my Zen Water Garden and Koi Pond

[kien]

Originally Posted by MMAX

What size ranges are your koi?

My smallest are probably 4". My biggest two are about 20". Then everything in between.

[Dez]

Can I be your friend Kien? Seriously though, you have some nice specimens. Do you quarantine your fish before introduction into the pond? I haven't added any fish cause I am so scared of disease. Same reason I don't add corals into my tank anymore.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Dez

Can I be your friend Kien? Seriously though, you have some nice specimens. Do you quarantine your fish before introduction into the pond? I haven't added any fish cause I am so scared of disease. Same reason I don't add corals into my tank anymore.

No I don't QT. I find treating pond fish fairly easy though, as there is no worry about nuking the rest of the pond like in a saltwater tank. There's just fish and plants :-). Plus, doing a 100% water change on a pond is a lot easier too.

[Dez]

Ahhh, I see. Treating 4000 gals is quite different though. 1. It can get expensive to treat. 2. Some of the medication kills all your biological filtration (in my case it's about 10 giant bags of media that fills 4 large Rubbermaid totes). 3. If my prized fish gets sick I don't have anywhere to move it to for treatment without cramping my style (I have to fill an inflatable kiddie pool that is 8' in diameter and would take up my deck/lounging area). Plus water changes daily on that would be too fun. And if I manage to get the fish healthy again, I'd have to put it back in the "disease infested" water again.

[kien]

Okay ya that would be a royal pain in 4000g!! I only have 1000g. Plus I have a 150g to hold my koi whenever I need to totally drain my pond which actually doesn't take that long at all.

The other thing is, I only buy my koi from one place and they don't generally bring in koi often. They have a lot of 200g holding tanks where they've housed koi all winter long. I tend to stalk them and when they go on sale in the spring that's when I snatch them up! I know that they've been in that holding tank for months. Not too many people buy foot long koi in winter or even early spring :-)

[Seriak]

Just bought some 3" Koi from Tanks a lot for 4.49 each. Not high grade or anything but good enough for my pond.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Seriak

Just bought some 3" Koi from Tanks a lot for 4.49 each. Not high grade or anything but good enough for my pond.

I got some of those a couple of weekends ago too! Great deal on nice Israeli bio-secure koi for sure! I don't collect any "high end" koi myself. I just look for ones I think are pretty from the local fish stores.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Seriak

Just bought some 3" Koi from Tanks a lot for 4.49 each. Not high grade or anything but good enough for my pond.

What is this store you talk of??

Worth a visit over Pisces?

[kien]

Originally Posted by Ross

What is this store you talk of??

Worth a visit over Pisces?

It's a new fish store that's tucked in the basement of Paws Pet Food on the corner of elbow drive and heritage. They have fresh water tropical fish, a reptile room and some koi tanks and tubs. And lots of dry goods.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by kien

It's a new fish store that's tucked in the basement of Paws Pet Food on the corner of elbow drive and heritage. They have fresh water tropical fish, a reptile room and some koi tanks and tubs. And lots of dry goods.

I was super impressed at how clean all of his tanks are. Ive never even seen algae, or spots on the glass any time ive been there. I wish he got into saltwater lol