I dont know if this is in the right area but I had a question. Yesterday I was delivering mail to a house that has a Koi pond. The water was ice and as I was looking at it I was shocked to see that the people had NOT taken out the fish for the winter. There were 5 in there. I believe 3 were frozen because they seem suspended in the water and I saw 2 barely moving. What Im wondering is arent you supposed to take them out or are there heaters in the ponds like a tank? I know this may seem stupid seeing that there were 3 frozen fish but why would someone leave the fish in there like that..
Koi Ponds
- Thread starter NJmom2002
- Start date
If the pond is deep enough, you can leave the fish in the pond. You are supposed to keep a hole in the ice for gas buildup to excape, usually by a small floating "deicer". The fishmay not have been frozen, I know ours appear frozen sometimes, because in the cold their motabalism slows almost down to nothing to preserve themselves throughout the winter.
Technically a koi pond should be a minimum of 4' deep if you want to keep fish in it over the winter.
Technically a koi pond should be a minimum of 4' deep if you want to keep fish in it over the winter.
When i worked on this guys farm they had a koi pond with at least a 10 inch koi in it and it was 4 ft down and 6ft across and it only frozen on the top and the fish survied until a really big bird took a couple of baby koi. When my dad gets a new house were making a brown trout hatchery he's club has one its big.They had a 26inch 12pound albino one it was cool.
Most people keep there koi in the ponds all winter long - where else do you put 5- 15 inch fish!!? My sister uses a little bubbler to keep the water from freezing completely. And yes, they pretty much just hibernate all winter long. Stop feeding in about the beginning of Oct. Once spring time comes just start feeding them again!
I live in Michigan and they seem to handle it quite well, but keep in mind a Koi pond is NOT jus digging a hole, took us 2 years to finnish ours and it's NOT cheap. Filtration is KEY with Koi as they get HUGE and are extreemly MESSY fish. With min. depth being 4' and with koi being large and needing lots of room per Koi (200gal each min. is recomended, I generally thinlk 1500gal is the minimum for having any Koi)that's alot of water to filter, now add in all the stuff that can get in an outdoor pond vs. an indoor hooded aquarium and you need even more filtration. The plumbing, the filtration, the digging, the liner, ... I could go on and on, but just want to make sure you know it is a long process and it takes a LOT of hard work, dedication, and MONEY to start a successful Koi pond.