Koi Question

[kaianuanu]

HI I had a easy quaetion about koi. you know how goldfish are supposed produce large amounts of ammonia, too much for most other fish? i was wondering if Koi are the same way.

[cocoa_pleco]

koi are messy also, and they can only go with other coldwater fish

[Fishguy2727]

It is not really true that goldfish produce that much waste. For their size they do not really produce any more waste than other fish, they are just larger. They are about as bad as cichlids.

Koi are proportionally dirty, but get much larger and need a big pond, at least 1,000 gallons.

[OscarFan]

Koi are huge fish so need a ton of room. But they eat more plant matter so they it takes more to digest it. But the ammonia would not be so bad you could not keep it with other CW fish.

[robnepper]

Are you going to put them in a tank or pond? How big? I agree that they produce ammonia according to their size not species. Big fish need big gallons.

[Wheelman]

I had koi in my old pond 16-18" easily. They do require a large space.

[kaianuanu]

we are planning a pond. what i was considering is keeping a few small koi in a tank until we have our pond set up. also do you think the climate here is ok for koi? i live in orlando FL, we get temps up to the 90's in summer and a few frosts where we get a little ice on the cars and such at night.

[OscarFan]

I would not put them in a tank. And theyll be fine their gets way hotter and way colder here.

[kaianuanu]

so in a relatively small pond, thaey can handle those temps

[OscarFan]

they should not be in a small pond. If your pond is going to be less then 1000 gl and less than 4 ft deep. I reccomend you get their smaller cousins shubunkins or comets.

[kaianuanu]

ok, were were also thinking barbs, we may get a heater for winterttime and get like tinfoil barbs. our lfs has big 6-8" tinfoil barbs for 10 bucks.

[OscarFan]

That may work. I read an account of someone keeping an Oscar in a pond in florida.

[kaianuanu]

yea, when we visit our cousins near miami, we go freshwater fishing in little canals and theirs lots of them. also up here in orlando we go to the wekiva river which is loaded with huge plecos

[kaianuanu]

also i've been trying to get rid of my oscar i may put him in our pond

[Fishguy2727]

Koi do not need a pond four feet deep, but it should be at least 1,000 gallons.

In Florida you can keep just about anything you want that is legal. I would prefer something that is still enjoyable from above. Flat sided fish like oscars are not bad, but other fish would be better. Most goldfish were bred to be viewed from above, so they are more enjoyable that way than other fish would be.

You could start the koi off in a tank if it is definite that the pond will be up and ready within a few months. Otherwise you risk needing to just take them back to the shop after just a couple months because the pond is not ready yet.

[Wheelman]

we had about 300-400 koi in a pond that covered about 1/4 a acre. This was in Cleveland, and we had many many winters with 18" of ice covering hte pond easily.

It was fun when we went out and fed them :hmm3grin2orange:

[OscarFan]

Koi do not need a pond four feet deep, but it should be at least 1,000 gallons.


Koi are very susseptible to rapidly changing temeratures. the deeper the pond the slower it changes.

[Fishguy2727]

But four feet is not a minimum for koi. Minimum depths are based on the depth needed to keep the pond from freezing solid in the winter. I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that will not be an issue in Florida.

Temperature changes are affected by a lot more than depth. The volume of the pond has A LOT to do with that. So does its exposure to light. If the area around the pond is well planted and the pond is shaded for much of the day it is not as much of an issue.

Depth is great if you can provide, but far from a necessity.

Water generally changes temperature very slowly, unless it is a very small volume of water. With koi needing a minimum volume of 1,000 gallons that is not an issue.

[kaianuanu]

at our old house,we had a litle pond, it was only like 6' by 4' and 2' deep but we loved it.it was like 6 years ago but i'll never forget it, we put sunfish in it. we loved when we threw in the pellets and they have a frenzy. we also used to put our feet in it and they'd tickle our toes.oh good times