Friend donated their fish to me

[PondGirl2021]

Hi all

It’s been a while !
I currently have 11 koi, one is 2 years old, and I recently added 10 new ones 6cm each in size.
My friends grandad passed away and needs the pond gone asap, so has donated me their koi/goldfish and plants. However I literally have nowhere I can quarantine them. They are all healthy, and so are mine. Would it be ok to add them without quarantine?

I also don’t have a spare pump etc, and they have already said they are giving that to someone else already.
Any advice would be great. I do have another pond ( no filters or pumps just kept it natural. ) so was wondering if they could go in there for a bit first ( I could get a cheap small pump for that ) .
But honestly hoping I can just put them straight in with my fish

 

[Lisak1]

You can combine two healthy batches of fish and they can contaminate each other. They can be completely adapted to each other or to their own pond, but not to another herd of fish or another pond. So it's a risk on both ends.

Having said that, putting them into your existing filterless pond could be a risk as well - no telling what's living in there either.

How big is your pond by the way - if you have 21 koi already you need a massive pond. Like 10,000 gallons plus. And if you just added 10 new fish where did you quarantine them?

This is all giving me hives.

 

[JRS]

You could put them straight in, many have done it, myself included with my common goldfish, as it is the easiest. Often it is successful but we are not going to recommend it since it is one of those do at your own risk situations as I am sure you are aware since you are concerned about not quarantining. https://hanoverkoifarms.com/quarantine-procedures/

Ideally you would keep them separate and keep an eye on them for a while. Not knowing the sizes of the pond and fish involved it is hard to say for sure if that is a good idea either.

 

[Lisak1]

Not knowing the sizes of the pond and fish involved it is hard to say for sure if that is a good idea either.

Not knowing the size of either pond, honestly. Those 21 koi already in the pond scare me.

 

[WaterGardener]

From another post, it seems as though the pond is 2000 gallons.

 

[Lisak1]

2000! Holy heck... that's a disaster waiting to happen.

@PondGirl2021 - are you still here or did we lose you?

 

[WaterGardener]

And I thought I was overstocked!

 

[PondGirl2021]

You can combine two healthy batches of fish and they can contaminate each other. They can be completely adapted to each other or to their own pond, but not to another herd of fish or another pond. So it's a risk on both ends.

Having said that, putting them into your existing filterless pond could be a risk as well - no telling what's living in there either.

How big is your pond by the way - if you have 21 koi already you need a massive pond. Like 10,000 gallons plus. And if you just added 10 new fish where did you quarantine them?

This is all giving me hives.

No I have 11 one adult, 10 juveniles.
I have 1 10ft x 8ft x 3 1/2 ft pond, and one 5 ft x 4ft x 2ft pond ( for gold fish )

 

[PondGirl2021]

Not knowing the size of either pond, honestly. Those 21 koi already in the pond scare me.

1 adult 10 juvenile lol I don’t have 21 koi in my pond

 

[PondGirl2021]

You can combine two healthy batches of fish and they can contaminate each other. They can be completely adapted to each other or to their own pond, but not to another herd of fish or another pond. So it's a risk on both ends.

Having said that, putting them into your existing filterless pond could be a risk as well - no telling what's living in there either.

How big is your pond by the way - if you have 21 koi already you need a massive pond. Like 10,000 gallons plus. And if you just added 10 new fish where did you quarantine them?

This is all giving me hives.

I think I need to highlight I have 11 koi not 21 . 1 is adult and 10 are juvenile. My pond is 10ft x 8ft x 3 1/2 ft. I also have another pond for smaller fish

 

[PondGirl2021]

2000! Holy heck... that's a disaster waiting to happen.

@PondGirl2021 - are you still here or did we lose you?

For some reason I’m not getting any notifications so didn’t realise I had response. Sorry

 

[PondGirl2021]

You can combine two healthy batches of fish and they can contaminate each other. They can be completely adapted to each other or to their own pond, but not to another herd of fish or another pond. So it's a risk on both ends.

Having said that, putting them into your existing filterless pond could be a risk as well - no telling what's living in there either.

How big is your pond by the way - if you have 21 koi already you need a massive pond. Like 10,000 gallons plus. And if you just added 10 new fish where did you quarantine them?

This is all giving me hives.

I would buy a cheap filter and test the water before adding them, was just wondering if that’s ok until I transfer them ?

 

[PondGirl2021]

Not knowing the size of either pond, honestly. Those 21 koi already in the pond scare me.

11……. 1 adult ( which is 2 years old ) & 10 juvenile I’m really not sure where everyone is getting 21 from

 

[PondGirl2021]

You can combine two healthy batches of fish and they can contaminate each other. They can be completely adapted to each other or to their own pond, but not to another herd of fish or another pond. So it's a risk on both ends.

Having said that, putting them into your existing filterless pond could be a risk as well - no telling what's living in there either.

How big is your pond by the way - if you have 21 koi already you need a massive pond. Like 10,000 gallons plus. And if you just added 10 new fish where did you quarantine them?

This is all giving me hives.

Also my pond is just under 2000 gallons, and previously told it can hold 30 koi. But I definitely wouldn’t want that many in my pond anyway. The max fish I’d want is 20. But not all koi either, I’d like some smaller algae eating fish.

 

[WaterGardener]

There is no way a pond that size could safely accommodate 30 koi. Thirty goldfish maybe, but never 30 koi. You would have to have massive, and I mean massive, filtration for that.

It is recommended here to have 1000 gallons for the first koi and 500 gallons for each additional one. Your pond should have 3 koi. Obviously, if they are small they will be okay for a short while.

However, koi grow fast and get huge and produce a great deal of ammonia, even if just by breathing. Unless you have plans for building a several thousand gallon pond, you will soon be tremendously overstocked. What are you planning to do with them when they get larger?

The confusion comes from your stating that you have 11 koi and recently added 10 new ones. We didn't understand that the total now is 11, not the total of the numbers you posted. But still it's too many for the size of the pond.