Adding a Koi or two? Am I crazy?

[michey1st]

Soooo, I'm really enjoying looking at everyone's beautiful koi, and now that i'm in the process of upgrading, i'm wondering if adding one or two of them is possible, or if it is a horrible idea.

Post-upgrade, my lower pond (where the fish are) will be around 1700 gallons. Right now I have 10 goldies/shubbies. I've had 8 of them for the past 4 years and have never, ever been over-run with babies (in fact, i've never even seen any). This may be a function of them having been overcrowded in a 120 gallon preform, or it may just be that they aren't particularly frisky, all the same sex, or they just eat their young.

I do not feed my fish except on the rare occaision -- maybe once every few weeks.

The new, 1700 gallon pond has a submersible Laguna 2900. I'll be placing it in a makeshift skimmer box chock full of various layers of matala matting for some biological filtration. This water then feeds a small bog (around 5x4), waterfalls into a middle pond chock full of lilies and marginals, and then waterfalls back into the main pond.

The new pond will not have a bottom drain. I may be adding an additional waterfall at some point and if I do, will get a different pump that is closer to the bottom to feed it and that will provide more biological filtration opportunities. But that likely won't be happening this year.

Sooooo, given all the extra room (new pond will be around 9 x 14 and irregularly shaped, 3 feet deep throughout except near the waterfall, where it may end up being a smidge shallower), is it a bad idea to even consider adding a koi or two? Not really interested in feeding them multiple times per day (or with any regularity for that matter) or being a hardcore, purist koi keeper. But, I also want them to be happy and not suffer.

Note that the new pond will have some marginals tucked behind stone edging. And I do have water lilies which I understand may or may not get destroyed with some precautions. Assuming my goldies continue to play cleanup crew for the majority of eggs that may happen along, and I keep on top of water parameters (how hard will this be?), is a koi or two a non-starter? Do koi need to be fed daily? I just feel like they would be a nice contrast to the goldies and shubbies.

I'd be really interested to hear from any casual koi-goldie-shubbie-keepers (is there such a thing?) out there about their setup and experiences.

Thanks for letting me ramble!

Michey

 

[Nepen]

haha I think that's a great idea. more varieties in the pond the better, that's my motto anyway

 

[Tula]

I have a 1700 gallon pond and have four koi. It's not a dedicated koi pond, as it doesn't have a bottom drain, but it does have straight drop sides and is 3.4 feet in the center. I feed my koi each evening, not multiple times per day.

The things I feel I've done right are:
Aeration
Good skimmer with additional material pads in it.
Adequate filtration, it's a pressurized canister and UV light, I'll upgrade at some point.
Water movement, with two pumps running ( 3000 gph to water fall and 1200 to filter)

I've also had gravel removed from my pond bottom and net any debris daily. I keep lilies, wrap them in deer fencing and zip tie shut.

Hope this helps

 

[michey1st]

It DOES help, thank you, Tula! I think with my setup, i'll be a little light on the filtration, but that's something I do plan on improving upon. I will also be adding an aerator (it arrives tomorrow, as a matter of fact). Your koi are beautiful!!!!!!!!

 

[Dave 54]

michey 1st sadly for you not feeding your koi will endanger them during the winter months because they need a surplus of body weight to survive and not only that to grow and achieve their full potential .
I'll warn you now that koi are messy and becaue of this pretty hands on fish in that filters need to be cleaned on a regular basis your ponds bottom to be kept clean.
Being a little light on filtration , your going to need a major upgrade to handle the fish load .

Dave

 

[Tula]

I agree they need fed daily, but mine don't eat multiple times per day. This may be because that's what they're conditioned to, as I originally had a pond of mixed fish ( koi, shubunnkin, and comets) so they actually will not eat more than once. I've thought about working on getting them to eat a second meal...but they seems to be creatures of habit......promptly at 6 pm, thank you very much.

I do start with the cool wether food in Spring and revert to it , in the fall. I'm now getting ready to feed a higher protein food in June.

 

[HARO]

To answer your original question, Michey, OF COURSE YOU'RE CRAZY! After all, you ARE a ponderer, aren't you? We're ALL nuts!
John

 

[michey1st]

To answer your original question, Michey, OF COURSE YOU'RE CRAZY! After all, you ARE a ponderer, aren't you? We're ALL nuts!
John

BWAHAHAHA! I know, rhetorical question ;-) Turns out it is a moot point anyway right now. My new pond is nearly filled with water and it's smaller than I thought it would be. Still trying to convince the Mr that it is a good idea to drain it, remove the liner, and go bigger (tons of liner left over), but he doesn't seem to be listening. NOW WHO IS THE CRAZY ONE? Oh yeah... still me ^.^

 

[addy1]

Just start digging outside the pond, once big enough remove the small amount of dirt between the new hole and the pond. Instant bigger pond

 

[michey1st]

Just start digging outside the pond, once big enough remove the small amount of dirt between the new hole and the pond. Instant bigger pond

That's kinda what i'm thinking, but i'm wondering if the weight of the water in the liner is going to push against the hole and create a mess? Soooooo tempting.....

 

[addy1]

just keep a nice bit of dirt there, thicker at the bottom like a nice berm. I am guessing the dirt there has not been disturbed, which makes it stronger.