My goldfish pond

[Gemma]

Thanks Gemma. Great to see you back in action on the forum! I liked it when we talked about Koi before. It seems like most the fish talk on GPF is about sickness and disease and not so much about the fish themselves. I have read a lot about Koi over the last year and also visited Japan and got some first hand knowledge about their appreciation of them.

Thanks Keith, it's good to finally have the time to be here!
I had the koi pond for a few years before I started to really appreciate koi, and wanting to learn about them... then the more I learned about the different kinds, the more I had the urge to collect them, an so I became addicted.
Perhaps some pond newbies on here would find the same passion if we had more discussions...but this is a "Garden Pond" Forum, I'm not sure that more koi talk would even be appreciated

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have learned at least the basics.
I haven't had the time to learn about the most recent varieties, and I'm still trying to figure out the different traits between a Doitsu Kujaku and a Beni kikokuryu lol I'm too sensitive to ask on koiphen.com

I took a quick look around your thread, I didn't read every post, I'll have to go back, but I looked at the pics and wow, your pond and koi are looking great! I was surprised to see you still have the goldfish, then again I can't part with my two shubbies, they are the oldest fish I own.

I have a two hour class on Saturday, after that I should have plenty of time to catch up on here...can't wait!

 

[TheFishGuy]

see back in the

Thanks Keith, it's good to finally have the time to be here!
I had the koi pond for a few years before I started to really appreciate koi, and wanting to learn about them... then the more I learned about the different kinds, the more I had the urge to collect them, an so I became addicted.
Perhaps some pond newbies on here would find the same passion if we had more discussions...but this is a "Garden Pond" Forum, I'm not sure that more koi talk would even be appreciated

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have learned at least the basics.
I haven't had the time to learn about the most recent varieties, and I'm still trying to figure out the different traits between a Doitsu Kujaku and a Beni kikokuryu lol I'm too sensitive to ask on koiphen.com View attachment 134475

I took a quick look around your thread, I didn't read every post, I'll have to go back, but I looked at the pics and wow, your pond and koi are looking great! I was surprised to see you still have the goldfish, then again I can't part with my two shubbies, they are the oldest fish I own.

I have a two hour class on Saturday, after that I should have plenty of time to catch up on here...can't wait!

see back in the ol' days before forums, this is what you went to if you had a question about ponds or fish:

JK, I wasnt even born before this forum was made, but because of this extensive collection of books I happen to have:

It insults a lot of perfectly good ponds at the start, then goes into litterally hundreds ( if not thousands) of type of koi

Id say if you really like koi you ought to have it, then there is no need to ask koiphen!

 

[Gemma]

see back in the

see back in the ol' days before forums, this is what you went to if you had a question about ponds or fish:

View attachment 134481

JK, I wasnt even born before this forum was made, but because of this extensive collection of books I happen to have:


View attachment 134482

It insults a lot of perfectly good ponds at the start, then goes into litterally hundreds ( if not thousands) of type of koi

Id say if you really like koi you ought to have it, then there is no need to ask koiphen!

Why did you write all that, when you could've just flipped a few pages of your book, and give me the answer?

 

[TheFishGuy]

Why did you write all that, when you could've just flipped a few pages of your book, and give me the answer? View attachment 134484

the answer:

A Doitsu Kujaku is white metallic color with black ( or grey, but grey is considered less pure ) Doitsu scales along its back, and the red pattern of a more pure kohaku ( very large splotches, not a splattering )

While a Beni Kiko Kuryu is again, always a Doitsu, of course with the metallic scales/no scales of the Doitsu Kujaku, it has the standard black and white splotches of a Kiko Kuryu. The orange and red pattern seen on this koi is simply covering up parts of the patterns in a standard Kiko Kuryu


make sense?
yeah, it doesn't really to me either, but honestly looking into this has got me quite a bit more interested than I was before about the pure breeds of koi

 

[Gemma]

Well I was j/k but thanks for posting that...but no, that explanation doesn't clear up anything, I can't go scrape my koi to see what's under the red
All I know is that my Doitsu kujaku has so far kept it's pattern and only changed shade, going from yellow to orange (will probably turn red with age), and my Kikokuryu keeps going through drastic changes especially the Sumi.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Well I was j/k but thanks for posting that...but no, that explanation doesn't clear up anything, I can't go scrape my koi to see what's under the red
All I know is that my Doitsu kujaku has so far kept it's pattern and only changed shade, going from yellow to orange (will probably turn red with age), and my Kikokuryu keeps going through drastic changes especially the Sumi.

I think the main difference is that the first one only has a few black scales on it back, but the latter is all black with white sploches and a red patterning on top

 

[CometKeith]

Update report on my pond. All the fish came out of the winter doing well except for one small goldfish that got stuck in the bog. I had my filter and pump running all winter and my bog pump and air filter running as well as one small pump and a pond breather. I think all that helped as the fish and pond look really good despite the crazy amount of snow we had this year. All my pumps are running now and I just started feeding lightly with spring food a few days ago. Here are a few pictures I took last week. The sedges are already almost twice as high now. Yes... the Koi are getting big especially the two jumbo koi I bought last year!

 

[j.w]

Pond looks great! Nice to see you awake after the long winter @CometKeith

 

[Tula]

You're back !!!! Thrilled to hear the pond did well over the winter......sounds like you've hit on plan that works for you. Your koi look beautiful and yes they're growing

 

[Gemma]

Nice to see you again @CometKeith , your pond looks great! How many koi do you have now?

 

[CometKeith]

Pond looks great! Nice to see you awake after the long winter @CometKeith

Hi JW. Yes after a long hibernation over the winter me and my fish are back. Also got a long time friend to join the forum @ToneDude . He asked me so many questions about the pond he inherited when they bought their house I suggested he join the forum! Your pond is always so pretty. How is it doing?

You're back !!!! Thrilled to hear the pond did well over the winter......sounds like you've hit on plan that works for you. Your koi look beautiful and yes they're growing

Thanks Tula. Yes they are all doing great. I think the fact that I kept the pump and filter running all winter helped the beneficial bacteria start up. So far... fingers crossed .... I’m hoping this spring goes a lot better than last year! I’m not buying any more fish for this year. I think I have more than enough! How is your pond and fish doing?

Nice to see you again @CometKeith , your pond looks great! How many koi do you have now?

Haha thanks Gemma. I think 9 or 10. I have one Sanke I got three years ago, a Gin Rin Matsuba and a large orange/black and white Showa I got two years ago as 5-6 inch fish from Kodama in Hawaii, and a few I got last year from Champ Koi. The two biggest ones are a Showa and Utsuri which where both jumbos when I got them, and a long tail Sanke that is mostly white with red and black spots. There are three others so that makes.......9? Oh and a lot of goldfish!! How are your fish doing? Did you get the bug to buy any more fish this year?

 

[j.w]

My pond is doing fine. Lost a few goldfish this winter, not sure why but the rest are ok. Had to clean the filters today. I only have the prefilters so it can be a bit of a job dragging them out w/the attached ropes. Sure wish I would have made a bog but then I did not know about them way back when. No room for one now. All is fine the way it is and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

 

[Gemma]

Haha thanks Gemma. I think 9 or 10. I have one Sanke I got three years ago, a Gin Rin Matsuba and a large orange/black and white Showa I got two years ago as 5-6 inch fish from Kodama in Hawaii, and a few I got last year from Champ Koi. The two biggest ones are a Showa and Utsuri which where both jumbos when I got them, and a long tail Sanke that is mostly white with red and black spots. There are three others so that makes.......9? Oh and a lot of goldfish!! How are your fish doing? Did you get the bug to buy any more fish this year?

I love your Showa!!

I thought I was done adding new ones, darnit! ... I had just rescued a Platinum Ogon from a small fish tank, when I found myself in a greenhouse, staring at some huge (well over 2') koi in need of rehoming. I just couldn't resist, I needed to help you know

so we ended up getting 2 of them: a butterfly Kin Matsuba and a butterfly doitsu that's all metallic yellow with some small orange spots everywhere, not sure what it is and it doesn't even matter, she's beautiful, they both are!

So now between the 2 ponds I have24 koi and 2 shubunkin ...I'm so glad we are building the bog !

 

[brokensword]

View attachment 137921I love your Showa!!

I thought I was done adding new ones, darnit! ... I had just rescued a Platinum Ogon from a small fish tank, when I found myself in a greenhouse, staring at some huge (well over 2') koi in need of rehoming. I just couldn't resist, I needed to help you know View attachment 137922
so we ended up getting 2 of them: a butterfly Kin Matsuba and a butterfly doitsu that's all metallic yellow with some small orange spots everywhere, not sure what it is and it doesn't even matter, she's beautiful, they both are!

So now between the 2 ponds I have24 koi and 2 shubunkin ...I'm so glad we are building the bog !

ha, @Gemma , I can top that; thought I'd get into koi a couple of years ago as there wasn't enough pattern/color re goldfish and now three years later, I just finished up an order last night for 4 more. And I already had 25! To make this even worse, the seller told me this morning that one I took pains to have relisted, had been injured while feeding so of course, it could not be shipped. It was a sanke, a fish that would compliment my other lone sanke for color. So of course, the solution from them was they'd substitute in another fish of equal value. BUUUUT! I already was filled and didn't want a fish that didn't fit my neat lil pattern I was creating. I mean, I only really HAD one spot left in the pond (we'll pretend I don't know I'm already probably over stocked for the sake of this story!) and didn't want it wasted on what THEY thought was an acceptable substitute fish! So I emailed, then when no response, I called--two different phone numbers! Finally got through, the man said he'd have the owner call me. No call. I figured fine, I could get a refund if I didn't like the sub fish anyway, so I dropped the matter figuring it was probably already boxed and waiting to be shipped.

Just as I was about to leave the house, the phone rang; seems the owner had texted me pics of the sub fish, + 2 more for me to pick from! Unbeknownst to her, I only have a land line and it doesn't do texts! Okay, so she called, send the pics to email where I waited for like 30 minutes thinking; how long does it TAKE to email fish pics???? Checked the mail on one computer, then thought my other one might have intercepted it; sure enough, it was in my SPAM folder. Sheesh, never had their emails go there before...

The story doesn't end yet! She had a pic of 3 more sankes and I liked one better than the other two but was worried it might lose some beni (my first one from them had done so) and I asked her; what is your opinion about the beni for fish #2 and fish #3? Which would lose it least? That's when she says (wait for it...)


"Would you like both of them?"

Ah, I should have prefaced this story with the fact I was speaking in one room while my wife was working in another. Strategic move? or just plain dumb luck? You decide.

So, I went from being over stocked, having probably lost one fish to gaining a sub PLUS another and yes, all while denying any sort of 'I'm already overstocked' plausability...it's sad, isn't it? This disease?

Got. To. Stop. Buying. Koi....

 

[addy1]

Got. To. Stop. Buying. Koi....

Build a bigger pond!