Koi Pond info/pics Please.

[sorce]

I'm contemplating an outdoor joint for my recently aquired pair of red ear sliders....

I'd love to hear some pros and cons from you all.

Anybody keep things outdoors all year in the deep freeze?

Pics of the purties please!

(this is a special thread for Si the Fish!)

Sorce

 

[GrimLore]

I'd love to hear some pros and cons from you all.

We have attempted a few times to keep small Koi in fountains and water gardens... Turned out we were just feeding local wildlife

Grimmy

 

[Underdog]

I have a tiny pond. 4ft dia round and 2 1/2 deep. More of a goldfish bowl than a Koi Pond.
As summer heat has arrived I have to clean weekly as it turns into a frog pond.
I've tried an algicide w/no luck. Added half dozen Gold Fish last week and hoped they help eat the green stuff.
In reality all they did was make it a PIA to clean. I still like it tho. Sitting on the porch in the evening listening to the water fountain trickle is so soothing and makes me smile. Looking to try some sort of filter.
my Bald Cypress loves it.

 

[ysrgrathe]

This is my pond (and my avatar is of my fish):
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?151039-Small-pond-build

A few notes:
- build a good filter. This is good for your fish, and good for you because you'll clean a lot less. I clean once every two weeks and it takes 15 minutes.
- you want a bottom drain.
- you need thousands of gallons for koi. If you have hundreds, get some nice goldfish.

The koiphen site is great -- read all you can before starting. I strongly recommend working with Birdman to build your own filters; he can recommend an appropriate design. Feel free to ask me questions here or PM me.

 

[eferguson1974]

Ive heard that turtles can have salmonela. Wash well after handling.
Why not make a small aquaponic grow bed? It would filter your water better than a filter, and provide food. And you could grow water loving trees in it. Mine are very happy in my system. You would probably have a new addiction, AP is a lot like bonsai. One can get obsessed easily. But the good out weighs the bad, by far! Your kids would love it too. I learned about it on you tube. If your gonna take care of the fish, may as well let them fertalize your organic veggies. Let me know if you want help, Ive been doing it 3 years now. And have nothing negative to say! Free salad is a good thing. Trim the lettuce you wAnt to eat, and let the plant grow more. You get a lot more that way than pulling a whole head. I think you are the kinda guy who would love AP.
Cant help with the coi. But be sure to have small fish to eat mosquito larvae. Or grow mosquitos too, not a good plan.

 

[A Random User]

I did a pond that was quite easy to do... for people not to skilled at brick laying....

The easiest way to do it is as the above mentioned poster has shown is with cement block. Now if you are not a trade mason and good at laying brick as I am not... then your neighborhood big box store sells a product in the caulk section, that is meant for gluing masonry capping stones onto the tops of walls. This product, don't have the name off hand, but from the same company that puts out liquid nail... works extremely well.

So, with my koi pond, rather than setting mortar, I actually glued the blocks together... make sure you stagger the blocks, to give added support. Then after gluing and creating the whole structure, because the blocks were staggered, I then went back and on every other hole I hammered down through the hole into the ground a piece of rebar. Then in-filled with cement... this made the structure very strong and tied it all together. 1200 gallons of water has a lot of weight that will want to push out... you don't want it to fail.

 

[Stickroot]

There are inline UV lights that control algae very well.
A bogg style filter/water fall a must.
Gotta have a BRIDGE!and Dragonflies!

 

[Cypress187]

Cute man:

Can they also style bonsai tree's, like Rupert?

 

[Stickroot]

Oh and fishies, shibuncan and koi bread and make very different colored offspring.

 

[Cypress187]

Oh and fishies, shibuncan and koi bread and make very different colored offspring.View attachment 108058

Wow, a lot man. How big are they the biggest?

 

[M. Frary]

Anybody keep things outdoors all year in the deep freeze?

The only way is to have it so deep it won't freeze solid and have enough water left to supply oxygen to the fish until it thaws. The turtles burrow deep into mud for the winter and go into a kind of suspended animation. If they freeze solid they die.

 

[Stickroot]

Wow, a lot man. How big are they the biggest?

Believe it or not I started with only 6 4" long fish 12 yrs ago. I give the smaller ones away all the time. I had one die this winter that we called "the sub" it was 16" long.

 

[sorce]

Believe it or not I started with only 6 4" long fish 12 yrs ago. I give the smaller ones away all the time. I had one die this winter that we called "the sub" it was 16" long.

You leave them out I suppose?
Running water?

I been reading some....

Looking to read more!

Thanks all! Good stuff!

Sorce

 

[eferguson1974]

Do you folks with ponds use the fish poo for fertalizer? My trees seem to like it. And since you have fish, may as well use there waste. I catch it in a screen before my aquaponic growbeds. Then use it on plants and trees. Works for me! And if you already have the fish, read about aquaponics. Its a great way to raise plants and trees, for food or decoration. And a growbed is a great filter that doesnt foul.
Wouldnt catfish or other local species work better? If you raise enough you could eat them.

 

[Stickroot]

You leave them out I suppose?
Running water?

I been reading some....

Looking to read more!

Thanks all! Good stuff!

Sorce

Yes they stay out with water running.
The pond is 6000 gallons and 5' deep in one area.

 

[JoesBonsai]

I don't use their poo ,but use the water for watering the Bonsai`s (once i do a back wash). I keep 1000l at one time
My Pond (hope you can see the vid)
https://www.facebook.com/joes.bonsai.7/videos/vb.100008936352855/1427668644207667/?type=3&theater

 

[Arcto]

Sorce, I kept turtles on and off for years and bred and raised tortoises. You will need a really good filtration system. Turtles generate a lot of waste, more than fish. Good basking area is critical for health. Natural sunlight is best, followed by UVB fluorescent bulbs, tubes. Expect to change bulbs every 6 months as they lose their effectiveness. Turtles are surprisingly good climbers. We had a 3 Toed Box Turtle we nicknamed "Spider-Man" as a 2' wire mesh fence was to no problem for him to escape from. king snake.com, Austin's turtle page are good internet sources of info. Andy Highfield's "Keeping Turtles and Tortoises in Captivity" is a must read for serious hobbyists and breeders. Good luck.

 

[Waltron]

sorce I got a pet snapper, I bring him outside in the summer, he lives in an aquarium with a cray fish where I always assume is an epic hatred and constant battle with each other but I always catch them just chillin together at night. You can get a filter, submersible even, but id suggest just getting a rubbermaid tote for your red ears and just change the water because its easier, they wont stay in a coy pond. bring them inside in the fall, you will need a UVB reptile light bulb to keep them happy indoors. if you do get a coy pond it would have to be deep, or you will have to run a pump over winter to make sure the bottom doesn't freeze, and pumps tend to fail, especially in super cold winters.

 

[M. Frary]

pet snapper

Used to have a big one when I was a kid. Fed it mice dangled on needle nose pliers. It would stay in the pond across the street. We caught it 3 years in a row. My brother and I. They get huge.

 

[rockm]

You Northerners aren't well acquainted with BIG snapping turtles. In the south, there are Alligator snapping turtles. Makes collecting bald cypress a bit more interesting...