Need Advice

[Jenny]

@bettasngoldfish During the winter, I leave in a heater that keeps the pond from freezing over completely. I have about 1144 gallons total (just calculated), so I guess I can have about 11 koi and a few comets.

Very true about horses being addicting. I could spend a whole day at the barn.

 

[Tula]

Welcome and I'm sorry about your fish loss. I have a 1700 gallon pond and have four koi. My filtration is a Savio skimmer and a pressurized filter. For oxygen, I left the filter splash into the pond, run a water fall and use an aerator.

 

[sissy]

Is that in one pond( 1144)or all the ponds added up because a 2 ft long koi needs lots of space .I rebuilt my pond last year and even though i have 5000 gallons it will be to small in 4 or 5 years from now .I do not feed my fish growth food and only feed them 3 or 4 times a week .* had around 2500 gallons and it was to small .Also koi need great filtration to keep the pond clean ,I have 2 filters and i net the bottom of the pond every week to get all the fish waste out .

 

[Mmathis]

Yeah that's my boy Do you ride? And thanks for your help, too!

Ahhh, what's his name? Do I ride? Yes & no. I have taken lessons off & on for years, and used to have a horse about 30 years ago. Have shown a little, but only in the "baby" classes -- while I love horses, was never able to ride very well, and not having access to riding on a regular basis hurt my chances of improving

What kind is he, and do you show?

 

[Jenny]

He's a friesian-morgen named Mixer. I don't show; I'm in it for the relationship. And you don't have to be good to ride! You just have to love it!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I had horses for 26 years and loved every minute of it. I was more into spending time with my horse (or horses as was the case) than actually showing them. Although I did show for a few years after a friend of mine talked me into being her horse show buddy

Trail riding was my favorite I rode english and western but preferred western. Had an appaloosa gelding who I loved dearly (had him for many years and kept him until he died) rode him english and also did dressage with him. He had an awesome extended gate. A paso fino/tennessee walker cross mare who was a big sweet heart (anyone could ride her) she was my best trail horse, and then three other quarter horse mares.

I had to sell when I was going through a divorce. Looking back at it now I don't know how I ever had the time or money to have horses

 

[Jenny]

That's amazing! I've always wanted to ride a Tennessee walker! i was interested in peruvian pasos for awhile. I almost bought one, but he didn't pass the vet exam

 

[bettasngoldfish]

That's amazing! I've always wanted to ride a Tennessee walker! i was interested in peruvian pasos for awhile. I almost bought one, but he didn't pass the vet exam

thanks, I was lucky to have some nice horses over the years. And learned to ride at a great place where they had excellent instructors and lot's of decent horses to learn on (appropriate from novice to advanced riders)

Too bad the paso you were looking at didn't pass the vet exam. They are really comfortable to ride, super smooth gate.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Ok I need tons of help. First, I want to know how many fish I can have. I started off with 15, 4-inchers (a combo of comets and koi) but 8 of them died and I'm heartbroken. I think it was because of bad water quality, but it's 6 comets and 1 koi now. My pond is divided up into 3 sections. I'll attach a picture. There is a giant filter attached to the fountain that I have just installed. The water circulates through the three ponds and back into the filter and through again. In the other pond, you can see the tiny fountain, which is also being pushed through a filter. In addition, I have two water lily pad plants, which you can't see because they're still underwater. The measurements of each pond are approximately (77x63x23), (28x32x17), and (94x77x19). I don't know how many gallons that is, but how many koi fish could it hold and how should I divy them up?

Secondly, is there enough oxygen and circulation?

Third, all I add is barley and pond prime. I'll start up food when it's consistently in the 50s (still cold here) in addition to adding surface plants. I just took out the winter heater. Does that sound good or am I missing stuff?

If I wanted to breed, do I have the space, and how would I go about that?

Anything else, you notice me doing wrong, please cue me in! Thanks in advance for the help.

Let's start at square one. your ponds' capacities in gallons are approximately 200, 500 and 600 gallons. Since you have them all connected you have a total of approximately 1300 gallons. And since you have fish, this 1300 gallons should ideally be completely circulated and filtered, at least once, if not twice each hour. This means that you need between a 1300 and 2600 gph pump. What size do you have?
Next you need adequate Biofiltration to convert the Ammonia from fish waste and other decomposing organic matter in your ponds. What size and type of filter do you have?
Lastly, Oxygen levels in a pond are determined by supply and demand. On the supply side, in order of quantity of Oxygen produced is Algae (the prime source of dissolved Oxygen) followed by total surface area accompanied by water movement, and lastly plants. On the demand side are all of the animal life living in the pond from bacteria up through all of the various critters ending with the fish.
You could have a potential problem with the current depths. Among other issues, there is virtually no protection from predation afforded the fish.

 

[Tula]

Is that in one pond( 1144)or all the ponds added up because a 2 ft long koi needs lots of space .I rebuilt my pond last year and even though i have 5000 gallons it will be to small in 4 or 5 years from now .I do not feed my fish growth food and only feed them 3 or 4 times a week .* had around 2500 gallons and it was to small .Also koi need great filtration to keep the pond clean ,I have 2 filters and i net the bottom of the pond every week to get all the fish waste out .

@sissy Are you saying your 5000 gallon pond will be too small f or your two koi, in 4 - 5 years? Yikes!

 

[sissy]

Red

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Cute horse sissy, I always was a sucker for the white faces.

 

[sissy]

It could get to small with the other fish growing but as long as I keep the growth food away from them It should slow them down .The first 2 years I was giving them growth food and then found out how big they get .I do have all of those fancy tails and they have grown a lot also .I have 2 filters just to keep up with the waste koi produce .I am feeding them the new food so not as much waste .Which has garlic and krill and plant protein in it

 

[Jenny]

Let's start at square one. your ponds' capacities in gallons are approximately 200, 500 and 600 gallons. Since you have them all connected you have a total of approximately 1300 gallons. And since you have fish, this 1300 gallons should ideally be completely circulated and filtered, at least once, if not twice each hour. This means that you need between a 1300 and 2600 gph pump. What size do you have?
Next you need adequate Biofiltration to convert the Ammonia from fish waste and other decomposing organic matter in your ponds. What size and type of filter do you have?
Lastly, Oxygen levels in a pond are determined by supply and demand. On the supply side, in order of quantity of Oxygen produced is Algae (the prime source of dissolved Oxygen) followed by total surface area accompanied by water movement, and lastly plants. On the demand side are all of the animal life living in the pond from bacteria up through all of the various critters ending with the fish.
You could have a potential problem with the current depths. Among other issues, there is virtually no protection from predation afforded the fish.

Wow...apparently I'm more clueless than I thought. Biofiltration?? How do I achieve that? Do regular filters do that?
I put in Pond Prime which helps control ammonia and chlorine. Is that not enough?

For filters, I have the filter that's attached to the fountain in addition to the small filter attached to the in-the-water spitter. The water circulates through the three ponds as you can see in the pictures. I don't know if that's enough or not. I'm interested in getting rid of that metal spout and replacing it with a waterfall (in addition to a filter that will be inside of the water spillway, which would add a third filter). The filters I already have are a Laguna Pressure-Flo, which I think does about 1050 gallons per hour and a Tetrapod submersible which does maybe 500 an hour. Again, what is this biofiltration you speak of and do I need it? I put barley in the water twice a week as well...

For oxygen, all I have are the spitter, the metal pipe, and the spillway of the little pond into the other pond. So are you saying algae is good or bad? Cause I've got some of that... I have two water lilies as well, which are just starting to grow again after the long winter. I plan on adding surface plants when the weather permits.

I have several frogs that hop down from the lake and make their way to my pond. Problem or no? Birds we don't seem to have a problem with...Kudos to my four cats and two dogs, none of which seem too interested in my fish. In the one pond, we have a bridge that the fish hide under. Then, when they get bigger, we move them into the pond that the metal spout feeds into (the pictures in my first post help with these descriptions), which has some foliage over it, and as I said, when the weather permits, will have some surface plants. The fountain ripples the water and hides them as well.

@Meyer Jordan You sound very well informed, so any help you offer is appreciated. I really do love my fish and want to make a good home for them with little (and hopefully none) more losses.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Are you familiar with the Nitrogen Cycle?