I was so proud of myself..... I had made it through the problem that I bought on myself with buying too many Koi in a new pond..... Survived a massive toad frog invasion..... Even though I still have hundreds of tadpoles which are growing legs now and will be trying to get out of the pond soon....Made it through a Koi spawn, two weeks ago I had hundreds of Koi fry Now it's down to a couple of dozen but they are growing and surviving.... My ammonia had been at zero for over two weeks and low before that.... Checked my water last Thursday everything great.... But then low and behold Saturday night we had our windows up and I heard splashing all night and got up before daylight and sure enough they were going at it again..... By midday Saturday it was all over.... Except the water was cloudy and I checked my water today and my ammonia was up to. 25, I am sure it will go back down..... The culprit is a fish that Sarah wanted from Liberty High School..... I told Sarah that fish was a (Koi with loose moral values), really said something else but what can I say I am from Tennessee..... A little tounge and cheek but I am enjoying the first year pond experience..... It's an adventure every day
Life as a "First Spring Ponder".... Observation/ Rant
- Thread starter Jimmy Gibson
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lol we all have had our struggles..............learning curve..................enjoy!
Well, at least you know they're happy together!
A little too happy..... But I do know now that Donald and Hillary are definitely males and another smaller one that was really wanting to get in the game...... And one female..... Time will tell about the rest..... Between the frogs and the Koi I really am ready for procreation to take a rest
sissy
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You can get zeolite to bring down the ammonia .But you may need to have that talk with your fish about this making babies thing .Check with your local garden centers or place and ad there for the baby koi .You will be suprised how many people will want them
I have had my pond 13 years and am still having new adventures with my pond.
Never had much problem with the babies living - most eggs and fry always got eaten - until last year. Had to use a minnow basket to catch the babies to give away. Caught all but one. Now I am thinking about giving away the remaining two female goldfish, but it is hard because I have had them 11 years.
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I let mine do what fish do, the pond seems to balance itself out. I do not feed in the summer, they get a bit of food when coming out of winter and when going into winter, ow they are on their own. Great population control.
Sarah and I can't seem to make ourselves do that with Koi..... Every afternoon ( weather permitting) when we get off work we sit by the pond have our coffee talk about our day and feed the fish .... And if we get to talking to much and not feed them..... They will kinda line up and stare at us
Also it seems I had a spawn between the two that I know about, one a little over a month ago and and another this last Saturday night.... I counted six this afternoon that are about 3/4" long and spotted on a gold body..... And dozens 1/4" long and orange in color....
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I used to feed frequently now I just do it once a day cause they need to eat eggs. Hope I don't get more fries.
Sarah and I just feed ours once a day..... But each day she trying to get them to hand feed with Honey Nut Cheerios..... They are coming around but not there yet..... They will come up to about two foot and wait, when she let's them go she keeps her hand in the water.... They will wait until they drift off a bit then go after them..... Koi are smarter than I thought... When we come out pretty much the same time every day and sit down in our chairs they start swimming around in circles pretty fast..... Then after we sit down they just stare at us.... Lol
sissy
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I started hand feeding my koi the day I got them at a couple of inch's long and I make sure even the fish i give away are trained to hand feed
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The second mine see me they all come running, from all over the pond. And that is without feeding very much. I guess they are just hoping today will be the day!
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Koi are friendly like that but goldfish are not really they take a lot more to train.
So far my fish haven't spawned. Does that mean I'm safe? Please say yes; I've been trying to hold off getting more fish, and if I know that the ones I've got aren't going to produce fry, then that's the green light I need. Is there generally a point after which you know you don't have breeders? The last week and a half was pretty hot here--in the 80s, with a couple of days around 90. I figured that would have triggered "spring" behavior.