Help with fish

[demosaki]

So i had a pond for a while and i have goldfish , koi , shibukin all living happly together. I have had many babies over the years and i need help recognizing and or advice. So im getting some nice variety of colors, but could the shibukin breed with the koi? im getting ones with whiskers with marbled colors as well. is that ok? the one i have in question is the the two fish in the middle facing horizontal toward the sun reflection in the picture let me know what u think
Thanks, im new to this forum

 

[demosaki]

heres another pic help me identify the types of fish i have thanks so much

 

[j.w]

demosaki
Looks like you have an assortment of Koi, Shubunkins and Sarrasas goldfish. Koi and any kind of goldfish will breed together. It's all ok and just depends on what you like to look at. Your fish are beautiful and love the markings!

 

[addy1]

Beautiful group of fish you have there.

 

[Dave 54]

Welcome from the UK you have some beautiful fish in fantasic health, yes you can get cross breeds but they are normally mules and are infirtile.
The marbled one is a koi you have some very nice Bekkos looks like a comet in there plus your shubunkins do you know which type ?
Personally I woul just let them get on with it and live happy lives in your pond.
How big is it and how deep is it please also what filtration do you have to return such clear water ?

rgrds

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

The Bristol has the larger fins the London the smaller Shubunkins are also know as Harlequin or Speckled Goldfish there is also the blue shubunkin a fish that becomes very tame they are highly prized for their varied colour patterns
The koi in the centre of your first picture is a Showa you also have two types of Sanke and wht looks to be a kuhaku top right of bottom photo there are one or two koi not good looking more like your first ever koi we have two or three.
However I dont see one Doitsu type koi in your pond (dont you like doitsu's) they can be very beautiful koi
So hopefully weve got them all but in the pictures top and bottom are:-

In the top one we can see three not so good looking koi, a Shubunkin, two very nice bekko's (have you butterfly koi in that pond ? if not the bekkos may well be cross breeds, the same can be said for the Orange and black koi and a Showa .
In the bottom photo we can see two possible three Bekko, a shubunkin, two commets, possibly a Kuhaku two showa and what looks to be a Sanke
Hope weve been helpful

rgrds

Dave

 

[demosaki]

Thanks so much for the replies, you have all been very helpful. dave ill post a pic of my pond. Its roughly 2500 gallons i presume i use a aquascapes waterfall system with skimmer box. all i put in is microbe lift . plants and water lettuce when it gets warmer for shade

 

[demosaki]

Pic pf pond

 

[j.w]

Really nice looking pond and like all your different varieties of rock. I just got back from bringing back a bunch of freshly scavenged rock on my bicycle. Stuffed so many in my bike bags that I had to push the bike all the way home..............silly me,what I wouldn't do for a good rock :bdaybiggrin:

 

[Dave 54]

I swear by Microbe_lift PL filterpad innoculent but I havent used any other of their products yet as our nearest shop about a mile away only stocks that at he moment we use the large size bottle the 32 fluid oz bottle does three out of our four filters the first being our vortex the are huge 32in diameter former koi dealerships QT fiters on our retro fitted former QT pond 4ft deep 7ft in diameter with 4" bottom drain.
We only keep koi and one orfe who thinks hes a koi lol he was the sacrificial fish to help kick start the pond pre Microblift days.
Is it by design you dont have any doitsu's/Leather or no scaled koi, they really are beautiful koi especially if kept in the beautiful condition of your own fish.
I note however you have a gravel bottom does the microbe_lift eat all the sludge etc that can accumilate
I used to keep indoors in a huge Aquarium for 22 years prior to moving outside 5 years ago and I had to syphon the gravel every month to clean it.
As my health started to fail Ostio Arthritis in the knee joints)it was dececided that I either give in the hobby or find another way (hence the pond) basically we couldnt build a pond due to Coucil rules so we went indoors when the QT Ponds Came up for grabs we'd worked out the idea of an above ground pond it fitted the bill.
Our oldest koi are two doitsu's one scaled the other leather and are in their 27th year with us
The pond permitting, should health permitting see us good for another 20 years hopefully our two oldest will still be with us then, if we cant they are going to my good friend Max She runs the only UK koi and Goldfish pond rescue service they will go to live with her koi.
These are all the ones she cant find new homes for because of defects to them ( such as an eye missing ) etc.
I act asa sort of unofficial PR man for her, in getting her sponsorship from one or two contacts Tertra being the best result long term backing with food Test kits and medicines, Kusuri sending packs of Fluke M a rather expensive but brilliant Fluke treatment.
I'm trying to do the same from other companies I'm awaiting replies to my recent emails to them.
Love your pond by the way , we Brit koi keepers tend to go in for formal ponds.

rgrds

Dave


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[demosaki]

Thanks Dave. I am going to look into adding a doitsu to the mix. I do not clean the rock bottom at all, the microbe will help with that. I usually have the pond totally cleaned every spring so that definitely helps it from getting overwhelmed with debris

 

[Dave 54]

I'm going to ask the shop manager if he'll get some of that in (whats its propper name )?
It may come in quite useful mid summer.
Yes the doitsus are very nice fish indeed , there are twelve classes of koi in the koi world you can by a doitsu from any of the classes just prefix the name doitsu i;e doitsu Sanke, doitsu shwa etc but we think the natural fish that really does the doitsu proudest is the doitsu Shusui your looking for a fish that can be an intense red/blue mixed,(hi Shusui) blue (shusui),there is a rare green (Ki Shusui) one too... Look for even scales leading from the head to tail among the lateral line and from the head too and around the the dorsal fin finishing at the tail, these scalesmust be dark.
The other type of doitsu that it lends itself perfectly too is the Kawarimono.
You'll need to get out to a koi dealer and have a chat they may have their own favorite doitsu.

rgrds

Dave

 

[demosaki]

Thanks for the education Dave. Great info. The product I use is Microbe lift pl Stuff really helps and is all natural bacteria. I buy it by the gallon, it's cheaper. In the fall, i use their fall version, it helps break down leaves etc

 

[Dave 54]

so basically your using the filterpad inoculant to clear the pond yes ?
There is a library of books I posted on the site listing all the books we own about fish/koi both normal and halth books your more than welcome to us it in the furtherance of your koi knowledge, as well as a complete first aid koi essencial for when koi get ill in some form .
See Photo's Bellow :-







We decided that first off we would learn about these beautiful fish and more
The kit would be a good idea for you to put together.
Both an instrument one and a chemical one can be put together with some forthought however remember when you have used a chemical and dont have problem again till the year later, then ditch the bottle for a new one, we get around this by using the smaller sized bottles good for say two treatmets over wasting a large bottle.
A microscope x 400 plus is also aonother good idea along with a baby matt for any powder treatment you'll need a weighing machine

rgrds


Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Wow talk about shock , we got to our fish shop tis morning and he has added other Microbe_lift stock this time in the form of Microbe_lift SA
Sludge away treatment for exactly your type of pond Demosaki however when using make sure you have plenty in the way of airstones on the pond at the time?
Why because it saps the water of Oxygen during treatment but apparently the results are stunning , you then treat weekly at just a small dose.over the next 4 weeks
There was even one for Nitrite and Ammonia problems Dean the shop owner has really gone into stocking his shop with Microbe_lift products , he was telling us the reason how this all happened and it was listening to the Mirobe_List rep at a show for fish products , he basically took on board everything the chap was saying hen tried it out on his own koi firstand from those results stocked the shop.
Personally I'm over the moon about this because I have really taken a shine to their products from what I was reading about it in the US .
He like myself was struck by this all being developed through the treatment of sewerage and not for fish taking their step into the fish market as a result of their Knowledge.
A brilliant and brave step you must agree but hey if it helps keep our ponds health clear of sludge in gravel and rock but also of any sludge in the filters too. .

rgrds

Dave