Well, our beautiful koi departed for their new home this morning. The man who owns the fish farm is calm and gentle, catching and handling them so skillfully. One of them leaped from the water and hit a rock and he gently examined the small scrape, saying what he'd do to treat it. She is my most skittish koi, but honestly I've never seen her leap like that !!
I really didn't have time to take pictures, as I was in the pond following his directions and once they were guided into a large net, he used the koi sock to lift them from the pond and it was black. He also took about 70 fry !
I've been tense and emotional leading up to this day, but honestly felt relief as they pulled away. I now realize they need a bigger pond, he estimated them to be about 28 inches. I'm thankful nothing happened to them on "my watch" of 18 years and look forward to visiting them in their new home once settled.
We went ahead and drained the pond taking advantage of the opportunity to scoop out all the debris. ....and was surprised to find the bottom of the liner lifted due to all the heavy rain we've been having.