Well, I was braced for 3 weeks of not seeing my fish after putting them in the new pond, but after jumping in yesterday to move some stuff on the bottom I stirred up all of the dirt and clay on the bottom and now the water is cloudy, but two hours later every single koi is out swimming around, pecking at the bottom, and in general having a great time. I fed them and about half were brave enough to come eat on the surface so I'm just delighted, but my question is, is this a coincidence or does the murky water really make them feel safer? if so I'll just leave it and clear it up slowly over the next week. if you guys think this is just the normal time they would have come out anyway I'm adding coagulator right now because the cloudy water is driving me crazy.
Cloudy water, happy fish!
- Thread starter buckry
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lol it depends on your fish, some hide some are braver. The murk probably does make them feel safer, they are hiding. Put in some floating plants to give them areas to hide under. My fish hang out under the lilies once they get going. They do come running when the see me, I mean food!
I have floating baskets, a couple of suspended baskets, and the bridge, but for the last 72 hours, a small flap in the liner behind the pump has been their cave. It's actually so deep and dark when all 10 fish are in there you cannot see them at all. They obviously think this is much safer than being under a lily pad, which it probably is, I've tried to reach into it to scare them out but it's too deep, and I'm not about to go ramming a broom handle down there so I've just left them alone.
sissy
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once koi know you have food and get used to you they will come .My koi love to be petted and love there chins rubbed .I took a piece of watermellon down yesterday and set there holding it while they attacked it .It is like a feeding frenzy when they smell fruit .
I noticed that when I built my new pond, my fish were all a lot more willing to come out in the open. My guess is that because they are in a bigger pond with deeper water, they feel safer because they have room to run if anything spooks them.
Looks like the batch of new fish has really made them confident. They were out and about the last day, but the new fish has made the place very active. They're sticking in the deepest part of the pond just swimming around in a big school. They come up to the surface from time to time, and even though they didn't come up when they saw the food on the surface, 2 or 3 of them did take a few bites of flake food. That's the only food I've seen them eat all week.
as long as water conditions are favorable i don't think fish care..as they say clear water is for our satisfaction... given time they will venture more to the surface, especially when they put together that when they see you it means food... albeit that you won't be feeding them everytime
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great! glad to hear
I know what you mean Buck, in our last pond we were able to hand feed all our pond pets, fish, turtles and frogs. So far the only thing we can hand feed in our new pond is the frogs. Some of the fish will take the food, but not from our hand, and they seem reluctant to even come to the surface to get it while we are around, and as for the turtles, I have yet to see them eat any of the turtle pellets we have been putting in there, I think the fish are finding it though.
I'm curious if anybody else feeds their frogs???
haven't tried yet.. have a pretty large bullfrog living in pond.. sometimes lets you get close to look at but only when it's in the water and can make a quick escape by diving to the bottom
Yeah, these new koi are WAY tamer than my old ones. It took me months to teach them to feed on the surface, these new ones were begging for it after 24 hours in the water. They were eating algae up there before I finally decided to feed them. I think Next Day Koi must be very hands on with their fish.