Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum | Post a Follow-Up

 o
where to get fish

Posted by sonya z9 Texas (My Page) on
Sun, Mar 30, 08 at 21:10

I have a 3500 gallon pond with 2 koi in it , where do all of you purchase your fish from?.The ones from the pet stores are ok, but the pictures I see here don't look like you got the fish from a regular pet store. I need some fish to complete my pond.


Follow-Up Postings:

 o
RE: where to get fish

tricker.com and springdalewatergardens.com are 2 that I have used. I have bought from Tommy at Goldfishnet.com He has an auction weekly and has quality fish. They are expensive and shipping is expensive. Glenda


 o
RE: where to get fish

How about checking with gardening, water gardening, or koi clubs in your area? They might provide good local sources.

ccoombs, was it you that once posted a site for national koi clubs? It had listings for each state if I remember right.

S


 o
RE: where to get fish

yep...that was me. Here's a link to the AKCA, which has a listing of all koi clubs in the country. Many koi clubs have auctions every spring to give members a chance to thin out their own collections.

Under normal circumstances, I would NEVER suggest buying fish from Ebay sellers because there are a lot of bad diseases and parasites that you can bring home that way, but there is one exception. Do an Ebay search for SJKOI...that will bring up all the fish he has for sale currently. The man's name is Richard Rombold and he is a breeder in california. He is producing some VERY nice fish....I have even taken his fish to shows and won 1st place ribbons with them. His farm practices good bio-security methods so he is not importing fish that may be infected with KHV. His fish are good and healthy, and very reasonably priced.

Since you only have 2 fish it's not AS important to quarantine all new comers, but as a general rule ALL new fish need to be quarantined for a peroid of at least one month at temperatures above 73°. Koi Herpes Virus is a fatal, contagious fish disease that is easily spread from new infected fish to your own. I quarantine all new fish from any source, even though who I trust just because it's much easier to treat parasites in my QT than it is in the pond.

Here is a link that might be useful: AKCA


 o
RE: where to get fish

Your koi don't spawn? I purposely prevented mine from reproducing, for a while, but now, I provide cover and have three little newbies. New fish for free, with no quarantining.


 o
RE: where to get fish

My fish do spawn on occasion, but most of my koi are females so not a lot of spawning goes on. Also, I prefer very high quality koi and show quality koi with perfect patterns. It is nearly impossible to produce that from a mass spawn in a pond.


 o
RE: where to get fish

  • Posted by sonya z9 Texas (My Page) on
    Tue, Apr 1, 08 at 17:28

mafraley I live in Corpus Christi, way down south I can not believe that the shipping charges are that much 100 dollars from califoria or from north texas, just about the same price from wherever. I'm still looking for koi im my area without any luck. I have checked the garden clubs but no luck there either, My two fish I have are about 12 inches in length they havent spawned yet. Dont know there gender maybe I will get lucky one day


 o
RE: where to get fish

Sonya,

1. Check Koi Club in San Antonio's website. I bet they have an auction each year
2. Check Craig's List (Looks like San Antonio has some listed)
3. Keep checking those Pet store chains... Every once in a while a mutt turns to a masterpiece (odds 1 in 300,000 give or take)
Put an ad in the local paper. You may just see there are others in your area with koi.

LP


 o
RE: where to get fish

Sonya,

If you you are up for a drive, check out Nelson's Watergardens in Katy, TX (near Houston). It is a really cool place to check out if you are into watergardening. I purchsed all of my koi there. I bought them when they were tiny (approx 2" long or less) because they were cheaper and in less than one year they are all a little over half a foot. I have ten fish, 7 koi, 3 goldfish, in my 3000 gallon pond.

Gabe


 o
another source

Oh yeah, I also know a guy that sells very large Koi 12-36 inches that he raises in his backyard in Alvin, Texas. Prices aren't too bad. Let me know if you are interested and I can give you his number.


 o
RE: where to get fish

On Wednesday, I received my Golden Orfe from Sprindalewatergardens and am very pleased. All arrived very healthy looking and are doing well.


 o
RE: where to get fish

I go to Nelson's quite a bit, but if you live in Corpus, Water Garden Gems, outside of San Antonio may be more practical for you. When we get lots of replies, it's easy to confuse who said what. I wasn't the one suggesting you buy from far away places requiring shipping. ;)
CCoombs, I knew you wouldn't rely on spawning, I was speaking to Sonya, but now that I go back and read the OP, I see that she only has two fish. That increases the chances of two of the same sex by a lot.
Sonya,
I just know there's got to be a koi club in your area. I strongly second the suggestion to look up the AKCA. The clubs are always looking for new contacts and members. Good luck


 o
RE: where to get fish

Mommy I killed all of my neighbor's fish ...
Somebody Help me .... I live in west Houston and a neighbor was called out of town and asked me to watch his place while he was gone. He has a 500 gal Koi pond with 18 fish of assorted color, pattern and sizes, uhhh ... i think "had" would be a better term to use at this point. He left a big container of food and told me to throw out a couple of handfuls every morning and to keep the water level at the same depth. I know absolutely nothing about fish or the ponds they swim in. The first 10 days everythng is fine ... then Wednesday morning I go in and there are two fish skeletons on the ground, the vegetation in and around the pond is torn up and there is one dead fish floating in the water and the container of food is open and empty. First thought is ..."Rocky Raccoon" because the hood has been buzzing about someone having seen a "very large masked animal" coming out of and going back into one of our storm drains at night. There has also been some garbage can raiding going on. I called my friend he asked me to cover the pond with chicken wire and weight it down with rocks from the pond. Next morning all is well except the fish all seem to be hiding. The night I went to chk on the fish and the water was very dark and cloudy. Called my friend and he says "I forgot to tell you to make sure the micro screen on the aerator is clean' ... doh! Then he tells me I need to "flush out" the murky water with fresh water and he has a salt pellet water softener system so i turned on the water spigot and ran about 20 gal or so of fresh water into the pond and the fish were swimming about and being very active. That was last night about 8pm. This morning the water was very murky again and there was a "floater" and no sign of the other fish close to the surface so I decided I needed to do some more flushing, so I ran more water into the pond and went home to do some of my own chores ... About 2 hrs later I noticed water in the gutter and suddenly remembered about the water. When I went to the pond the water was crystal clear ... and all of the fish were floating and lifeless. My guess is too much fresh water... Anybody have a clue based on this info...?


 o Post a Follow-Up

Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum.

    If you are a member, please log in.

    If you aren't yet a member, join now!


Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum

Instructions

  • You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
  • Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
  • After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
  • It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
  • HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
  • No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
  • If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
  • If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.



 
Click here to learn more about in-text links on this page.