Help with identification

[custardavenger]

Hi all.
I'm really hoping you can help me.
Having bought my house that came with a pond and fish and investing as a lot of time and money into it, I have decided that my big plans to rebuild the pond are just not going to be possible financially. I really hoped that the pond filter i bought was going to be better that the old ones and knowing how much it would cost to replace it and the pond rebuild, it's money I should really be putting in to the house itself.
So I am hoping for some help identifying the fish I have so that I can advertise them and sell them (people tell me they are worth money but I have no idea, Not after full price if they are)
I have 10 fish in total, not sure on the individual lengths (or how the hell you measure them) but the bricks in the photos might help for scale.

 

[addy1]

Looks like you have koi.
I have no clue on value. I keep only goldfish, shubunkins

Welcome to our group.

 

[moby]

Anything that has pairs of barbels/whiskers for want of a better word around their downward pointing mouth is a koi in your pics. Goldfish varieties don't have them and mouths are more forward facing.
The dark bronze fish best seen fourth pic and swimming north to south is a Ghost Koi. Usually a cheaper variety sometimes not recognised by the true Koi officianados. I like them though, I have two myself. There are loads of diffferent Koi patterns, each one has a specific name, just google Koi types for a sample of their varieties/names. Their identification can be very detailed as colour, placement of markings, combination of colours, type of scales present or amount of pigmentation can place a Koi in a particular name group.
Fish are generally measured from nose to start of tail, and you can estimate their size as you say against a known measurement. I've placed a ruler at the pond edge and waited for one to swim by, this gives a clue to relative sizes of my fish.
You have some nice ones there. You can't be persuaded to keep them.......? You have the new pump now? Why can't you add it to the pond, fill the level up and give them more water to enjoy? What are the dimensions of the pond? Just wondered.

 

[Tula]

Looks like three of them are, a chagoi, ochiba and a yamabuki. Hopefully some other folks can help identify the others.

Is there a koi club near by? They might be able to assist you in finding them good homes.

 

[custardavenger]

Thanks so much for the reply's.

Moby, Thanks for the info.
To give some more background, The pond was frozen when i bought the house, I pulled all the plants and spent lots of money on fixing the Hozelock filters and cleaning and cleaning until the water was clear enough to see the fish, there were a few more including a huge one that wouldn't feed and died. The pump failed and was replaced with the current one, then i tried to upgrade the filter for one that was easier to clean but this was the bug mistake and the filter is useless. since I have had a constant battle to try and clear the water and have lost two smaller fishes in the process.
I think the pond might have a leak, I can't get the water level higher though i know i am loosing some water through the filter.
The pond is really badly built (being ground level it fills with grass when i cut the lawn), though I did have a design planned it think that the cost of building it and replacing the filter are just beyond what i can afford when I need to replace a conservatory and fund getting the whole house rendered.
The other problem is that I really don't know how to properly look after the fish and am too busy to have it as another hobby. I do really like the fish and friends love to see them when they come round, but it's not fair when I cannot look after them properly. As for size, I think the previous owner had it at 800 gal but I doubt it is possible to keep the water at that level.

Tula, Thank you, can you describe which is which? Good idea on the Koi club, didn't know they might be a thing but i guess there is a club for everything. I will have a search and see if there is anything local.

 

[Tula]

http://www.happykoi.co.za/fish/types_of_koi/ochiba_shigure.htm
In this link is a picture of an ochiba and a yambuki. Ochiba's can have various designs...but you get the idea. Yambuki are yellow.

http://cbru.tk/chagoi-koi/ Chagoi picture

http://www.blueridgekoi.com/koi-goldfish-resources/koi-variety-guide/ This link should be helpful, in identifying all your koi.

 

[moby]

Thanks for the info, am now wondering if you could perhaps give some further details of the pond, size and equipment you have, make, model, capacity etc, maybe one if the experts would be able to give you further advise to perhaps get it up and running within your budget.
Whist I realise that you may not want to keep the fish long term, they will need looking after till then and as spring is looming, conditions are due to change shortly in our ponds. I can say that Koi do generally need better water conditions than regular types, that's not to say the common goldfish etc should not be cared for as best one can.
You say it was frozen when bought, and the biggest fish wouldn't feed and died....did you mean you fed them during the winter? Can post pics of the pond itself, you know a shot of the general area? Sometimes a simple solution is all that's needed which may be able to help your fish out short term until they're sold.

 

[custardavenger]

Thanks Tula

Moby. No panic, I have kept the pond going for 6 years, this isn't a just happened thing. The filter is working, the problem with it is that it can't be taken apart for cleaning so I can only back flush it (which I have been doing) and can't add anything in the way of treatment to the bio part of the filter. Ideally I would like to move the before spring if I can due to the change in conditions and I was assuming it probably wasn't the done thing to move them in winter. I brought the house in December with the pond frozen, the fish died late summer, I have not been feeding the fish over winter (i think that was one of the questions I asked when I first joined), I have fed them exactly the same food as the owner had left.
I really really don't want to have to spend more money on the pond, though I start a new job a week Monday I was mad redundant before Christmas so money is really tight.
Happy to post other pictures of the pond and provide more information when its light, just not spend money, the important thing is the fish go to a good home (I'm quite fond of the couple that have shown real personalities) and I would like that to happen as soon as it can so that I don't spend another year worrying about the water level and quality.
The pump is a Hozelock Aquaforce 12000
I believe the filter is an All Pond PFC-12000

 

[moby]

Thanks for the info despite me not personally being able to give you any constructive advise, but I hope one of the experts can chime in with their thoughts. Sorry to hear of the redundancy, it's a bummer for sure, so I realise its vital to keep your ££££ priorities foremost, I wish you well in that respect.
As mentioned apart from finding a fish club, do any of your local papers do free ads, I know mine do? They're often ads for under £100, but no reason why not to place several batches? Gumtree is a free site, I'm using that presently to sell some items, but I've not checked if you can advertise livestock on it, maybe worth you checking them out or googling free ad sites in your locality. Just a few thoughts
I hope your fish find a kind home, you seem to really want that for them. These are nice fish and of a decent size by the looks of things, so a purchaser should really know what they are doing when it comes to looking after them, i.e. Someone who already has strong Koi knowledge....not to mention how to transport them safely in the first instance.

 

[Usman]

1 & 2 Showa
3 shiro utsuri
4 ochida
5 Sanke tanhu
6 tanchu
7 Chagoi
8 may be Magoi or saragoi
9 & 10 Ogan

try to keep half of them , they are good collection of varieties, i would have kept num 1,2,3,4 mayb 6

they seem to be more then 18 to 24 inch , can be expensive if we buy them in shop they have very clean neat patterns and good size

 

[custardavenger]

Wow, Thank you Usman. Could you give me an idea on what I should sell them for?
I'm afraid they all have to go.

 

[Usman]

Wow, Thank you Usman. Could you give me an idea on what I should sell them for?
I'm afraid they all have to go.

how and where will you sell ? u can do market research or perhaps people who live around u can help more precisely but i did just simple search of 1 feet shiro utseri koi and showa , i found this result , one seems close to urs , you can do like that with all names and sizes and get idea on ebay , price depends on many factors , precise patterns and quality of colours , skin , body , breeder , varieties , variants etc but u can get idea still and a common buyer may not look that deep .

Shiro Utsuri: Fish & Aquariums | eBay
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/shiro-utsuri?afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

showa koi | eBay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=showa+koi&_pgn=2&_skc=50&rt=nc&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

few more i searched...

Tancho Koi: Fish & Aquariums | eBay
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/tancho-koi


Koi Carp Chagoi | eBay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/koi-carp-chagoi#

Koi For Sale
http://usakoi.com/koi-for-sale.html

Koi Carp | eBay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/koi-carp