koi pond

[Fishyperson]

Hello all you keepers and greetings from not so sunny France, for my sins I live in the south west of France and have been doing for the last 8 years...I recently established a small Koy carp pond fed by pumped fresh rain water fed through an organic filter..it seems to be working a treat! Initially I lost a few carp ...probably due to introducing too quickly to a new environment, however I still have 7 left. My question is how should I deal with the pond over the winter period? The pond is 1 m square and 24inches deep...and it can get pretty cold down here!

I would welcome any feedback please.

Ta Muchly! Richard.

[latergatorj]

I've no personal experience with overwintering ponds, however, it seems to me that you could put in a heat pump. (if they are able to heat pools... they should be able to heat a small pond :-P)

[Whizzy]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your pond is much too small to keep koi. Koi get really large, about three feet in length, and you'd need a minimum of 500 gallons for one, with at least three meters square. Keeping seven in your little pond is about the same as you living with six other people in a large closet.

If you replaced the koi with regular gold fish, which max out at about one foot, you might be able to sustain two or three, if you are very careful about your water quality.

To winter your pond, you need an insulated cover for nights, and a heater. But it's better to bring the fish inside and place them in a large aquarium. Some people will place a childs swimming pool in their basement and winter the fish in that. But it's a lot of work. These fish are very dirty, produce a lot of waste, and you have to do 50% water changes every week if you want them to survive over the winter.

[cichlidfreak]

I mostly agree with what wizzy has said esspecially with putting them in a large aquarium over the winter. I have never owned koi myself I like the meat eaters lol! But this all depends too on where you live and what the winters are like there. A heater might do the job as long as you have a cover and airation, but the pool in the basement will only really work if it is filtered I think, Is the pond filtered? As for the size of your pond yes it is a bit small but you can always shop around for maybe a dwarf breed of koi or some very cool looking gold fish like wizzy said.
On loosing your fish... You Never want to introduse more than 3 fish into an established enviroment even less to a less establish one. The helpfull bacteria that eats the poops and keeps nitrites down need time to build up. well keep us posted!!!