Do you think this guy is super cooling his koi? ;)

[callingcolleen1]

Most koi are not pure bred. They are mutts. Which some folk go to great lengths to cultivate, rather than insult folk peddling scams and hack job videos on youtube for nickles and dimes

No, I don't think Waddy is interested in peddling fraud on youtube. He has his own business and his own website

Yup he would know a listless half dead koi when he sees it

My "nickel and dime" videos are getting popular and one video alone I made last year has over 700k . And I have made about $ 1k within the last 12 months, and making more every month, so beat that if you can!

 

[Lisak1]

I was just saying that I'm not insulted. Why would I care if someone calls my fish mutts? Or ugly? They aren't in a beauty pageant. They're just my pets.

@adavisus - what is a purebred koi? I mean, I understand purebred dog - a particular breed of dog that's not been crossed with another breed of dog (for many generations). Are there different breeds of koi? I know there are different names for koi that have different colorations, but aren't they all just koi?

 

[audioenvy]

what is a purebred koi? I mean, I understand purebred dog - a particular breed of dog that's not been crossed with another breed of dog (for many generations). Are there different breeds of koi? I know there are different names for koi that have different colorations, but aren't they all just koi?

I'm not sure if the different types of koi have been around long enough to be scientifically classified differently (like dogs are) but over the last 100 years there has been a lot of very selective breeding that has gone into developing very specific traits in the various types of koi: kohaku, sanke, showa, asagi, etc etc. There has been a concerted effort through selective breeding of literally billions upon billions of fry to cultivate specific body shapes, skin qualities, thickness of the color in the scales, color patterns, etc.

You might argue that these traits are completely arbitrary and unimportant--and that is 100% fine. There are multiple levels at which to enjoy koi keeping. For most people (albeit a higher percentage in North America compared to Asia and Europe) koi are simply a pet and so (like my family dog) their body conformation, kiwa, sashi, fukurin, etc make no difference. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

At the same time, the beauty found in today's so-called "pond-grade" koi is a direct trickle-down result of attempting to breed koi to have all of those arbitrary traits that crazy enthusiasts are willing to pay thousands of dollars for. If it weren't for the ridiculous koi beauty contests around the world that provide the financial means for breeders to continue to improve koi in the name of competition we would still only have single color carp like those found in the wild.

 

[Lisak1]

Makes sense. So maybe “selectively bred” is a better descriptor.

 

[MitchM]

Whenever I hear "selectively bred". I think of King Charles Spaniels and German Shepards.
Not a pleasant thought.
https://www.ufaw.org.uk/dogs/cavalier-king-charles-spaniel-syringomyelia
https://www.louisdonald.com/the-curved-back-of-the-german-shepherd.html

 

[Lisak1]

I think in humans we call it "in-breeding".

 

[audioenvy]

Whenever I hear "selectively bred". I think of King Charles Spaniels and German Shepherds.

I always think of the 24 million fry that hatch every year at Sakai Fish Farm (one of many many of breeders) so that a few thousand can be sold.

Even a $6 Petsmart koi is the survivor of a few rounds of culling.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Most of us here just have koi that are not leftovers of the "big killoff" ...
I personally would choose to rescue the brothers and sisters of the ones with the "death sentence" !

 

[MimsBird]

You’re not supposed to run water fall or aerators that rest on the very bottom of your pond once the temps get to 40°-41° and are expected to dip below that. Why? Because once temps reach 39 and below and are sustained, the warmest water in your pond will be 39° as it sinks to the bottom and anything colder than that will rise toward the top. If you’re running your waterfall, you’re going to over cool the water and the agitation will force that super cold water down to the bottom where your fish are hibernating. You will unnecessarily overly cool your fish. This is especially true for waterfalls fed by a bottom drain pump as well as side skimmer weir fed waterfalls if ponds are less than 6 feet deep (provided the waterfall is only a few inches above the surface of the pond-the further the water falls, the deeper its plunge into the pond). Most of us have ponds that are 3-4 feet deep and waterfall agitation from any height certainly affects water at those depths. If you must continue the aeration, even though water that cold will keep its oxygen really well if you haven’t overpopulated your pond, then it’s recommended to bring the bubblers-gentle bubblers, not aggressive bubblers-to a few inches below the surface of the water. That helps keep the surface from freezing in that area and it can also add some oxygen to the pond without disturbing the temperature gradient that keeps the warmest layer at the bottom for your fish when it gets that cold outside.

 

[sissy]

been running my pond and go by pond water temperature not outside air temperature aerator and 1 pump going and fish are fine . Aerators are near the top of the pond . I put in the pond heater just incase but it is not plugged in . But when I plug it in finally I can control it inside my house . My son put switchs for everything in my pond in my master bedroom closet . If I can't get out to the pond I can just turn off the switch inside , he marked everyone of the outlets on the inside switchs and I wrote next to it what that outlet controls , just incase i plug something else into one of the outlets .Plus it saves me money and a headache if i see on the security cameras in the middle of the night that might be going wrong in the pond . I was lucky he lived here then and had an electrical license , but he moved back to Nj as he now owns a towing company since 2010

 

[Nia Roo Studio]

My raised wooden pond (175 gallons) froze over the past two winter with my fountain still running, one the ice formed I removed a bucket of pond water to create a thermal blanket effect under the ice. No fish loses both years. I stay in the Scottish Borders.