Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose koi/goldfish debate

Hi I am new to this board. I have been asking a lot of questions and reading,learning and enjoying. I have been to my local fish store and 'Koi' are marketed as goldfish. KOI GOLDFISH. Feeder gold fish are not even considered 'real fish' to these people. It is very confusing . That is why we all do our research BUT... I read the post 'koi are goldfish' with much interest. Everyone knows this is a message board and not an acreddited encyclopedia. I took offense to the rude response by 'Billy'. It came across as condensending, know it all, rude, and simply impolite. There was no maliscious intent on the original post but the reply by Billy was mean. Billy, you may be knowledgable but perhaps you should read a book or two on communication and manners.
I am new....just my gut response..sorry. I am here to learn and not waste my time reading whos dog is bigger

I must have missed the thread that you are referring to, but it is a topic that I keep wondering about. The local "pondmeisters" (decorative ponds measured in square feet) are paying lot of money for large size KOI. Since the price of failure is only having few funny looking carp in my pond, I always wanted to try raising them. I didn't want to muddy up my existing pond, but now I have a new watering pond, about 100'x100'x10'deep. All I plan to put in it are fat heads, bluegill and maybe KOI.

Hi Ed you probably be dissapointed if you put in Koi most of us that raise Koi have pond that are measured in gallons so we can see our Koi and raise them for enjoyment. In a pond that size I doupt if you would ever see them. I currently have 9 in my greenhouse pond 1200 gallons and I am the process of digging an 8000 gallon pond beside my 1/3 acre pond in the front yard. Plan to feed water from the main pond to a 7' diameter water wheel into the Koi pond and then down a 20' stream back to the main pond. Been quite a project so far and I hope to finish by the spring. You can see some pictures of my Koi on my website.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like you are going to have really nice setup. And you going to re-circulate the water, or do you have a creek running through?

I don't even live at the property. I get enjoyment out of raising all kinds of fish. The only time I see the bigger ones is at feeding time, so I feed them often when I am there.

But I noticed that some people really feel special about the larger Koi, not even the special patterned ones, just large ones.
I figure I can probably sell them some. What I am really trying to do is find some way to pay the taxes on my land until I get the Ag exemption.

Ed, You might look into a wildlife exemption instead of the ag exemption. Check with the local NRCS office.

all of your questions about koi can be answered at this web site. www.brettsfishfarm.com good luck

Dave, thanks for the suggestion. I did look into it, because that is what I ultimately want to do with my property. Here is the catch. You cannot convert residential property into wildlife exempt.
Only ag exempt. So I will have to destroy lot of the trees and underbrush to get the ag exemption, just to try to restore for wildlife later. I spoke with the Texas Parks and Wildlife people about this and they don't know any way around it.

Thank you Fletch, for the link.

Great topic about Koi. Question- I have a 19 acre lake in Southwestern Ontario Canada stocked with LMB, SMB, perch and BG over the last 3 years in a clear water gravel pit....could I stock it with some Koi to observe when we water bike around our backyard lake? What is the upside and downside of introducing this type of colourful fish for observational enjoyment only. I'm sure only the largest will survive the LMB as they grow.

Rowly

Rowly - Hopefully you know that koi are carp (european carp) with color. These fish have been bred with with abundance of colored genes. But many of the offspring are drab colored similar to wild carp.

The koi have paired mouth barbles just like carp that they use for tasting food items while their snout is rooting in the sediments. Koi and carp both feed many hours of the day by rooting in the sediments for food. Koi can be big time competetors of your sport fish. The food items are often insect larvae that sport fish would have utilized during the insect hatch. Perch during winter can "snoot" or root out burrowing mayfly larvae asa fod source if they are present. Extensive feeding activities is due to their lack of a large stomach like many other fish who can binge feed and then rest. Koi lack this benefit thus need to feed long periods to keep their gut full.

Bottom feeding and rooting roils the water. When bottom aeration or significient wind action is present this redistributes and pumps the suspended materials into the water column. Several koi per acre can make the water more murky. Lots of koi per acre can make the water muddy. Predators will eat most of all of the colorful offspring. When cover and weeds are present the occassional drab offspring will likely survive and add to the population of rooters. When water clarity decreases the sight feeders (most sport fish) lose the ability to feeed as well as when the water was clearer.

Koi will eat fish eggs from fish that are not nest spawners i.e. broadcast spawners such as walleye and suckers. Koi may eat perch eggs since they are not guarded. Perch eggs have been reported to have offensive flavor when laid that acts as a deterrent as a food item for predators.

Everything about koi is not all bad. Their rooting activity can remix and supply some oxygenated water to the sediments. Rooting activites will disrupt plant growth trying to get established on the bottom. Cloudier and murkier pond water (Muddy water) can supress plant and algae growth due to lack of light penetration; good and bad depending on situation.

I would leave them out of a "sport fish pond" if I valued the fish and habitat. At most introduce only one or two or maybe a few that are same sex. Expert koi keepers can sex the fish esp at spawning time.

Thanks Bill for your response. I may try to use one of my 1/4 ac pits to stock with some koi to see what will happen in my situation in these clear water gravel pits. The reason I ask this question is part of my project is to build a waterfall and 300' of stream bed lined in 45 mil rubber recirculated by a 8-10,000 gal/hr pump up some 12' of head. The course will have 2-3 pond for fish . My wife likes the sound of running water and the enjoyment of feeding these colourful fish up close to the house. The result I'm such is that some of these fish will wash down the stream and into the lake even if I put wire mesh across the stream mouth. Any thoughts......

Rowly

Good Luck.

Thanks,

Rowly