My goldfish pond

[CometKeith]

@CometKeith do you have other pics of your Doitsu Blue? I have a butterfly Hariwake, it's white and orange, but I'm not sure if it's deep enough in shade to be called kikusui, cause I have one of those and its orange looks almost bright red

Hi Gemma. Here is a closeup of both. I'm wondering if the Hariwake is a Gin Rin because the scales are so shiny. Next Day Koi has a few pictures of Doitsu Blue Kujaku that look super similar the Kujake so that's why I'm guessing what it is. The Hariwake is the King/Queen of the pond. It's always the first to any food I put in and likes to swim close to the surface and is super easy to spot. The Kujaku seems to like to forage and scavenge on it's own. It will come when I feed, but a lot of times t's the last one to the party! It has really pretty long fins and a long tail but they are a little hard to see in this picture. When i first got it most of the head was orange but most of that color has gone away. Also since I took this picture it has developed blue patches on it's sides.

 

[Gemma]

Beautiful fish!
My Hariwake was on the list of fish to re home next year, but is gotten so beautiful I just have to keep him/her! It was mostly white, now it has developed bright orange in all the fins, and allover the body, and the white shows the metallic, which didn't show before, on top of that I love the mellow temperament, definitely a keeper!....and a must have in my next pond!

I don't know much about the kujaku, other than it's a beautiful fish! I have a baby Kin Kikokuryu (the fish that's always hiding) and I read they go through several changes in color and patterns, especially during the fast growing years, perhaps this is true for Kujaku too

Couple more things...the shot you took, wow! How did you take it?
...and your name, should include some references to koi, since you know so much about them

Thank you for taken the time to reply, I can talk about koi all day

 

[Tula]

Wow, your koi are gorgeous !!!! It's easy to see why we get bitten by the koi bug

 

[CometKeith]

Haha Gemma. That's too funny. My only experience with Koi is reading some stuff about them on GPF, going on the local Koi pond tour the last few years, and looking at maybe 1000 pictures of Koi on the internet in the last week or two. The part I find fascinating is there is so much to know about them. I have the same problem with craft beer, and any other hobby I have obsessively taken on like chess. The picture was a random one of hundreds that I have taken recently. I didn't even ask them to pose! It's from my camera phone and then I cropped it to highlight the Koi.
Thanks Tula. Yes I have gotten bitten pretty hard. Since my main viewing area of the pond is our second floor porch it's really fun watching the Hariwake. It's color makes it really stand out against the algae colored liner and it makes really graceful turns with it's big fins that makes it fun to watch. I'm hoping as the Kujake gets bigger it will stand out more too, but it's not on the surface of the water as much as the Hariwake is. Naturally my family thinks I am crazy that I'm always watching my fish, but since I am pretty normal in most other ways they put up with it!

 

[Gemma]

My only experience with Koi is reading some stuff about them on GPF, going on the local Koi pond tour the last few years, and looking at maybe 1000 pictures of Koi on the internet in the last week or two. !

You sound pretty hooked to me!
You're gonna want more...so when are you digging the new koi pond?

 

[CometKeith]

Gemma, That got me thinking. My pond is approximately 16 x 8 kidney shape, I built a lot of shelves on the front and steps in the pond to make it easy to walk in and out if necessary and it's much more of a watergarden than anything else right now. Its probably around 2000-2500 gallons. If I wanted to keep the same dimensions I could dig it 6 ft deep all the way around and be over 5000 gallons. I know my wife wouldn't care as long as I didn't make the dimensions larger than what it is now. I'm not ready for anything like that since I just dug it 13 months ago and we just moved into our new place 3 months ago when the construction was finished, but it can be a fall back plan if I want to get into Koi keeping more seriously

 

[Tula]

Gemma, That got me thinking. My pond is approximately 16 x 8 kidney shape, I built a lot of shelves on the front and steps in the pond to make it easy to walk in and out if necessary and it's much more of a watergarden than anything else right now. Its probably around 2000-2500 gallons. If I wanted to keep the same dimensions I could dig it 6 ft deep all the way around and be over 5000 gallons. I know my wife wouldn't care as long as I didn't make the dimensions larger than what it is now. I'm not ready for anything like that since I just dug it 13 months ago and we just moved into our new place 3 months ago when the construction was finished, but it can be a fall back plan if I want to get into Koi keeping more seriously

Whoa...........

 

[CometKeith]

Tula, ha ha. it wouldn't happen for a long time.... I haven't even finished building this pond yet. I have half the liner edge to work on and not done with waterfalls etc. Also I really like my goldfish and I'm not giving them the boot just yet!

 

[audioenvy]

Koi are certainly addictive!! I'm stuck on Gosanke for now (standard fin Kohaku, Sanke, and Showa). I'd love to get more variety but then they wouldn't match the color scheme!!

 

[addy1]

Very pretty, you do have one stranger in the crowd lower part of the first picture!

 

[audioenvy]

Very pretty, you do have one stranger in the crowd lower part of the first picture!

Yep!

 

[j.w]

Gemma, That got me thinking. My pond is approximately 16 x 8 kidney shape, I built a lot of shelves on the front and steps in the pond to make it easy to walk in and out if necessary and it's much more of a watergarden than anything else right now. Its probably around 2000-2500 gallons. If I wanted to keep the same dimensions I could dig it 6 ft deep all the way around and be over 5000 gallons. I know my wife wouldn't care as long as I didn't make the dimensions larger than what it is now. I'm not ready for anything like that since I just dug it 13 months ago and we just moved into our new place 3 months ago when the construction was finished, but it can be a fall back plan if I want to get into Koi keeping more seriously

I did not know that it was better to build a koi pond deeper than wider and longer so I had to go do some searching and found this bit of info on the subject. I just have goldfish so never really knew much about keeping koi. I found it quite interesting on how they need more volume and the deep sides in the pond for growing deeper bodies:

http://www.watergardenersbible.co.uk/pond-keeping-golden-rules/how-deep-should-a-pond-for-koi-be/

 

[Gemma]

Gemma, That got me thinking. My pond is approximately 16 x 8 kidney shape, I built a lot of shelves on the front and steps in the pond to make it easy to walk in and out if necessary and it's much more of a watergarden than anything else right now. Its probably around 2000-2500 gallons. If I wanted to keep the same dimensions I could dig it 6 ft deep all the way around and be over 5000 gallons. I know my wife wouldn't care as long as I didn't make the dimensions larger than what it is now. I'm not ready for anything like that since I just dug it 13 months ago and we just moved into our new place 3 months ago when the construction was finished, but it can be a fall back plan if I want to get into Koi keeping more seriously

Only a matter of time before those shelves get knocked down to make room for more koi!
I love watching people getting infected by this disease!

 

[Gemma]

Koi are certainly addictive!! I'm stuck on Gosanke for now (standard fin Kohaku, Sanke, and Showa). I'd love to get more variety but then they wouldn't match the color scheme!!

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Beautiful koi!
I'm totally opposite of you, I like to have every color together!
I bought a Sanke last year and she was very brightly colored and beautiful, but when the spawning season started, I watched the beautiful color fade away ....she got the red back in some areas, but not even close as bright as it was and I no longer like her!
I will re home her in Spring and stick to metallic koi

I did not know that it was better to build a koi pond deeper than wider and longer so I had to go do some searching and found this bit of info on the subject. I just have goldfish so never really knew much about keeping koi. I found it quite interesting on how they need more volume and the deep sides in the pond for growing deeper bodies:

http://www.watergardenersbible.co.uk/pond-keeping-golden-rules/how-deep-should-a-pond-for-koi-be/

A koi gets to be 2-3 feet long, they really shouldn't be in a pond less than 4' deep, unless one does what I have been doing, which is to get rid of fish (exchange for babies) once they reach a certain size

 

[CometKeith]

Koi are certainly addictive!! I'm stuck on Gosanke for now (standard fin Kohaku, Sanke, and Showa). I'd love to get more variety but then they wouldn't match the color scheme!!

Wow Audioenvy. Those are gorgeous!! Did you get them as juveniles and see them grow? The colors and patterns are fantastic. I like the Showas the best but they are all great..
JW. When I went on a pond tour a few years ago someone had a Koi pond more than 10 ft deep. The purpose was to keep the water as cold as possible so they wouldn't mate and get bruised up. He had a business of selling Koi and would buy them very young and resell them after they grew.
Gemma. You never know. I have avoided being hooked to this extend until now and have been pond keeping almost 10 years. My wife and I like to travel and I never wanted the responsibility of fish I would have to worry about if we were out of town. I have my eye on a 7" Ginrin Sanke right now...... . It's really beautiful and priced well. I really want it. what to do? Do you have pictures of your fish?
Tula I would like to see pictures of yours too if you have any.