infections with secondary bacterial infections(areomonas/pseudomonas/etc.).

Regards, TJ

 

[TJcanada]

Also I am putting 2 kio in this pond but do you think it could hold three? Its about 1600 gallons or more and as mentioned above is free flowing so it shouldnt have a waste problem

Generally the common excepted rule at it's minium is 100-250gals per adult Koi(30+inches) - this is more acceptable for the average hobbiest but filter systems play a major role, they tend to be atleast 1/4 the water volume of the main pond. Those hobbiest that wish to see better developement in thier Koi tend to go with much more volume than that, anywhere from 500 to 1000gals(and higher) per adult Koi with even more attention to filter design - Proffesional Breeder's average between 1000gals to 5000gal(and up ie:Japanese mud ponds - 10,000gal/fish) per adult Koi.

If you can calculate the turn over rate of fresh water entering/waste water leaving your system then this should give you a reasonable idea as to how many Koi you can realisticaly keep - but under stocking is a far better option in my opinion.

Hope this helps,
TJ