cant decide... goldfish and koi or just koi?

[dieselplower]

OK I am having a hard time deciding what fish I want in my pond. Its about 4.5' at the deep end, and about 1600 gallons. Currently I have about 20 common/comet goldfish, 2 shubunkin goldfish, one oranda goldfish, one bluegill, and 2 petco Koi. I do like the white and the orange goldfish, but I find the black ones to be useless, as I can barely see them. I view them as just adding ammonia and no enjoyment, so they are going. I like the Shubunkin, as they are kind of like mini Koi, sorta. I adopeted the Oranda from a friend and may bring it inside, but I do want to see how well fancy goldfish grow in my pond. It lived out there all Winter. Now, Koi are my favorite. They have the best colors, and being a manly type of man, bigger is better in my book hahahah. My goldfish spawn like crazy, and even with 2 Koi and one Bluegill in there, my pond still had over 50 fish in it last Fall. So I am trying to decide what fish to have in my pond. What is your opinion? There is no wrong answer. Thanks.

 

[crsublette]

When it comes to koi, I have found it is mostly down to the expense and ensuring you have good filtration, water turnover, and good water exchange for when the koi gets up to 28 inches, if it gets that big.

More fish increases the likeliness of more chasing thus more injuries from these chases. If you want to get a good quality koi, then I would wait, do some research, and look for a 2~4 year old male from a good breeder and expect to pay around $300~$900. A 2~4 year old specifically since it is easier to determine fish's gender. Otherwise, you are taking a "educated guess" shot into the dark on the fish's gender. From what I remember, males do not get as big as the female koi since the males have a tendency to want to eat less food while I have seen female koi act like a hoover vacuum when it comes to feeding time. When it comes to serious decisions on buying expensive fish, then I do some research on koiphen.com and submit a request on their forum for breeder recommendations. Also, if you can, post a picture of the fish on that forum before purchasing it. Also, the female koi get chased more often, which leads to more injuries, than the male koi. There are some decent breeders here in the US of A, although not too many, and too many amateur and/or scheister breeders in the US of A that sell too often on craiglist and ebay. So, when it comes to expensive good quality koi, then it is buyer beware. I have heard good things about Kodama Koi Farm, based out of Hawaii (http://www.kodamakoifarm.com/lover/start.php).

So, with as many fish as you already have in the pond and it sounds like you want a good quality fish with nice coloring, that is what I would do.

Otherwise, I would look into buying some really quite nice shunbunkins from Rain Garden Goldfish, another Hawaii based operation (http://www.raingarden.us/goldfish.htm).

I actually think now is the right time of year to get something nice, except that might have been about a month ago or so, but I think they will still ship to you. When it comes to the deliveries, it would be best to pick up the package at the distribution center near you rather than allowing the fish to take a ride in the delivery truck.

I always wanted something quite nice, but then that would go against me being a cheapskate when it comes to fish.

 

[sissy]

I bought mutts 4 and 5 dollars at a koi farm .He has big lakes of koi and sells babies cheap ,but his bigger koi are for more high end sales .He sells all kinds of fish in NC .Last time I counted he had 50 tanks of babies .I got some fish from him for 1 dollar .But koi do get very large I have 2 filters 2 pumps going and an air pump

 

[Tula]

I made a decision to go strictly with koi, last fall. I rehomed about 50 fish, combination of shubunkin and comets, keeping only my five koi. I also removed the pond gravel. I honestly felt I was at a point where I had to choose....the comet / shubunkin were breeding like crazy...the koi destroyed my plants!! ugh! Ultimately I've netted my water lilies and kept my koi.

They are getting quite active and the pond is looking good. I was worried having just 5 fish would not be as interesting.....but that couldn't be farther from the truth. My koi are becoming more people oriented, without the feeding frezy of 50 other fish in the mix.

 

[sissy]

I like a good feeding frenzy makes me feel special .Like i am there god

 

[Tula]

Ha ha Sissy! I kind of miss it too I'm also looking ahead, as I'm 56, and want to make sure I can manage my pond....it was becoming a lot of work with so many fish.

I'm all excited, as Addy's plants arrived today. I wish I could magically make some of you appear and help me make a container bog! I've unpacked tham and have them in a floating net in the pond for now - very nice of Addy!

 

[dieselplower]

I enjoy and appreciate all the posts so far. Thank you.
Charles I am a bit cheap when it comes to fish as well hahaha. I don't think I could spend $300 on a fish. Not yet anyway. I hope to move in about a year. Maybe after that.
Sissy, I also enjoy a good feeding frenzy! The single tail goldfish go nuts!
Tula, it's good to know the Koi warm up to you witout all the goldies around. My Koi are pretty shy.

 

[sissy]

I taught mine to hand feed when i first got them and aggie and bert love to be petted like they are dogs .I buy watermelon and slice it just to watch them fight over it .Even my goldies eat out of my hands .They learn fast when they are young .Maybe it is the mutt in them pedigrees are always over strung .Mutts just want love.I actually put 2 short video's on you tube just to try it out called rainy day pond sissys pond

 

[Priscilla]

Gosh, that's a hard call! I have all sorts in my pond and I like the variety. I can't wait to see how big the fantail goldfish will get and I love the long trailing tails of the regular goldfish. I have 6 koi and I love those as well.

I agree with you on the black fish. I have one greyish tilapia in the pond, I can hardly see him, he harasses the other fish at feeding time (he's the biggest right now), BUT I feel like he's mine and I rescued him from a fish farm, so now I just have to keep him.

They all come up to my hand to eat as well. All of them, including the platys (which is crazy to see like 2 dozen swarming my hand.

I'm a fish nut! Lol!

 

[RobAmy]

I agree tough call. Some of my goldfish now are becoming just beautiful. Some of the tails are awesome now. My shubunkins are getting some amazing colors also. I love the look of the butterfly koi which is why I have 4 of them, if they did not get so large I would have a few more. I may still consider a platinum butterfly koi but that's it on koi. A have a few babies from last year that have some cool colors, will see what they look like when they get bigger. They all come up to my hand. I think if your pond size and filters can handle it all then you will not regret koi only. Tough decision for you, either way it will be fun

 

[Chinjuspond]

Hmm. Well I have Shubunkins and koi. I love my koi although they are not butterfly koi. I get the beautiful speckle colors from my shubunkins and the pretty long tails. I like the large and small size. I do have the black colored in my pond. Supposedly those are from koi and shubunkins breeding. You get a non color fish. They don't bother me much but I don't have 50 plus fish like you. So I see the want to narrow it down. Also, less fish means more room for your koi to grow bigger.

 

[sissy]

koi are very destructive to plants also so you have to factor that in .

 

[callingcolleen1]

I love my koi and my goldfish, including the odd black fish, I see them when the sun shines, or when the underwater lights are one, they look like shadows in the night!
I just have cheap koi mutts too, and years ago when the guy at the pets store was trying to sell me expensive koi, I had a hard time understanding why they were so much money, and I thought the cheaps ones were pretty! I only every bought small baby koi and never paid much, and very happy with the nice koi that I have! I also think that koi and goldfish look pretty together in same pond, although my top pond has only koi cause they are so big in that pond. My middle pond is mixed and the bottom pond just has small goldfish and one very small baby koi.

 

[dieselplower]

Great posts. It seems many have trouble deciding! All the fish have their positives and negatives! I still can't decide hahahaha

 

[Mmathis]

Well, in a way, my decision was based on the fact that I didn't want fish that I was going to have to "fuss" over, plus the size of my pond. So for me, gold fish [Shubies, fantails, Wakin, & Watonai, with a few comets thrown in].

Here's a pic of the Watonai I just ordered -- he's about 4" long [not incl. tail] and looks every bit like a baby koi.

And though, not a good pic, here's one of the 3 that are being QT'd inside -- the other 2 are Wakin. Very pretty viewed from above with their short, fanned tails. They are very hardy and they don't move like "butt-wigglers."