fish population

[steve s]

Ive mentioned my pond is 8ft long by 6ft wide by 3ft deep. Im not exactly sure of the volume of water. What would be the correct quantity of koi to put in the pond without overcrowding?

 

[stroppy]

that works out to about 890 or so UK gallons i think

 

[fishin4cars]

The pond should be about 1000-1100 or a little less US gallons. On the quantity, It's really no true # or size, or inches, or KG. That is the golden rule. 1" of fish per 20 gallons, on a well filtered pond is a fair # for smaller size koi with good filtration, IMO BUT, It's more about pond balance, The are those that are showing fish that they want to grow super large fish fast. 1" per 500-1000 gallons is recommended, Breeders may HAVE to keep fish at 1" per 1 gallon, So there are workable extremes either way. I've used the 1" for 20 gallons with what I felt could safely keep fish healthy and the filter handle their waste. But I'm starting to have some of my fish getting to the 18-20" size and it's apparent that they do need more room than that now, maybe 1" per 50 gallon at that size??????? So it all depends on, filtration, oxygen, water quality, to fish load ration. Stabilized mature ponds will also out preform a new pond, that needs to be mentioned too.

 

[addy1]

And remember if you put in two, you might end up with tons! they love having babies.

 

[HTH]

The fish per gallon rule is not much use with koi. The bio load of a 20 inch koi is huge compared to 5 4".

Koi like to have some depth in the pond. Three feet may be OK. Mine are in two and I think they would do better with more. I have zip to back this bit up by the way.

Koi are death on plants. You can put rocks in the top and still they stand on their head and spin around like a drill. They are looking to eat grubs or something that live in the soil.

My suggestion is to buy a few good quality ones and live with a low stocking level. They and their offspring will soon need the headroom.

 

[fishin4cars]

I agree, I have also found that Butterfly koi aren't as bad about digging as standard. My thoughts on this are that the long tail and body in shallower ponds helps as the koi can't get in that straight up and down positionn and drill to the roots. By far just a few and allow them plenty of room for growth and reproduction is better.

 

[mew5280]

I'm starting to think I need to find a new home for my two koi. My pond is only 650 gals. It's rectangular 5.5 x 8 I think, and only 18 inches deep. I didn't build it, it came with the house. I've had these koi for about 10 years and they are maybe a foot long or longer. Now that my water is clear and I can see them, I feel like they need a bigger pond, they just swim round and round the perimeter of the pond and I have gold fish, too. They are mating now though, wreaking havoc on one the mating plant, as I call it. It's the one they all use. : ) I had to give away a butterfly koi a few years ago for the same reason. It was more like 18 inches long, way too big for the pond. He or she went to live in a country pond that was huge.

I will say though, I do agree on pond balance. I now have the pond balanced pretty well but still the pond may be too small for koi.

 

[stroppy]

could you maybe build a bigger pond mew ?