Thinking Of Starting A Koi Pond

[channing]

so we are getting ready to start house hunting and we want to build a koi pond. want are the basic requirements for one? we'll be living in town in the midwest (usa). i just want to do a small one so it wont take up our whole yard with a butterfly/hummingbird garden around it.

i know that we need a filter and that it needs to be round 4 ft deep. im planning on using one of our livestock tough heaters during the winter as they work great and don't cost a lot to use. so would it need to be that deep? i definitely want butterfly koi. we can get some beautiful ones up here. do they need anything special? also i would like a fountain and maybe a waterfall. also if anyone could give me an average start up cost that would be great. i would like to have around ten koi tops maybe less.

would it be easy to build ourselves or should we hire someone?
how many gallons plus what dimensions should i use?
does it have to be a certain shape?
will have the garden around it cause any probs?
any probs with homeowners insurance? i think here we'll have to get a 6ft fence with a padlock around it. any one know for sure? we live in ia.

thanks a bunch

 

[GoldLenny]

Koi should have at least 300G per fish as a bare bones minimum with a 1,000G pond as the smallest size so they have swimming room. They can grow to over 3' long and are big swimmers so you should have at least a 18' long section to give them room to swim (6X their body length). With an average depth of 2', a 6' x 18' pond would be around 1,500 gallons. You may have to have at least a 4' deep area to make the pond safe enough so they can over-winter in it.

Do lots of reading on over-wintering as this is where so many pond owners get in trouble when things start to warm up in the spring if they did not prepare the pond and fish for over-wintering.

Go to my blog (link in sig) and click on my Pond link (right side) and you will find lots of DIY stuff for ponds, including one blog where I have several free downloadable ebooks on building your own pond.

 

[channing]

okay thats gonna be way to big. what about a above ground goldfish pond?

 

[GoldLenny]

okay thats gonna be way to big. what about a above ground goldfish pond?

Much easier to do. The same page I gave you earlier will give you guidance for that also. Pond goldfish (long-bodied) should have at least 50G per goldfish as a bare minimum and would be better with 100G per goldfish as they reach adult size (10" - 12" for comets/shubunkins and 18" - 24" for commons).

The downside of above ground ponds is they do not get any benefit from the geo-thermal heating/cooling that takes place at the bottom of the pond when it's at least 24" in the ground. Usually, at that level, the earth's temp is around 68F so it keeps the pond temp more stable at that bottom thermocline. The fish can go there on the coldest or hottest times.

Ponds are great but they still need a little work to keep the fish healthy.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If you go for a goldfish pond, i would advise one thats at least 3ft deep and 5ft long by 3ft wide minimum.

 

[channing]

im not worried about wintering the fish cause ill bring them inside so i can still watch them plus i would like to have fancy goldfish bubble eyes and celestial and moors instead of comets. i dont think they would make it outside during the winter and i love them so they can hang out with me in the living room. ( inside not a prob i ve got a million spare tanks hiding some where in the attic) how big should i make the pond for say 20 -30 of these guys. any big big no nos for goldfish ponds

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

im not worried about wintering the fish cause ill bring them inside so i can still watch them plus i would like to have fancy goldfish bubble eyes and celestial and moors instead of comets. i dont think they would make it outside during the winter and i love them so they can hang out with me in the living room. ( inside not a prob i ve got a million spare tanks hiding some where in the attic) how big should i make the pond for say 20 -30 of these guys. any big big no nos for goldfish ponds

Hm, just make sure you really do have enough gallons, for aquarium fancy goldfish stocking in general it is 20gallons for the first goldfish and 10gallons for every one after that. To be honest it might be cheaper to heat the pond during the winter than run that many tanks.
Cycling would be an issue too- every spring when you added all the goldfish back to the pond, the pond would go through a lot of cycling/water quality problems and so you would have to be doing water changes on the pond, otherwise you may loose goldfish;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141944

Same goes for cycling tanks when you take the goldfish out for the winter.