Planning a New Pond - Goldfish + Koi

[Andy41]

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since i posted here. You guys helped me out with water quality issues in my existing pond by showing me how to build a biofilter, which i did and it worked fantastically :fish:

However, due to a change in my personal circumstances i'm moving home.... a bigger house, and a much bigger garden.

So now it's time to start thinking about planning a new pond!!

My existing pond is 4m x 2m and about 1m at it's deepest. I have about 100 fish in there, approximately 3 inches long, which i want to take with me to the new house.

Since i have more space now i was also thinking of stocking Koi, but i don't have any experience with them, so i'd like a few tips.

The idea at the moment is to have an L shaped Pond. The short side of the L is 5m long, and the long side 10m. Each arm of the L would be 2m wide. The sides should slope down at an angle, with planting shelves, and the deepest part will be 1m (so about 6500 US Gal). At the corner of the L i'm planning a small bridge, and about 10% of the pond will be in shadow.

So that is the basic plan.... my questions are :

1. Fundemental - Can you mix Koi and Goldfish?
2. I know Koi produce a lot more solid waste and ammonia so the filtration will have to be completely redesigned. I want to build it myself... what do you guys recommend?
3. Winter - How do koi cope in the winter.... we can get down to -20C here for a couple of months.
4. Care - Do Koi require any special care, plants, conditions, etc?

cheers,

Andy.

 

[koiguy1969]

Yes..you can mix koi and goldies...they are cousins
there are still good filter designs in the diy section still stocktank or 55 gallon barrels...if thats what you have now you may be o.k with it if your taking it with you
koi and goldies do both fare well in winter as long as you provide adequate depth
the care of koi and goldies is pretty much the same, what works for one will be sufficient for the other, koi like a slightly cleaner enviroment, goldies are more tolerant
as with both the larger the body of water the more stable the environment. Remember koi get much larger than goldies.

 

[Andy41]

Hi Koiguy,

Thanks for the quick reply... i was just watching a video you'd posted of the trickle filter... very interesting.

Good to know that koi and goldies mix well. that's one question answered :fish:

I won't be taking the filter with me though.... my current pond works well, but it could be better so i want to try out some new ideas in the new one... i'll post in the Pond construction forum about that though.

What depth woud you recommend for koi? i have 3 feet (1m) at the moment for the goldies, and they survive the winter fine with that.... should i go deeper for koi?

Cheers,

Andy.

 

[koiguy1969]

deeper is always better...but 3' is usually adequate. the stocktank filters are easilly hid at ponds edge as a waterfall as mine is. but the 55 gal filtrer work great as well. i have and use both styles and have no complaints on either.both designs are stickied in the DIY section. i winter my fish indoors in a 800 gal(u.s) pond with a 55 gal filter and have a 70 gal stocktank waterfall filter outside.
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/fish-video-else-t4899.html

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/pond-update-august-13-2010-a-t6411.html