reconsidering Koi...

[cr8tivguy]

Okay, I've been reading a lot about pond size and Koi fish. It seems that the consensus is anything under 1000 gallons is not "Koi-friendly." To be honest, I have no idea what volume of water my pond holds.

I ordered a water meter for my hose so I can get a good read on the volume. I think I'll be surprised that my pond isn't as large as I hoped.

I was speaking with a fish dealer and he suggested Comets- colorful, cleaner and require less water per fish.

I would love to hear your thoughts on keeping Comets verses Koi. Or would it be okay to have one nice Koi and a couple Comets? Ideally, I only want 6-8 fish (max). I plan on naming each fish (goofy, perhaps).

Tim

 

[capewind]

Would love to see pictures of your pond. If you can post the LxWxD we can help estimate the size of your pond whilte you wait for the meter

Really makes me happy to hear when someone questions IF their pond is large enough for Koi.

Koi are not the only "pretty" fish in the world. Our pond is fair sized (6500+2500 connected), and we have a mix of Koi, Comets, and Shubunkins, and I still want a few of other goldfish varieties.

PS: Nothing wrong with naming fish, about half of ours are named LOL.

 

[addy1]

Take a look at shubunkins, they have some great coloring, multi colored. Mini koi.......lol They seem to spawn less often than the comets, no scientific measuring.

Here are a few of my shubbies

 

[HTH]

There are many varieties of goldfish some of which do not exist in the commercial trade. In fact there is much more variety among goldfish then koi. There is much more variety in body shape, fins and color. Obviously your not going to buy them for 20 cents at pets mart but with patients they can be located most often through another hobbyist.

Goldfish For the Pond

This is a Shubunkin. They look somewhat like miniature koi.

A Bristol

 

[addy1]

There are some great ones on ebay etc. Mine all came from petsmart, normal shubunkins, gf. It does not hurt as bad when a 2 buck fish disappears vs a 20-100 dollar fish. I saw a beautiful shubbie on ebay, they wanted 55 bucks, no thanks.

 

[HTH]

Some of my fantails from 2002

http://howardthehumble.com/aquatic/GF/Winter2002.htm

 

[HTH]

There are some great ones on ebay etc. Mine all came from petsmart, normal shubunkins, gf. It does not hurt as bad when a 2 buck fish disappears vs a 20-100 dollar fish. I saw a beautiful shubbie on ebay, they wanted 55 bucks, no thanks.

Of course you have the right to put your money where you want it. A hand raised fish eating top end goldfish food can end up very well 'groomed' which translates to presence and attitude. Such food is expensive and the care required can run into a lot of work. $55 is not at all unreasonable for such a fish. I do not know that the fish you are referring to is such a fish.

Hakari Purple.is an example of one top end food and sells for $17 for 7 ounces.

 

[addy1]

My pond fish get fed kenzen koi food, 70 something for 10 lbs. They seem to do great on it, good colors, no deaths.

I can see the charge for hand raised, well fed beautiful fish. I am more into the pond spawn surprise I am pretty fish....... I have gotten some great colors out of my mix, some are getting beautiful long fins. Again they are pond fish, not show fish, they make me real happy.

 

[sissy]

I love the fantails they are slow and funny to watch ,I just call them butt wigglers .They are very friendly fish too .koi are hard to take care of and wish someone had told me . :cheerful:

 

[Nepen]

I accidently won an auction for 3 Shubunkins (4 inches) on ebay for only $11 plus $15 shipping... beautiful fish The color is actually a bit redder than the orange in the picture... I would love orange but red is fine too. They are now probably about 6 inches...

 

[koiguy1969]

the Sarassa is probably my favorite goldy variety... followed by shubunkins... both can be as beautiful as a koi. the sarassa, even more so resembles a koi, and you can pack alot more in a pond. i love my big guys, but i love the busy, high numbers, smaller fish, look too. seems my goldies were just more active,

 

[addy1]

Goldies and shubbies just whip around the pond, non stop. I watch them on the underwater cam, they never stop moving until winter and very cold water.

It is a trip to see a parade of fish swimming by.

 

[koiguy1969]

yeah...the only time my koi move fast is when i toss food in, or chasing eachother around for the spawn. their whole life is a leisurely 'stroll' thru the pond. oh and eating, theyre real good at eating!

 

[fishin4cars]

Koi are by far my favorite pond fish, But with that being said, They do get large, they do wreck havoic on plants, they do need larger ponds,and the fitration needed to maintain them honestly, it isn't cheap. PLUS, Koi are simply harder to treat for illnesses due to their size more than anything. I been posting on another members thread that is considering putting a small koi in a 450 gallon pond. Will it be ok for a while, most certainly. But at some point the fish is going to out grow the pond and the filter. My concern with that members pond is would he be able to budget for better fitration or possibly increasing the size of his poind in the near future. Goldfish in my opinion can rival Koi any day. with some getting in upwards of 14"+ they do get large enough to comapre to Koi. Colors and finnage have exloded over the last several year and there are new variaties popping up all the time. Sure like Koi some of these can get quite pricey, But compared to Koi, they are still quite a bit cheaper than higher quality Koi.

 

[HTH]

It is very nice to see a thread where goldfish are something other then 20 cent feeders. It is odd to spend the bucks dig a hole and setup a system then go for 20 cent fish.

Now don't chew my fins off. I have seen a lot of nice 20 cent fish.