Koi and sturgeon

[Meg]

Hi everyone I’m making quite a big koi and sturgeon pond. I wanted to do one shelf in the pond with rocks and stones around all the edging. Someone said to me that’s a bad idea cuz they’ll hold bad bacteria and hurt my fish and that koi get hurt on rocks a lot? Can anyone confirm this. I wanted to make something like this (less shelf’s and bigger)
Thank you!

 

[Jhn]

That is completely false, at least the rocks holding bad bacteria part, in fact the opposite is true rocks provide more surface area for the nitrifying bacteria to colonize. if you use rocks with rounded edges in the pond the koi won’t hurt themselves on it during spawning season. Many on here myself included have rocks in our ponds without any issues, my current pond is going on 13 years old and rarely have issues with injured fish, other than some minor injuries during spawning time.

Will add with sturgeon, know how big the species you get achieves as they can get immensely large well over 10’ long. All but the largest of ponds wouldn’t be able to handle this fish. That being said there are species of sturgeon that stay around 4’ long….still requiring a large pond but not really much different than pond sized properly for koi.

 

[Lisak1]

It's hard to tell from the photos - how big will your pond be?

And 100% agree with @Jhn . The bad rap on rocks in ponds is an old myth that's been debunked by the thousands of completely rocked ponds that have been built and are healthy homes to many beautiful fish.

 

[Meg]

That is completely false, at least the rocks holding bad bacteria part, in fact the opposite is true rocks provide more surface area for the nitrifying bacteria to colonize. if you use rocks with rounded edges in the pond the koi won’t hurt themselves on it during spawning season. Many on here myself included have rocks in our ponds without any issues, my current pond is going on 13 years old and rarely have issues with injured fish, other than some minor injuries during spawning time.

Will add with sturgeon, know how big the species you get achieves as they can get immensely large well over 10’ long. All but the largest of ponds wouldn’t be able to handle this fish. That being said there are species of sturgeon that stay around 4’ long….still requiring a large pond but not really much different than pond sized properly for koi.

Perfect thank you. I thought her comment was a bit weird!

 

[brokensword]

Perfect thank you. I thought her comment was a bit weird!

totally agree with jhn, though we've had to watch him for HIS weird comments sometimes. Not trying ta scare ya, but don't ask him what is fightin' attire is...you'll want to cover your eyes and ears! heh heh





jhn knows his stuff; was just funnin' him a bit!

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi @Meg, on this occasion i would not agree with rocking the bottom of the pond sturgeon feed predominantly from the bottom and sturgeon food is mostly sinking so if you have food going in between the rocks before it can be eaten you will have water quality problems very soon, also sturgeon have poor eyesight and rely on there very sensitive snouts to find food rocks will restrict the sturgeons ability to do this and will make it difficult for it to feed. sturgeon and koi do require filtration and lots of it so i think you must have some filtration for your pond. i kept sturgeon for a few years and they are very beautiful fish which can be kept alongside koi and co habit very well together they can become very tame and eat out of your hands, sturgeon also have small stomachs so need feeding little and often is the way to go, they also feed all year round so that means feeding during winter which is not good for the other fish but you try telling the the koi sturgeon food is only for the sturgeon. i had two sturgeon a diamond back who grew from 30 cms to over a metre inside a year and an albino who grew a lot more slowly, if i were you i would lean towards the dwarf variety or sterlets if you can also they require tremendous amounts of o2. if its possible a round pond is better than a square one stops the sturgeon banging there nose/snout on corners hence why i wouldnt rock the bottom of the pond. hope this helps cheers mark

 

[GBBUDD]

Hi everyone I’m making quite a big koi and sturgeon pond. I wanted to do one shelf in the pond with rocks and stones around all the edging. Someone said to me that’s a bad idea cuz they’ll hold bad bacteria and hurt my fish and that koi get hurt on rocks a lot? Can anyone confirm this. I wanted to make something like this (less shelf’s and bigger)
Thank you!

That is definitely someone i would NOT ask for any further advice. I'm sure there is some form a bad bacteria out there in ponds but i have never heard anyone say that the bad bacteria was the cause of problems to my knowledge all bacteria in a pond is beneficial.

Nice job on the pond . but i don't see this being even remotely close to being big enough for sturgeon. like @Jhn said they get 10 feet long in a short period of time and can live longer than we do is my understanding. what are you doing for a filter system

 

[combatwombat]

Perfect thank you. I thought her comment was a bit weird!

You'll find that many koi keepers have a particular ideology about what a koi pond should be. They are called "dedicated koi ponds" or DKPs and are more like swimming pools for fish than a natural pond. Some people dedicate their lives doing little more than raising koi that they paid many thousands of dollars for and treat like children, so they have quite strong opinions about the environment they live in.

You'll find the attitude here is that koi do just fine in natural ponds with rocks and gravel as long as the pond is big enough and you follow a few simple rules for keeping them happy.