How many do you have?

[JenH]

I'm just wondering how many fish everyone here has. I'm just curious as to how many everyone manages to safely keep, since rules for stocking can be so varied, due to so many different factors. So please tell, or give estimates if you aren't sure exact numbers:

How many fish do you have?
What kind are they?
How big are they?
How many gallons are your ponds?


I'll start, I have:

22 goldfish (comets, sarassas and shubunkins) 3 koi
The 2 smallest are around 2" the rest are in the 3-5" range
1000+ gallon pond (not sure exactly but not a lot more then that)

 

[Sunshine]

I have 10 fish. 4 Koi, 3 Comets and 3 Shubunkins.
Largest Koi is 25 inches. Than down to about 10 inches. Comets are around 5 inches.
Pond is around 1800 gallons.

 

[addy1]

around 200 goldfish, shubunkins ........8 inches down to 3 or so. 10k gallons plus
a ton of frogs

 

[ididntdoit99]

Thats a good question, I know i have too many koi, apparently I have an addiction and can no longer walk into the store without finsding one I like.

10 koi, 1 is around 12 inches, 2 around 10 inches, and the rest are only 3-5 inches
maybe 10 goldfish between 2-5 inches
one bluegill my son caught and we brought him home.

Pond is probably about 3500 gallons, I haven't actually done all the measurments since I rebuilt, estimate before I started digging it was going to be 4000, but I know I ended up a lttle smaller.

 

[ididntdoit99]

You're right about the stocking rule though... i have seen so many different rules of thumb... especially for Koi, 1000 gallons for one and then 500 for every one after that…. 1500 gallons for one and 1000 for every one after that.

IMO I think even at 3000 gallons with 10 koi, that’s 300 gallons per fish, and as long as they have room to swim (obviously I’m not going to be packing it so full they are bumping into each other) they should be fine. I guess I’ll find out when they are all 2 feet long whether or not I have to find of them new homes.

 

[damian]

i technically just finished my pond (about 5000 gallons) even though i had most of it done by the end of last summer, so this week i finally went out and bought a few starter fish. I got 5 small (sarsa?) comets and 3 koi, all in about the 3-4" range. I think I already killed one of the koi.

 

[JenH]

You're right about the stocking rule though... i have seen so many different rules of thumb... especially for Koi, 1000 gallons for one and then 500 for every one after that…. 1500 gallons for one and 1000 for every one after that.

IMO I think even at 3000 gallons with 10 koi, that’s 300 gallons per fish, and as long as they have room to swim (obviously I’m not going to be packing it so full they are bumping into each other) they should be fine. I guess I’ll find out when they are all 2 feet long whether or not I have to find of them new homes.

I'm with you, if they can move around and you have good water conditions then who says you are overstocked? I figure my little 4" koi are gonna take a really long time to reach 25-30" who knows what I'll be doing by then!

i technically just finished my pond (about 5000 gallons) even though i had most of it done by the end of last summer, so this week i finally went out and bought a few starter fish. I got 5 small (sarsa?) comets and 3 koi, all in about the 3-4" range. I think I already killed one of the koi.

Aww, sorry to hear that!

 

[addy1]

I still have a ton of water room. The fish are chasing again.................See them jumping smacking plants not many will make it the herd follows and eats them

 

[damian]

I'm with you, if they can move around and you have good water conditions then who says you are overstocked? I figure my little 4" koi are gonna take a really long time to reach 25-30" who knows what I'll be doing by then!

Aww, sorry to hear that!

he's not floating yet, but i haven't seen him since he got sucked into the bottom drain, through the skimmer, and through 18 feet of pipe into the basket of my external pump, and i fished him out and put him back in :surprised: :goldfish:

 

[addy1]

I had a frog do that, it did fine but frogs might be tougher. Sucked through the skimmer, down 32 feet of pipe into the pump leaf basket. I had just pulled the skimmer leaf basket and the darn frog jumped in.

 

[lovinglife]

I have 3 koi probably 16 inches long and 9 probably 8-10, most of them butterflys. My pond is about 7000 gallons with a 300 gallon bog filter connected with a 15 foot long stream. We live in the high desert in Idaho, we get a ton of wind and weeds blowing in, I don't care, I just dig it out and carry on. So sometimes our pond is not so pretty, but the fish are happy and so am I.

 

[damian]

well at least you had pulled the skimmer basket first. in my case, two of the koi were in the basket, so i pulled it out and dumped them back into the pond. I put the skimmer basket and couldn't see the third koi, so I pulled the filter, which is in between the skimmer basket and the outlet pipe of the skimmer. as soon as i did it i thought oh crap i should probably turn the pump off-hey there's the last koi, he must've come through the bottom drai- *fwooooosh*

 

[addy1]

Before I pull it now, I look for frogs and spook any fish away from near the skimmer. Keeps the out of it and doing that wild ride.

 

[damian]

death confirmed

 

[j.w]

Sorry damian :sad:

How many fish do you have? around 30
What kind are they? goldfish and 2 shubbies
How big are they? 8" down to tiny babes
How many gallons are your ponds? 2500 gals