my Zen Water Garden and Koi Pond
 

Some pics of my other aquatic hobby.

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Do you bring your koi in or have a heater outside or do you just leave them to fend for themselves? Everyone I talk to does something different so im interested :)

+1 I was about to ask the same question.

Beautiful pond Kien! Congrats!!!!! :mrgreen:

You are right, everyone seems to do it differently, and as have I over the years. I've had a koi pond for about 6 years now, 3 at my parents place and the past 3 years at my own place. When I had these fish at my parents place we would bring them in every year and house them in the basement in very large tubs. That was alright, except for the hassle and the space requirements. Unfortunately I don't have the space to house them inside so I went with the 'keeping them outside' approach for my own pond. The first year I built a hoop house over the pond to keep the snow and wind off of it. This worked out well and the pond rarely froze over. Even when it did freeze there was just a very thin layer of ice, but once the sun came out it got pretty hot in the hoop house. (hoop house was just flexible PVC piping with clear plastic draped over it.)

The hoop house was a bit of a pain to set up and take down every year so the second and third year I skipped the hoop house and just ran more powerful pumps to keep the water flowing enough to prevent the entire pond from freezing solid. This worked out well too. The pond did freeze over more than it did when it had the hoop house though. Probably a couple of inches of ice on top, while the rest remained unfrozen with the help of the water movement. The key here is to buy a deicer which is a device that floats on top and keeps a 6 inch hole in the ice at all times to allow gas to escape.

If you keep the fish outside the important thing is not to feed them once the water temperature drops below 15 degrees and don't feed them again until it is at least 15 degrees for a few days straight. Typically they won't eat in these temperatures anyway as their metabolism drops to nothing and they go into a state of hibernation.

For safety reasons (I have young kids), my pond is only 2 feet deep at its deepest so it surely would freeze solid if it were not for the waterflow. I have a couple of levels, a 1 foot deep shelf and and then another foot to the bottom. If my son falls in (which he has, LOL), he can stand up just fine. Anyway, I keep the pumps (kinda like pond powerheads), at the 1 foot ledge and try not to disturb the bottom of the pond where the fish hibernate. My parents still have the pond that I built there but their fish come to hibernate in my pond over the winter, and they just drain their pond. When my kids are older I will probably dig it out and dig it out another foot or two.

I will admit, it is kind of scary thinking of the fish outside when it is minus 30 below but they're fine. I have not lost any of my larger fish this way. I have lost a few smaller comets but none of my koi.

Very nice pond Kien, now I know who to talk to for pointers when my wife decides that I have to build her pond.

Cool pic.'s and interesting to know about outdoor care for them.

WOW. So you're good at ponds, too!
Thanks for sharing the pics and the over-wintering. Hard to imagine that the fish actually survive in our Alberta Winter!!
As I was reading, I was thinking to myself:" wonder how deep his pond would have to be for it not to freeze over?" Then I read further and was amazed that it is only two feet deep! But you do have to over-winter the lilies and pond plant indoors, right?
Great statues, too!
Lenny.

very impressive! do you have critters such as raccoons to deal with?

Ya, it amazes me too. Like I said earlier, it is a little unnerving at times to imagine them out there when you're nice and toasty inside. As with anything in these hobbies, there are pros and cons to either approach. There are plenty of people who bring their fish inside and feed them year round. There are also lots of people who do as I do and keep them outside year round.

Water lillies are perennials and go dormant in the winter as well. In the fall you cut off their stems once they have died off and keep the root ball/rhizome damp. I used to bring the root ball/rhizome indoors and store it in the garage through the winter as I thought the pond was way too cold for it, but last year I experimented with one of them and overwintered it in the pond with the fish and it came back in the spring just as strong. Now everyone will be overwintering outside.

I don't have any critters attacking my pond (or at least I haven't seen any yet). I do have a a friend who has a pond that has had cranes clear out their pond :cry:

Really nice man. The deck overhang is key it'd be sweet to have dinners and chill with the koi. I always fantasized about doing a pond in my last place but it was a liability due to the dayhome. Now my pond would have to be a foot across lol.

Very nice indeed!

Nice pond, love the buddha's aswell!

I hope to have a pond in the future with kois, it's so peaceful to sit and watch when the weather is warm...a few people in the LM have koi ponds aswell however they have to put nets over them as the raccoons and herons have raided the fish several times....

Very nice pond set up. I have often thought that I would love to have some type of pond but always thought that there was too much work involved to getting it set up and then caring for it...but I guess, as in any hobby, there is always work involved to get the end enjoyment!!!
Thank you for sharing your experiences to help any of us who might decide to get into a similar such pond set-up. It is good to know that there are alternatives to explore, even in our Alberta winters!!!

Oh........ So this is why you havnt been around much lately:razz: ....... It looks really good brochacho

Yes, which is why I told Kevin to get into pond fish and stuff so that I don't have to spend so much time at picses :-P

I hope you don't have the fish-stealing critters out there that we have here. I've lost dozens of fish to herons and Kingfishers. I've even had an osprey dive bomb the pond before. Not to mention the racoons playing havoc with the fountain and flagstones. Little bastards flip the heavy flagstones into the pond and have punctured the liner on more than one occasion. I used to keep koi but the losses were killing me so I just go with goldfish now. Can't put a cover over the pond to keep the bird's out as the coons wreck it. I planted lots of lily pads which give the fish cover from the predators in the summer months, but as soon as the lilies die back in the fall, the herons are back. Anyone want to lend me their shotgun?

So far so good.. I did chase a crane from the yard the other morning tho. Did a head count and everyone was accounted for so I think the fish hid well. I have lots of lilies too. Thankfully because of our short summers those large birds are few. I don't see too many of them around here.

I know that coons must be around but I honestly have never spotted one in all the years that I've lived here. I wonder if the coyotes keep them in check. The depth of my pond might be helping too. I know others with shallower ponds that lose fish all the time.

Koi are quite hardy and I find them very easy to keep and care for. They also have great personalities. All the fish will come up and feed from my hand.

Get a Buddha Lance =)

I do rub the buddha belly everyday so maybe that does help?

Very nice. Kool winter advice also. Something I may try once out in Kamloops. Think itds to cold here in Manitoba.

Doug, there was a time when I thought the same thing about Calgary. We had a couple of weeks last winter where the temp was down below 40 for quite some time over night and never got above minus 30 during the day!

Here are some older pics of the koi pond from a couple of years back, pretty much when the pond first came online. I like these photos because the weeds haven't taken over yet LOL.

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And here is the hoop-house that I built for it the first year. Although I did manage the overwinter the pond successfully without the hoop house last year I do plan on re-using it this year and into the future. It is a bit more work to set up and take down every year but has quite a few advantages. One of the most important being the ability to feed the fish for longer. It effectively lengthens their feed/growing season (spring-fall) and shortens their dormant season (winter).

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As I mentioned before, with the hoop house the ice rarely froze at all, it gets quite warm under there when the sun comes out and that's one great thing about Calgary. Even if it is minus 30 degrees outside the sun could be out in full force. If you google it you'll see lots of people using these hoop houses for their ponds and/or gardens.

I do have a Buddha. The coons even knocked it over once and it weighs the better part of 25 lbs.
I hate those "Little Bastards"!

I like the weeds. Makes it look more fishy. :D Nice winter shelter. Good idea.

Nice yard... even stepped! Did you do all the work back there with the deck, patio etc too?

Thanks, and yes I did. Along with landscaping the third tier. There's a lot of yard :-(. Will have you guys over before the summer is out and I've cleaned up the somewhat neglected yard a bit..

Sweet Kien. I love the overhanging deck. I'll be putting in a 17' x 33' pond in my yard mid to late August. I have 38 tons of rock coming. This rain we've had for the last 2 weeks has not helped with my landscaping. The mosquitos are also causing me to almost quit. You might not want to go deeper. I contemplated going more than 24" deep and didn't see it necessary. If you go more than 24" deep, then you have to get a permit to comply with Alberta swimming pool regulations. And as with more water volume, means more filtration needed. If your 24" is fine, I'd say leave it. It looks awesome with all those fish. Too bad the herons ate 10 of my fish :(. That's one main reason I'll have the bridge accross my new pond, for the fish to hide. Thanks for sharing. Love it.

Holy crap that's a big pond Dez! LOL. Ya, I read up on all the regulations before I put the pond in which is why the pond is only 2 feet. I could probably live with the fence around it if I went deeper but I suspect in the end such an upgrade will likely suffer in the hands of laziness. Besides there are quite a few other things I need to do. I need to redesign the area around the pond. Would like to redo the retaining wall in something nicer. I also need to redo the waterfall. It was kind of a hack job and semi proof-of-concept that never seemed to leave the "concept" phase.. :lol:

Anyway, 24" does work out well for me but like with any aquatic hobby, the more volume the better (for the fish), not for the wallet or sanity though.. :-) Again, It's always on my mind but I doubt it'll happen.

Bridges are nice. The pond I built at my parents place is a figure 8 with a walking bridge over it. We do like to sit on the deck and sometimes put our feet over into the pond and let the fish nibble on our toes. :biggrin:

How big is your pond? I think I'm going to cheat a bit and make my pond 27". I do have a 6' fence all the way around anyway, except for my gate which goes down to about 5' due to slope. Good tips on wintering. I'll be wintering for the first time this coming winter and moving my fish from the front pond to the back.

10' x 11'. There is a 1' ledge on the sides for plants, then it drops down to 2'. When I called the city of Calgary they said that you can not count your yard fence. Then fence around the pool/pond/puddle has to be within a few feet of the water but I can't exactly recall how close it has to be. Incidentally, my pond has a fence/wall on two sides that are about 4 feet from the water. I would just have to fence in two more sides which wouldn't be too bad, but I doubt I'll do it (dig deeper). Also, one time I called city hall and they said I would also have to put a sign up. I don't recall reading that anywhere though. City bylaws my be different between Calgary and Edmonton though.

To be honest, over wintering without the hoop-house was rather stressful. I'd be out there checking on the pond almost daily, not that there'd be anything I could do if I found a complete block of ice 2 feet deep :neutral:

My next door neighbour has a pond too that is only a foot (or maybe 18" deep) and they overwinter their fish outside too. Their pond is tiny, like 5' by 4' and they just blast it with flow to keep the water moving so that it doesn't freeze. I'm not so sure how the fish like that though..

You guys really are killing me. I want my old yard back!

Kien, even my wife said "wow..."

Ya I get that a lot. BOW CHIKA BOW WOW :lol:

Good lookin pond. I have a 15' X 9' with a 4 step waterfall/stream. I comtimplated putting up a hut over it last fall but I went with the de-icer and one of my pumps pushing the warm water across the pond. I shut the main waterfalls off and just went with this system. The only problem with this is that it's murder on your power bill. I've read that running a de-icer is like leaving a hair blower on 24/7. What do you do though, all my fish survived. I went deeper with mine, about 38" in the middle, just make sure you have a 6' locking gate around the enclosure. I'll have to throw a few pics of mine in here. It's been running for about 3 years, looks good with all the plants grown in and the flowers blooming.

Blooms!

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Fish!

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Love the pink lily. I'll have to get me one of those after my pond is built.

Ive always thought koi were purdy ( I have a koifish tat on my leg)......do you have any crazy expensive ones ??

Love the shots man! Is that one plant anubias?