Plants when your fish likes to dig and redecorate

[cas]

Wow! That koi is 12 years old and only 8" long! That's surprising.

I thought I was the only one that had small koi. I have a 15 and 12 year old koi that are only a foot long. I have another 12 year old koi that is only 10". I'm thankful they aren't getting any bigger because my pond couldn't support anything larger.

 

[brokensword]

I know it's bandied about re 'fish grow to the size of their containment' and I've always just held my tongue but I've had many fish grow to less than their full stature over all my years of fish keeping. And I've never had negative effects. The fish look and act normal, they just don't grow to full. I'm not talking about putting a goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl, though, I'm talking 4' aquariums. I have right now 3 salt water fish; 2 clowns and a blue tang, all of which I know are half size at best, in a 90 gallon. They're just fine. So I'm not surprised your koi is small. But you also probably don't do as most koi owners do and feed until they bust! I think small size is a byproduct of that behavior as much as space. YMMV

And I've recently gotten into koi (for my pond) and I figure with my similar habits of not overfeeding, these new inhabitants won't approach the worrisome size of 30+ inches. Which is just fine with me as it allows me more fish per gallon! 3 of these were bought as 5" tosai 4 years ago and they're now about 14", which supposedly is what they grow in year 2 of their life!

 

[csdude55]

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get emails when you all replied :-(

But just for the sake of posterity... I ordered the decor and alternanthera lilacina, then used wire to attach the plants to gravel pieces and tucked them in to the decor.

It took about 10 minutes for the fish to knock them over, and about 15 more for him to eat all of the plants :-/

So far, the creeping jenny is the only thing that works... he eats it, but it grows back as fast as he can eat it so it's not tragic.

 

[poconojoe]

I know it's bandied about re 'fish grow to the size of their containment' and I've always just held my tongue but I've had many fish grow to less than their full stature over all my years of fish keeping. And I've never had negative effects. The fish look and act normal, they just don't grow to full. I'm not talking about putting a goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl, though, I'm talking 4' aquariums. I have right now 3 salt water fish; 2 clowns and a blue tang, all of which I know are half size at best, in a 90 gallon. They're just fine. So I'm not surprised your koi is small. But you also probably don't do as most koi owners do and feed until they bust! I think small size is a byproduct of that behavior as much as space. YMMV

And I've recently gotten into koi (for my pond) and I figure with my similar habits of not overfeeding, these new inhabitants won't approach the worrisome size of 30+ inches. Which is just fine with me as it allows me more fish per gallon! 3 of these were bought as 5" tosai 4 years ago and they're now about 14", which supposedly is what they grow in year 2 of their life!

I think the size of a mature koi also has something to do with it's breed.
I have a couple that are huge, while others that have stopped growing at half the size.
I know the males tend to be smaller, while the females can get quite large.