first pond

[steor1234]

hi i am new to this forum and i have always wanted a pond i have just moved in to my own house and i have a place where my pond could go but i have been reading this forum and my pond size seems a bit small its will be about 5.5ft x 9ft and about 6ft deep is that to small i would like some carp only a few what do you guys think???

thanks ste

 

[j.w]

steor1234
If you are already thinking to yourself that your pond seems a bit small before you even have gotten started then I suggest that you make it the biggest you can now cuz sooner or later we all wish we would have made ours bigger. If you are just going to keep goldfish it does not need to be real big but if you are going for koi then you will need much more room, maybe even twice as big if not bigger cuz those fish do get quite huge! And then there are the plants that we all want to add to the pond. Making your pond bigger will allow you to add all the good plants you want to acquire also and we do love sharing our plants here

 

[steor1234]

i would love to have it bigger but the wife will not let me lol

 

[Mucky_Waters]

i would love to have it bigger but the wife will not let me lol

Would you like me to talk to her for you?
lol

 

[addy1]

glad you joined!

If that is the biggest your wife will let you make it, that will work fine for goldfish and shubunkins. Stay away from koi.
That is around 2200 gallons, which will be fine for non koi fish. Koi could survive but you would need excellent filtration etc. and a small number of fish. That is bigger than my first two ponds!

 

[steor1234]

please do mucky_waters thanks

and what size would it have to be for a koi carp??

thanks

 

[addy1]

Here is some reads on pond size for koi

http://www.koifishguide.com/koiponds/

http://goarticles.com/article/Want-To-Build-A-Koi-Pond-12-Tips-You-Need-To-Know/224479/

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forums! :wave:

I hope you win the argument with your wife!

 

[CountryEscape]

Loved Mucky-Water's comment.

Welcome to the Forum! Maybe if you have some ammunition about what size koi would need, and if you wife wants koi, too, you will win your argument. Good luck! BTW, both koi and goldfish/shubunkins come in very beautiful color variations. Don't assume if you have "only goldfish" that it will not be fun! Just choose your goldfish and shubunkins based on what you want to see in your pond. They reproduce easily, and you can then watch the babies grow and the beautiful colors emerge! Either way, build what you can and enjoy the fish that you put in it!

 

[Shdwdrgn]

There are ways for the pond to 'grow' over time... Keeping in mind that the actual body of water will remain fixed in size, once you have the pond dug, but you will of course need to put plants in and around it. Choosing some plants like rushes and irises that will grow both in and out of the water, you can blur the lines and make the pond appear larger. You might add a waterfall later to give the sound of running water and help oxygenate the pond. Then you might add a bog to provide excellent natural filtration and expand the types of plants you are able to keep...

Your fish will certainly appriciate the depth you are planning. We can't all have full-sized ponds, so we make do with what space we have. If you can add a few small additions to your pond over the years, you'll find there is a lot that can be done in a limited space.

 

[koiguy1969]

at those dimensions, boxed.. your pond would be just over 2200gals... enough for 4 or 5 even larger koi...you could sell and replace with smaller fish every few years as well. that depth would really lend itself to your fishes safety from preditors, and water temp stabilty. i keep 5 large koi, and their yearly fry, in just just over 1/2 that volume. good filtration allows me to do so...not that i would reccomend it but, i have 50 fish in 800 gals of water right now, all koi ranging from 3" - 20". 5 over 16" and a 19" pieco. ...regular waterchanges of 5% -10% can do wonders for the health of your pond and fish. larger than 10% water changes i leave for emergencies only. i do a 50 gal water change every 4-5 days on my 800 gal pond. and i do it by flushing my filter, and just replacing the flushed water. this gives my waterchange and filter a cleaning.

 

[sissy]

welcome well you could always say as you were digging you got to involved with it and did not realize you were digging that much out and then beg for mercy and take an insanity plea .You may still end up in the dog house but buy her flowers and beg and beg your way out of it .

 

[HARO]

I like that "insanity plea" bit. All us ponders are crazy!!!
John

 

[taherrmann4]

Go as big as you can. Show your wife some others ponds out there and maybe she will let you go bigger.