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so, quick low down on what I have got going on followed by a handful of questions..
Four ponds with koi that have streams going from pond 1 to pond 2, from pond 2 to pond 3 and from pond 3 to pond 4. It rains ALOT where we live at 1800 foot elevation so every day to every few days there is anywhere from a little water to a lot of water flowing between them with the water exiting to natural water ways from pond 4. Now the crazy part is that the people who owned the property prior only put three koi in each pond to start.
The first pond and by far the shallowest at a couple feet deep, the koi breed like mad. I'm talking over fifty of them with most being about 4 inches. There are a bunch of smaller and larger as well but not one of them are over 8 inches. There is a bunch of water hyacinth in this pond and all of them have to be cleaned often or it covers the entire pond (wait till I tell you of the pond four adventure). I have recently introduced 3 pleco's to clean up some up the funky muck on the bottom.
Pond 2 has three koi and I'm thinking one might have died as we don't see that one anymore. Just wasn't coming to the surface anymore and I haven't been able to find any sign of it. The two koi I can see are about 8 inches in length. I also recently added 2 plecos to this pond to help clean the funky stuff out.
Pond 3 has three koi with one of them being a monster white koi we call ghost at 18 inches or so. The other two koi are far smaller at 6 inches and follow ghosts lead for the most part. The pond here is smaller then the other three in diameter but is easily 5 feet deep or so. Again I keep water hyacinth growing.
Pond 4 is magestic to behold as it is BIG and DEEP! It was sooooo over grown with water hyacinth of several varieties that it was completely covered over and looked like it could have been solid ground. Heck, we didn't even know if anything had survived in it. They did though! Nine beautiful koi and each are in the neighborhood of 10 inches with one or two being a little smaller.
Pond 5 isn't connected to the other four ponds and has just tilapia in it, a thousand to two thousand to be exact. The pond here is easily fifty feet in diameter. The tilapia are tame enough that they come right up,when fed and I have touched them a time or two to see if they were that comfortable. There are some grand daddy tilapia that have to be going on 18 inches themselves with most being far smaller. They are completely self sufficient and eat EVEYTHING that falls in, plants included. This pond doesn't need to be maintained by me at all.
So, questions for those of you who care to chime in...
1) Why are the koi in pond one (the shallowest by far) breeding like rabbits? I counted fourty or so when we got here several months ago and now i count fifty or so. I keep all ponds cleaned and use a net every day or two to get most of the crap out, not all as some is good for the small polywogs and other little guys that live in the first pond, I also leave the water hyacinth to cover about 40% of each pond before I clean it out to about 25% coverage. I want them to have cover and I'm trying to cut the amount of sunlight to control alge blooms. It's working.
2) what would be the best way to move koi from pond one to pond four as it is by far the biggest pond. These koi are far smaller then the others in the other ponds so I don't think I would be stressing them too much.
3) moving ghost the big white koi? He is far to big to put in a five gallon bucket and I'm not even sure how I would capture him to be honest. I mean he seems content and grew to a monsterous size but I think he would be better in a larger body of water no?
4) pond 4 has no polywogs or little fish of any kind, none! Why? I find them in all of the other ponds including the tilapia pond, just not in pond 4. It was completely over grown and guava fruit had fallen in for who knows how long and made the water smell funky! That has gone though after we have been maintaining them all.
5) we supplement all of the fishes diets with fish chow. Looks like dog food, just smaller pellets. They all love it and go crazy for it. When ever they see us they start moving around and schooling up. My question is this, is it better to supplement their chow like we are doing or should we leave them to deny for them selves?
Thanks for reading! I am down for reading anything anyone wants to send my way. I'm not afraid of hard work or doing what needs to be done to keep them healthy and happy. Thanks again everyone!
Peace and love,
AJ
Four ponds with koi that have streams going from pond 1 to pond 2, from pond 2 to pond 3 and from pond 3 to pond 4. It rains ALOT where we live at 1800 foot elevation so every day to every few days there is anywhere from a little water to a lot of water flowing between them with the water exiting to natural water ways from pond 4. Now the crazy part is that the people who owned the property prior only put three koi in each pond to start.
The first pond and by far the shallowest at a couple feet deep, the koi breed like mad. I'm talking over fifty of them with most being about 4 inches. There are a bunch of smaller and larger as well but not one of them are over 8 inches. There is a bunch of water hyacinth in this pond and all of them have to be cleaned often or it covers the entire pond (wait till I tell you of the pond four adventure). I have recently introduced 3 pleco's to clean up some up the funky muck on the bottom.
Pond 2 has three koi and I'm thinking one might have died as we don't see that one anymore. Just wasn't coming to the surface anymore and I haven't been able to find any sign of it. The two koi I can see are about 8 inches in length. I also recently added 2 plecos to this pond to help clean the funky stuff out.
Pond 3 has three koi with one of them being a monster white koi we call ghost at 18 inches or so. The other two koi are far smaller at 6 inches and follow ghosts lead for the most part. The pond here is smaller then the other three in diameter but is easily 5 feet deep or so. Again I keep water hyacinth growing.
Pond 4 is magestic to behold as it is BIG and DEEP! It was sooooo over grown with water hyacinth of several varieties that it was completely covered over and looked like it could have been solid ground. Heck, we didn't even know if anything had survived in it. They did though! Nine beautiful koi and each are in the neighborhood of 10 inches with one or two being a little smaller.
Pond 5 isn't connected to the other four ponds and has just tilapia in it, a thousand to two thousand to be exact. The pond here is easily fifty feet in diameter. The tilapia are tame enough that they come right up,when fed and I have touched them a time or two to see if they were that comfortable. There are some grand daddy tilapia that have to be going on 18 inches themselves with most being far smaller. They are completely self sufficient and eat EVEYTHING that falls in, plants included. This pond doesn't need to be maintained by me at all.
So, questions for those of you who care to chime in...
1) Why are the koi in pond one (the shallowest by far) breeding like rabbits? I counted fourty or so when we got here several months ago and now i count fifty or so. I keep all ponds cleaned and use a net every day or two to get most of the crap out, not all as some is good for the small polywogs and other little guys that live in the first pond, I also leave the water hyacinth to cover about 40% of each pond before I clean it out to about 25% coverage. I want them to have cover and I'm trying to cut the amount of sunlight to control alge blooms. It's working.
2) what would be the best way to move koi from pond one to pond four as it is by far the biggest pond. These koi are far smaller then the others in the other ponds so I don't think I would be stressing them too much.
3) moving ghost the big white koi? He is far to big to put in a five gallon bucket and I'm not even sure how I would capture him to be honest. I mean he seems content and grew to a monsterous size but I think he would be better in a larger body of water no?
4) pond 4 has no polywogs or little fish of any kind, none! Why? I find them in all of the other ponds including the tilapia pond, just not in pond 4. It was completely over grown and guava fruit had fallen in for who knows how long and made the water smell funky! That has gone though after we have been maintaining them all.
5) we supplement all of the fishes diets with fish chow. Looks like dog food, just smaller pellets. They all love it and go crazy for it. When ever they see us they start moving around and schooling up. My question is this, is it better to supplement their chow like we are doing or should we leave them to deny for them selves?
Thanks for reading! I am down for reading anything anyone wants to send my way. I'm not afraid of hard work or doing what needs to be done to keep them healthy and happy. Thanks again everyone!
Peace and love,
AJ
