how big are your koi?

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I just pumped my pond out to get all the little fish out, too many babies.
I had to caught the one I was keeping and move them to the other side.
I was shocked to see them out of the water and see how big they have gotten.
I have a female in there that was 29in long and had to have weighed 15pounds.
my albino channel cat was 28in long.
had a another female 26in.
the koi are 8 years old now.
amazing how big they get
 
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It is amazing how big they get! I'm glad mine seem to be of the same sex, as I don't think my pond could handle more. I haven't ever measured mine, but think three of my five are around 24 inches.
 
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Hence the reason why people are cautioned against overstocking... those little 4-6" cuties grow to mammoth proportions in a very short period of time! We are amazed at how much ours have grown since we last saw them in late November - what were they eating down there?!?
 

callingcolleen1

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I have several big koi, but the two biggest koi are about 22 years old, not sure what they weigh, but they look very very big. I have not moved them since they were small, about 12 years ago. I think if I do move them, I wouod have to use a large pillow case or something... Then they are very strong, the big orange koi sucks on fingers and toes, and has enough strength to pull a toddler into the pond, so I am carefull with small childen as the koi think fingers are food! That big koi can pull so hard on fingers that one could end up with a very sore finger!
The big orange koi just might fit into a turkey roaster if you squished tail in. She is quite heavy, I would say maybe 8 pounds...
 
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We have several larger koi in our pond at around the 24" stage of growth our oldest two koi are both now in their 27th year with us now and are pets and are not shown

Dave
 
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4 years old. I got 2 at Walmart for $1.25 each. They thought they were goldfish! Both grew to 3'.
Size and age differ in koi we have two koi one about 24-8" the other is only 6" , the 6" koi was a rescue koi that was stunted because of where it was kept.
However they are both the same age at 27 but you can get koi at 3ft and they may only be three years old .
They live longer than a parrot by the way at aroumd about 80 years if well looked after goldfish can manage around 40 years of age .

Dave
 
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A lot of the growth depends on the genetics of the fish. As Koi are ornamental variants of Cyprinus carpio the same principles should apply in the majority of cases. In the angling world, there are strains of C. carpio that grow very fast (can reach 40lb+ in not much more than 6 years!) but these tend to have short lifespans in comparison to traditional strains that can take anywhere up to 20-30 years to reach 30lb in weight (dependant on food sources and quality of nutrition from them). If you want the fish to grow quickly then a high nutritional value protein/carbohydrate food will promote growth, but must also have amino acids and vitamins in the food. Angling baits of this nature cost on average £10 per kilo, and I do feed my fish occasionally with this type of food source (ground down to small pieces rather than the 16mm diameter "balls" of bait), but I know exactly what is in the food due to working with the bait company to develop it (has high amounts of natural ingredients such as real krill, squid meal and crab meat backed up with an amino acid profile and vitamins). The only drawback is that it sinks so has to be fed sparingly and watched as the fish consume it so not to overfeed (although it does breakdown quickly over a few days in a natural lake).
22lb-03oz.jpg
22lb-11oz.jpg
24lb-15oz.jpg
IMG_2223.jpg

I don't know much about the koi strains, but the strain of C. carpio I have in my pond are not known for their fast growth, but are renowned for living a long time and being absolutely gorgeous looking fish (dark colouration with almost perfect scale patterns along the lateral line). I should have taken some pics when I transferred them earlier to the new pond, but didn't think about it.

I have attached 4 pics to this post to show fish that are all over 25 years old and from the "Leney" strain descendancy (from 2 different pools - one in Devon and the other in Warwickshire). All are between 21lb & 25lb in weight from two very differently stocked waters (the heavy vegetation background is an acre in size and holds over 150 15lb+ fish!!! where as the bare scenery pool is again an acre in size but only holds 30 carp but has a very high amount of smaller cyprinids competing for the food). In the last picture, the scale was lost during spawning last year, but other than being light in colour there, no infection or other issues are present (I treated it with an antiseptic solution which was then secured with propolis).

For me it is not about the size, but the genetic strain of the fish (in angling circles known as heritage or history fish).
 
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Thanks for sharing, VanDiesil! Those are BIG fish!

Those are average size to be honest. Would be too big in a pond unless it was of at least half an acre.

This is the largest Cyprinus carpio that has been caught in angling cricles from a lake in France (although the fish has since passed away). It weighed 100lb 8oz!!

100lbcommon_zps74887282.jpg



The lake in Devon also holds some koi as well, and I don't like catching them if I am to be honest as I have always been of the mindset that ornamental fish deserve to be put into ornamental ponds. The Koi were put in by the previous owner of the lake as 3" fish in the 90's.

12lb.jpg

12lb-12oz.jpg

13lb7oz.jpg


Even the wife gets involved LOL
 

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