Any help greatly appreciated

[Tula]

My pond is 1700 gallons and I keep 4 koi. I also lower the water and catch and rehome any surviving fry at the end of each summer.

I think your pond looks fine for koi, but I'd start with 3 If you don't want babies, you can try to get all the same sex.

 

[mrsclem]

Yes, I have a 10x10x5 pond and presently have 7 adult koi in it. I do have 2 150 gallon stock tanks as filters as well as 11 window boxes set up as a bog. so it is possible.

 

[sissy]

But young ones are really hard to tell what sex they are .I know people ask me that take my babies ,what sex are they .I try but the bodies look mostly a like when they are young.But when they get over 2 feet long they can become crowded and that can stress them also .

 

[brokensword]

if you don't feed the fish, both during spawning and soon thereafter, I doubt you'll have too many babies. Haven't had any survive in 3 years, not since my fish matured. JMHO

 

[CountryEscape]

Hi, Joe, and welcome! I totally agree with @brokensword! I have far too many koi in my pond, which is about the same dimensions as yours, but only 4' deep. I have not had any babies survive the last 3 years either, they eat all the eggs and fry. And, from the year before that (2nd year with the koi), only 4 babies survived, and they are now as big as the other adults.
If you have too many koi (like me, but I'm planning to rehome some to a friend's BIG pond this spring), they will eventually stop growing, which to me is perfectly fine! I know, I know, I'm "stunting their growth" because they don't have enough room to grow bigger, but I LIKE them staying smaller. My koi are probably as big as 22-24" and down to 14-16", and are not continuing to grow anymore.
Yes, your pond is definitely large enough for koi! Once the original ones mature (depending on how big they are when you first put them in), they will spawn, and the first year you will likely have babies. After that, they figure out those eggs are a delicacy, and you won't have as many each year thereafter, if any. Good luck!
Here's another suggestion, one that a ponder on here recommended to me, and I was too fish crazy in the beginning to listen to! When you buy your koi, buy as nice of ones as you can afford! Do NOT buy the culls found at your local pet stores, unless you have a supplier to your local fish stores. Buy really nice ones, because they will be there for years and years to come to admire! It's better to buy 3-5 at $50 or more each, then 10 at $15 each, IMO. Wish I had listened, although I have some really beautiful fish!

 

[Joeboyc]

Hi guys thanks for all this advice, pond been on now and running for at least a week and I have noticed there to be fish in there that the previous owner left.

Any idea what these are? Would you hold of stocking anymore with these in the pond?

Thanks again guys!!

 

[sissy]

goldfish

 

[Joeboyc]

If I wanted to stock koi as well would this be a issue? Thanks sissy

 

[sissy]

I have koi and goldfish .But goldfish breed like bunnies and koi get huge .My koi are over 2 feet long .They need lots of filtering and aeration .My pond is 5000+ gallons .I have 2 filters and an aerator with 12 air stones

 

[CountryEscape]

Koi and goldfish will interbreed, too, which is ok, you just get "mutts" instead of koi OR goldfish. LOL It won't cause any problems with adding koi to them, though, as long as you have a large enough pond for the koi. Those goldfish look short and fat or it might be the way the photo was taken in the water. I thought at first they might be fantail goldfish, because of the shape. If they have a "triple" tail, they are fantails.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

They do look very "stubby" indeed. Any way you could scoop one up in a net and snap a photo to see if maybe the water is distorting their shape/size?