Heyy I have recently decided that adding a koi pond to my yard would be a great hobby to begin! But I have tonns of questions. My main question would be....On our property we have a natural running spring that runs into an already man made cement pond that is 8x4x2. The water is always circulating and never freezes over in winter. The bottem of the pond is covered in mud setiments. Would this even be suitable for me to go about and making it into a koi pond. I do not plan on have a large amount of kois but just a couple to enjoy! Hopefully this would be something I can do because I am already VERY excited about it!! If it makes any difference my little brother had stuck a rock bass in there last summer and we just saw him swimming in there today! But of course he will be returned to the river as soon as possible since we didnt know that he had put him in there! Anyyy advice at all with be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Helppp!!!!
- Thread starter brittany31
- Start date
oldmarine
Married 32 years
Sounds like the dream pond I always wanted with natural flow of water. The only thing I would do different is make it bigger, much bigger.
Sounds you could make it work as a koi pond. The experts here need to really address this one. I have to admit, I am envious.
Happy ponding,
Sounds you could make it work as a koi pond. The experts here need to really address this one. I have to admit, I am envious.
Happy ponding,
how marvelous to have something spring fed. We are certainly all jealous! But oldmarine is quite correct in that the dimensions you mention are truly too small for koi. You would do fine with some interesting goldfish. For example, sarassas are goldfish that are often referred to as "poor man's koi" because they look like kohaku koi with gorgeous red and white color. I've got a bunch in my goldfish pond, which is just about the size of the pond you mention. You can buy them quite inexpensively at Petsmart and the likes of those places. Shubunkins would also be a good choice and are speckled black/red/orange and are very colorful with their flowing tails.
You may not be buying koi that are large, but you would be shocked at how quickly that little 4" fish can turn into a 18-20" fish.
Now the mud mulm you mention, is probably happening because the stream of water doesn't quite get down deep to the 2 foot level to whoosh it out. You really should aim to get it out of there if you can. You can use a net to get it out or you could grab a broom and swoosh it around so that it exits with the flow of the stream.
I'm not sure if you've got a power source near the pond, but you could put an air diffuser disk at the bottom connected to an air pump (protected from the elements, of course), to help keep things from settling too much on the bottom.
You may not be buying koi that are large, but you would be shocked at how quickly that little 4" fish can turn into a 18-20" fish.
Now the mud mulm you mention, is probably happening because the stream of water doesn't quite get down deep to the 2 foot level to whoosh it out. You really should aim to get it out of there if you can. You can use a net to get it out or you could grab a broom and swoosh it around so that it exits with the flow of the stream.
I'm not sure if you've got a power source near the pond, but you could put an air diffuser disk at the bottom connected to an air pump (protected from the elements, of course), to help keep things from settling too much on the bottom.
Thank you both so much! And yes I was a worried about the size! I'm so glad to hear that the spring will work out! I will be looking into the goldfish that would suit me because like I said before I'm doing it just for the enjoyment! I'm sure my 10 month old wont realize the difference:lol: I have tonsss of other questions! And plan to look into the disk diffuser that was mentioned. Another question I had was what plants would be best to add. And now that I will probably taking the goldfish route what are some need to know things with them? And also how many would be a good amount for in my pond?...Wow this is great! I plan on getting started tomorrow!!!
oldmarine
Married 32 years
It would be nice to re-rout the natural water flow long enough to do an expansion on the pond area, and even go as far as putting down a liner to help stop errosion, and mud build up.
Happy ponding,
Happy ponding,
Yeah I was talking to my boyfriend today and we are actually thinking of just digging the whole cement area out and expanding it so it is around 10x8x3. But the plans have been changing it seems every hour when we come up with new ideas! thanks for the help!
That won't happen just in the beginning. This will happen as long as you have one. They always end up evolving into something. You will think "perfect" for about a year, trust me. The natural spring would be a dream come true!!!!