Ideas for new pond, pros and cons of koi

12 years ago

So I am in the process of planning a new pond for our house. I have a pond that is grossly overstocked (not from purchases, but koi and goldfish spawn) at my folks house, so I am urgently trying to build one at our home to accomadate my growing collection of koi and goldfish. I wanted to ask the posters here what their thoughts were on goldfish vs koi ponds. From experience, I can honestly say that I enojoyed the goldfish only pond more than the koi/goldfish pond becuase of maintenance time. I am thinking of selling off my prized koi and just "keeping it simple" - has anyone gone through similar circumstances? Here is my list, feel free to add your 2 cents.

Pros:

Beauty, koi are really beautiful, (if you can see them)

Time and $ already invested: I already have ~ dozen and have invested in them greatly

Attachment: have had them for years

Cons:

They need a bigger, deeper, pond which means I might need to put a fence around it since we have lots of small kids and animals in the area.

Maintenance with such large fish

Probablly need a separate pond for the plants (I am tired to trying to keep them from eating the plants).

Any thoughts?

thanks everyone

Comments (4)

ponderpaul
12 years ago
HEARING YOU!!! I have ten Koi, eight of which are 18Ã¢ÂÂ to 22Ã¢ÂÂ that I have had for about three years in a pond that is a little over 1,000 gal. I am thinking of selling all except my four favorites.
Debbie Downer
12 years ago
THANK YOU for thinking of the health and happiness of your fish, and being honest about what you can manage. I wish more people would! (And yes, I do think there must be a fishy equivalent of "happiness" that they experience.)

There are discussions all the time here about minimum gallons per koi to allow etc. and yes it may be true that you can technically keep them healthy with not a lot of space, if the filtration is adequate.... but I always wonder WHY BOTHER if there's not enough room for them to move freely. To see a group of koi moving together in a school across a large pond is an AMAZING sight. You don't see that when they are cramped. Without enough space they just kind of dart around aimlessly or don't move much at all.

Which brings me to goldfish. There are some bred especially for ponds with bright colors and long fins - some look exactly like koi - only they stay small 10-12 inches maybe. You can get that same schooling behavior in a lot less space.
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bradarmi
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks Kashka and Paul,
I gave into the koi craze when we built the pond 10 years ago, and now I know what I can maintain and what I have time for. While my fish are healthy and the pond plants are thriving (even with the constant grazing by the koi) - I feel like this year I didn't "enjoy" my pond because it was so green and murky ...first time in 10 years its been this bad. And now I am planning on building a pond of my own I wonder when did I loose the enjoyment of the hobby which is now turning into a "job"...just curious if others feel the same way.

I wonder if simply a larger pond would accomadate them (still planning on selling at least some) or if I should just revert to the easy and simple goldfish.

MPKS (Midwest pond and koi society) just had their fish auction, but I couldn't make it...anyone know of somewhere I can sell large and small (imported) Japanese koi in Chicagoland?
buyorsell888
12 years ago
Simply said: Koi are a lot more work and require bigger/deeper ponds than goldfish...

Many find a watergarden with plants and goldfish more relaxing and enjoyable than a koi pond....