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Where do you buy Koi
- Thread starter JBendel
- Start date
Following along as I’m assisting my oldest son on his koi pond. And he needs to add a few.
He bought the house with a couple and unknowingly did not notice the heater wasn’t working so they ended up dead by the time I visited. So everything is inline for general cleaning and a few adapted additions. Once completed he will need koi.
Uncle Neds is such a cool store. It's like visiting your crazy hoarder uncle who gives you random crap.... But it's all floor to ceiling fish in random sized tanks...and they sell them to you rather than it being a gift...but man, for the freshwater side of the hobby they have some extremely esoteric stuff that you just never ever see in person anywhere else.
Have fun! My first visit to uncle Neds resulted in me setting up a small tank for a short lived "annual" species of dwarf rainbow fish that I'm fairly certain doesn't have a common name. It's a neat store.
So why do they jump out of the pond? By the time he found then they were frozen?
It's always been my understanding that they go into a somewhat dormant state during winter. Could be wrong though.
OP
OP
What is critical in keeping koi in the winter is the need to maintain some "open water" to allow for gas exchange.
I have used a "donut" heater that leaves a small gap open when the pond freezes over. This has worked fine for me over the last ~10 years or so, but this winter I lost quite a number of koi even though it wasn't that cold a winter.
I am still not 100% sure of root cause, but I suspect that as the fish got larger (oldest was probably 5 yrs old) they consumed more 02 and/or with the warmer periods this winter, gas exchange couldn't keep up with detritus decomposing during warm periods. This winter I plan to add two "aerators" about a foot off the bottom and they bubble and supposedly keep ice from forming. Time will tell, but my battery chainsaw will always be ready to open some ice.
If anyone has any other ideas, I am happy to listen. I have run pumps through the winter and that works fine except if the GFI trips, the pipes freeze and when running, it leaves enough open area that a mink got in one year and cleaned the pond out.
... and of course, through all of this, the three cent feeder goldfish (lottery winners in the goldfish world) are still doing fine.
I have used a "donut" heater that leaves a small gap open when the pond freezes over. This has worked fine for me over the last ~10 years or so, but this winter I lost quite a number of koi even though it wasn't that cold a winter.
I am still not 100% sure of root cause, but I suspect that as the fish got larger (oldest was probably 5 yrs old) they consumed more 02 and/or with the warmer periods this winter, gas exchange couldn't keep up with detritus decomposing during warm periods. This winter I plan to add two "aerators" about a foot off the bottom and they bubble and supposedly keep ice from forming. Time will tell, but my battery chainsaw will always be ready to open some ice.
If anyone has any other ideas, I am happy to listen. I have run pumps through the winter and that works fine except if the GFI trips, the pipes freeze and when running, it leaves enough open area that a mink got in one year and cleaned the pond out.
... and of course, through all of this, the three cent feeder goldfish (lottery winners in the goldfish world) are still doing fine.
That's what i thought as well. I'm going to help my son on this. So I'm trying to get as much info as possible. Thanks to all and for the reefer that posted this.
OP
OP
Their metabolism slows way down when the water get's cold, but, you can still see them swimming below the ice.... just not very fast.
Beside "gas exchange", #1 key item in keeping your fish alive during the winter is don't feed them when the water temperature goes below 50F. I typically stop when daytime H2O temp hits 55F.
Beside "gas exchange", #1 key item in keeping your fish alive during the winter is don't feed them when the water temperature goes below 50F. I typically stop when daytime H2O temp hits 55F.
Excellent. Good to know chief. Thank you for the feedback.
OP
OP
It's possible, but when Heron or a mink get in there ... the fish just disappear (eaten). In this case, I went down to the pond ~ mid March and could see the goldfish swimming under the ice and then noticed there were Koi frozen into the ice or just under it (pond was about 95% frozen over at the time).
Congratulations.
Any pics? Also how is their selection and prices?
