The pond dig has begun!

[j.w]

Whatever they are then doesn't matter unless of course they turn out to be real koi then they go in w/ the big guys. I wonder if the goi get big like the koi or are kinda in-between size of both of them?

 

[CountryEscape]

Supposedly the goi (hybrids) don't get as large as koi, are sterile (although read where some are not ...) and they think someone should be breeding for them, to control population, to get most of the characteristics of koi, but not the total length. Now I'm wondering about my baby goldies from last year, and if any of them are hybrids. I see that bump in the pic of the goldfish I posted, so .... hmm ....

 

[sissy]

no I have koi shubby and the fantails and goldfish and fancy and butterfly .But the koi seem to be blackish brown last year ,like bert and really not sure if they were mixed or not but all my goldfish born were gold and I gave them all away and now some of them are white or white and gold or white black and gold .So all are mutts but cute mutts .I think the one that got stuck in the filter was a fantail by his shape

or a mixture but he was a plump little devil compared to my others

 

[j.w]

Guess if you have both the koi and the goldfish together you take your chances on what you end up with and if you don't care then no problems. Their all nice looking to me Koi, Goi, Shubbies, Shugoi's, Shukoi's,Shugoikois, or guess even more choices if the gois can breed w/ any of the others and themselves too. Sheesh

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I think from now on I'm going to take pics from the side of goldfish when I move them, just to see if I can tell the difference in body style. What do I know, maybe ALL the babies from last year are mutts. They are pretty mutts, though. I just want to try to keep the koi pure, though, from now on if at all possible. I think I would need to remove all the lily pots and then be sure to net out all the goldies, and I don't want to do that, but thinking that when the water gets colder and all the plants die back, I'll have a better chance to get them netted. We'll see ....

 

[j.w]

Yep when the plants go night night...............let the games begin, catching those little buggers. Remember the net trick addy told about? But don't wait too long or the water will be cold and fish won't be eating.

 

[CountryEscape]

I don't remember any net trick from Addy! Pray tell??? I will need all the help I can get. My "big" net is still not that large. I wish I could find one that was about 3' across to put under the water surface, and scoop straight up. My net is only about 2' x 18"W and is VERY difficult to scoop quickly upward. Too much net material drags. I was really lucky to get the 4 I got, but they were all babies from this year, and had not gone through the "big catch" on Memorial Day weekend, so didn't have a clue. The 3 larger goldfish that are still in there are VERY net smart. Will need some new trick to get them caught, and sure don't want to drain my pond down to accomplish it!

 

[sissy]

Butterfly net from the dollar store works for smaller fish .I bought a net at one of those big box sporting good stores .It was 10 dollars and they had lots of sizes .Shallow and deep nets ,they said on the net what kind of fish and fishing areas they were for .I was lost with that part .

 

[addy1]

CE you want a net that does not drag too much, ie bigger holes, but small enough to get the fish you want. Set it in the water, let it sit, (make sure your fish are hungry) toss food in right over the net and scoop fast. But once again you need a net that will move fast through the water, my swimming pool cleaning net drags, but the two I have with bigger holes move fast.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, Addy, that's what I need, but when I looked for that, in the big sporting goods stores, too, all I found was what I had, and it seemed to have bigger holes, but the netting between the holes is too dense, drags when I try to "scoop", and the fish have gotten wiser to me. That's why I was able to catch the new babies, snuck up on them, slowly came up to close under them, then scooped fast. But, from anything more than 12" deep, no way can I scoop fast enough for them.
I'm thinking about maybe using the seine net, having someone hold one side, then drag it over, pull the bottom up and try to scoop them with that. Will probably be lots of fish I don't want, but might be able to get the ones I WANT.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I found you CE!! Peaked at some of your thread, interesting, turtles have babies in your pond, must be nice to see!! Do you have some nice pictures of them swimming in your pond? What kind are they, do they get very big?

Your pond appears to be quite big too, looks very nice!!

 

[callingcolleen1]

OK, I see that they are painted turtles, cool! Nice thread you got going!

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, Colleen, glad you found me. LOL They are painted turtles. Last year I had one small one, Aris, and this year a medium size one and another small one. I'm pretty sure Aris was here earlier, but either he left, or something got him, so no more naming turtles.
The babies last fall were snapping turtles. I first said alligator snappers, but I thought all snappers were alligator ones, so not sure, but they WERE snapping turtle babies. Found 2 of them in my skimmer. You would think they would be hatched in the spring, not the fall, but I've not seen any yet this year, so we shall see if any more babies arrive this fall.
My koi pond (which this thread is dedicated to) is I think 19' long by 9' wide by 3.5-4' deep. I also have a bog on the side that is about 3' x 10' or so. I have another pond, too, it's listed as something like Country Escape's Second Pond - Goldfish Only ... or something like that. LOL That's the second pond I built this spring. I don't intend to build any more, though. At this point, just pretty the areas around the ponds, and add things as I go.
Thanks for your nice comments.

 

[callingcolleen1]

That's what I said too before I started digging a hole in the front yard last year.....

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh my, Colleen, don't get me started about front yard! My problem is that I spend all my time in the back yard, hardly ever notice what I've planted on the front side of the house. So, going to move some plants around, make it more appealing and then see if I don't go there to notice more often. That reminds me, need to get some tulips ordered for planting this fall ....