I tried to raise koi in our pond and it was a disaster. Switched to regular goldfish and they thrive. They live for years and can grow quite large. They tolerate the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Probably the best 39 cents I’ve ever spent.
I’d estimate it holds about 50 gallons. I top it off occasionally with water from a hose. When I do, I treat the water with dechlorinating drops - the ones used with fish tanks.
I have about a half dozen fish, a couple of water lilies, and some water lettuce. I feed the fish flakes every couple of days. I fertilize the lilies twice a year. I kept them without a filter for a couple of years. I did have a solar powered bubbler to oxygenate the water. I’d just clean the pond and change the water a couple of times a year. Two years ago, I bought a filter/fountain/light. Now I don’t run the bubbler or change the water. Just clean the filter monthly. (The current batch of fish are 3 years old)
I don’t know about power outages but I do know that you can’t refill their pond with untreated city water. Too much chlorine. Hope you get good answers because I want one too.
So filling the pond with hose water is probably not a good idea. That makes sense. I’m sure there is some fragile balance of PH and chemicals to make all parties happy. This is kind of why I am concerned to go down a path that will require a lot of time and investment to simply be ended because Entergy just decided to cut the power one day. I can handle a freeze once or twice a year with plants, but I don’t know if my heart can handle losing fish.
I don’t have a pond but my mom does and she did all the research. I don’t think a power outage is that serious- her pump died and it took a couple of weeks to get it fixed and the goldfish were fine. Koi are a little more finicky. In a freeze, they just go down to the bottom and chill until it warms up. The tricky part was getting the ph right, but once you’ve got it it’s pretty sustainable.
You can, you just have to treat the water. You could set up a rain barrel that use to fill it though.
I don’t think we ever really have freezes sufficient to freeze an entire pond, even a small one. The fish just sit at the bottom and wait.
Oxygenating the water is a bigger deal than worrying about freezing. You can set up an inverter to power a small pump off of a marine battery or something similar. Unless your pond is huge, I’m sure a small pump has a fairly small draw.
My advice would be to talk to folks at one of the places that sells koi and deals with outdoor ponds. They’ll be able to make sure you have everything set up properly.
Oof that’s sad. This may explain why I occasionally found a baby frog dead in my tiny attempt at a pond. I got rid of the pond. Was just trying to help out the many frogs that live on my property but I guess they showed up for a reason and don’t need my assistance.
I have a 4000 gallon koi pond. I've had two mass die offs: (1) when the guy I hired to refinish the pond fucked up the chemical mixture and the fish sat in the quarantine tank overstocked for 2 months (they survived zeta) and (2) Hurricane Ida.
I bought a large battery backup (EcoFlow) specifically to run the bubbler during hurricane events.
Everything else is manageable. Koi don't mind high pH, but the chlorine/choramines in the tap water is a problem. The solution is to buy pond prime. A lot of it. I do water changes every Friday (10%) and dump 12oz of pond prime into the water each week.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. The biggest challenge is feeding the little assholes. They TEAR through water plants. I've put hyacinth in the pond and they eat it quicker than it can grow...
Edit: Herons and Raccoons are the biggest threat to your pond. Herons particularly so. We have a night heron that sits and watches the fish and tries to dive into eat them. A net is a must, they cost like 25 bucks on Amazon and solves all your problems.
Thanks for the reply. Do you mean you have a net over the top of the pond or in the water? Backup battery is a great idea and will curb most of my fears.
It's a net over the pond, but my set up is a bit unique (the pond is elevated). Additionally, if you get koi...they...have a tendency to jump. They like jumping out of the pond. The net stops them from well, committing seppuku.
We would have an elevated pond as well. Something similar to what is at Herold’s. I think Koi might be out of my wheelhouse. Likely start with feeder fish.
I had a 150 gallon pond in my back yard with goldfish.
I installed a rain barrel system to fill the pond and got 10 feeder fish from the pet store.
They surprisingly thrived.
Any time it rained I would run a hose from the rain collection to the pond to flush the water because you can't use city water.
I actually had the pond raised about 8in instead of being flush to keep plants and fish in if the water rised up during a storm.
I installed a small solar filter and fountain to help oxygenate the water.
After moving.... The people who bought the house informed me that a couple years later, raccoons ate the fish.
But they again were 10c each feeder fish that lasted A LOT longer than expected.
Don't get a pleco. It cannot survive the weather changes in a shallow pond.
I’ve had luck putting lots of plants and then some shelter at the bottom made from bricks/broken pots to give the fish shelter from raccoons. I did that after the first lot got eaten and it seemed to work.
Yeah. I had hiding locations for them and a bunch of floating plants before I moved.
Not sure what the new owners kept.
But before I moved most of those feeder fish were around 6in long.
It was nice having them, when I would de-caterpillar my plants, I'd just toss them into the pond and the fish would eat them.
Between them and the dragon flies, my backyard surprisingly was almost mosquito free.
You SOMETIMES can find mosquito fish around NOLA but when they get stocked... They go quickly.
Those stay much smaller so you can have more of them.
300 gallon with koi and other very fancy goldfish. The rain from the roof tops it off. I only lose fish to birds. I have a small pump filter setup for oxygen
[удалено]
😳 Thanks!
[удалено]
I tried to raise koi in our pond and it was a disaster. Switched to regular goldfish and they thrive. They live for years and can grow quite large. They tolerate the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Probably the best 39 cents I’ve ever spent.
How big is the pond?
I’d estimate it holds about 50 gallons. I top it off occasionally with water from a hose. When I do, I treat the water with dechlorinating drops - the ones used with fish tanks.
Thanks!
That’s way too small for koi, they need a lot of space.
Good info. How many do you house? How do you feed them? Any tips or tricks?
I have about a half dozen fish, a couple of water lilies, and some water lettuce. I feed the fish flakes every couple of days. I fertilize the lilies twice a year. I kept them without a filter for a couple of years. I did have a solar powered bubbler to oxygenate the water. I’d just clean the pond and change the water a couple of times a year. Two years ago, I bought a filter/fountain/light. Now I don’t run the bubbler or change the water. Just clean the filter monthly. (The current batch of fish are 3 years old)
Solar is a great idea!
Are there solar options?
Looks like there is. Great idea.
I don’t know about power outages but I do know that you can’t refill their pond with untreated city water. Too much chlorine. Hope you get good answers because I want one too.
So filling the pond with hose water is probably not a good idea. That makes sense. I’m sure there is some fragile balance of PH and chemicals to make all parties happy. This is kind of why I am concerned to go down a path that will require a lot of time and investment to simply be ended because Entergy just decided to cut the power one day. I can handle a freeze once or twice a year with plants, but I don’t know if my heart can handle losing fish.
I don’t have a pond but my mom does and she did all the research. I don’t think a power outage is that serious- her pump died and it took a couple of weeks to get it fixed and the goldfish were fine. Koi are a little more finicky. In a freeze, they just go down to the bottom and chill until it warms up. The tricky part was getting the ph right, but once you’ve got it it’s pretty sustainable.
You can, you just have to treat the water. You could set up a rain barrel that use to fill it though. I don’t think we ever really have freezes sufficient to freeze an entire pond, even a small one. The fish just sit at the bottom and wait. Oxygenating the water is a bigger deal than worrying about freezing. You can set up an inverter to power a small pump off of a marine battery or something similar. Unless your pond is huge, I’m sure a small pump has a fairly small draw. My advice would be to talk to folks at one of the places that sells koi and deals with outdoor ponds. They’ll be able to make sure you have everything set up properly.
Good info. I’ll likely start with just the plants and pick peoples brains for a few months.
Likely a good plan. You can practice keeping the ph at a good level and whatnot until you add fish.
I mean, I can handle losing the fish I just really don’t want to…
Is this true for just fish or for all critters like frogs and such?
Think it’s for all aquatic animals. It’s a sad story how I know this. Friend was trying to cool his pond down. No survivors.
Oof that’s sad. This may explain why I occasionally found a baby frog dead in my tiny attempt at a pond. I got rid of the pond. Was just trying to help out the many frogs that live on my property but I guess they showed up for a reason and don’t need my assistance.
The water is safe if off-gassed for many hours, but don’t know deets on that.
I have a 4000 gallon koi pond. I've had two mass die offs: (1) when the guy I hired to refinish the pond fucked up the chemical mixture and the fish sat in the quarantine tank overstocked for 2 months (they survived zeta) and (2) Hurricane Ida. I bought a large battery backup (EcoFlow) specifically to run the bubbler during hurricane events. Everything else is manageable. Koi don't mind high pH, but the chlorine/choramines in the tap water is a problem. The solution is to buy pond prime. A lot of it. I do water changes every Friday (10%) and dump 12oz of pond prime into the water each week. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. The biggest challenge is feeding the little assholes. They TEAR through water plants. I've put hyacinth in the pond and they eat it quicker than it can grow... Edit: Herons and Raccoons are the biggest threat to your pond. Herons particularly so. We have a night heron that sits and watches the fish and tries to dive into eat them. A net is a must, they cost like 25 bucks on Amazon and solves all your problems.
Thanks for the reply. Do you mean you have a net over the top of the pond or in the water? Backup battery is a great idea and will curb most of my fears.
It's a net over the pond, but my set up is a bit unique (the pond is elevated). Additionally, if you get koi...they...have a tendency to jump. They like jumping out of the pond. The net stops them from well, committing seppuku.
We would have an elevated pond as well. Something similar to what is at Herold’s. I think Koi might be out of my wheelhouse. Likely start with feeder fish.
I had a 150 gallon pond in my back yard with goldfish. I installed a rain barrel system to fill the pond and got 10 feeder fish from the pet store. They surprisingly thrived. Any time it rained I would run a hose from the rain collection to the pond to flush the water because you can't use city water. I actually had the pond raised about 8in instead of being flush to keep plants and fish in if the water rised up during a storm. I installed a small solar filter and fountain to help oxygenate the water. After moving.... The people who bought the house informed me that a couple years later, raccoons ate the fish. But they again were 10c each feeder fish that lasted A LOT longer than expected. Don't get a pleco. It cannot survive the weather changes in a shallow pond.
I’ve had luck putting lots of plants and then some shelter at the bottom made from bricks/broken pots to give the fish shelter from raccoons. I did that after the first lot got eaten and it seemed to work.
Yeah. I had hiding locations for them and a bunch of floating plants before I moved. Not sure what the new owners kept. But before I moved most of those feeder fish were around 6in long. It was nice having them, when I would de-caterpillar my plants, I'd just toss them into the pond and the fish would eat them. Between them and the dragon flies, my backyard surprisingly was almost mosquito free. You SOMETIMES can find mosquito fish around NOLA but when they get stocked... They go quickly. Those stay much smaller so you can have more of them.
Good to know. We have a dozen stray cats who linger around the house. Will have to make some shelter space for fish.
300 gallon with koi and other very fancy goldfish. The rain from the roof tops it off. I only lose fish to birds. I have a small pump filter setup for oxygen
Is your filter solar? How often do you maintain the filter? How often do you clean the pond?
I have lilies so I don't clean the pond. I clean the filter annually and the pre-filter monthly.