Anyone here have any ponds?

[alison]

:happyfish Hi, as well as having 2 saltwater tanks, I have a 1800 gal. koi and goldfish pond. I have 4 koi, and 3 goldfish. I recently have a bunch of babie koi or goldfish fry, as they breed. My koi, are as follows, 1 platnum ogon longfin 19 inch, 1 kohaku 28 inch, 1 orange ogon, 1 yellow ogon koi. I also have 1 shubakin goldfish 8+inch, and 3 red 8 inch goldfish for color. Now that all my fish are huge, I will be removing all but the koi and 1 shubabkin goldfish. I will let you know how the babie fry develope. I think they are koi, as they were born colored, a couple kohaku, ogon, and a bunch of orange, black and red colored ones.
Who else has a pond, and how is your success with algae, critters, and fish? - alison

 

[matti070]

yeah my parents installed a pond (all by themselves!!) with mostly goldfish and a couple of koi.

 

[alison]

:happyfish Ya, I dug the pond myself, no backhoe, just my back.

. A LOT OF DIGGING! This has slate around the edges, and is 3 feet deep. I wish I had just rented a backhoe to do the work, rather than spending a whole summer digging it shovel by shovelfull. - ali

 

[darknes]

I've got a small pond on our back porch, and I built a cheap biological filter for it, and it has stayed crystal clear all summer! I haven't had to clean it at all (this cooler summer helps as well) I have one koi, and shibunkin, three goldfish, and 2 orandas, and snails up the ying yang!

 

[nflnutswif]

Still adding rock around the edges and small waterfall on one end! I love my koi.

 

[darknes]

nflnutswif,
what's the net over the pond for?
Do you have to keep it up all the time?

 

[nflnutswif]

YUP! If we're entertaining out there I'll take it off, But Im out side Houston and we have critters that raom the night and like to feast on an easy fish dinner. So I keep it up most all the time. I don't think it's too bad looking. And it keeps the racoons out!
:yes:

 

[jake15]

Heres mine

 

[jake15]

...

 

[jake15]

one of bio filter, water pumped up and these lil guys filter my water and it flows back down through the water falls

 

[jake15]

fish

 

[jake15]

another fish

 

[vtecbro007]

damn that white koi is huge like wat? 5lb to 10lb lol gives me thoughts

 

[nflnutswif]

Jake, very nice looking! Do you do any water changes? I do every couple of months about 5% stays nice and clear. But I'm going fish shopping saturday I only have 4 koi in a 110 gal.
:jumping:

 

[nflnutswif]

Thanks Ali, For the invite! I just might take you up on that too! I'm not done with mine. I only have the bioball set up that came with the fountain in the middle, so I did the rubbermaid bucket thing too, but the pump is not strong enough to pull enough water through the carbon/media filtration so I ditched that idea for now! Need a bigger pump! I love my fishies though! Jake has alot of fish. How many do you think I should have?:happyfish :happyfish

 

[sandman12]

I was recently thinking about making a pond. To do it can i just dig out the area i want, lay down the clear plastic stuff from HD , add rocks on the sides and cover the plastic liner with pebbles?

 

[nflnutswif]

YES, Get the green or black thicker gauge plastic though. Add water, pump , and fishies!
:happyfish :happyfish

 

[yellowtail]

what is the minimum pond size for a koi and like 5 or 6 small other fish?

 

[alison]

Hi everyone, I really need to know how big your ponds are to help you. Total gal's or the specs. I have a 1800 gal. pond, and that's about 3 feet deep and 12 feet long and 8 feet wide, minus a step that's down 1 foot from the top for my plants. I have so many plants on that step that blue herons and racoons can't get on the step. I have 5 koi and 5 goldfish, and I would say I'm over max, but all my fish are very large, so hope that was of some help. Koi need 3 feet deep to get to any larger size, just so you know, and need at least 1200 gal really for any size of koi. Good luck to all, and really check out that site I told you all about, it's awesome. - ali

 

[alison]

:happyfish Oh and for making a pond remember if you have a lot of dogs or racoons or possums in your area a hard liner might be the better way to go. If not then get 15 mil + pond liner. Make sure after you dig it you put down old blankets or carpet before you put in the liner, as little rocks can poke a hole in the liner from all the pressure of the water. Then put down the liner, and remember if you put the liner in the sun for just a few hours, it makes it more pliable to work with. Then after you have in the liner, do your undergravel filtration with main drain and skimmer or do a mechanical filter and fill, and pay special attention to corners. I pleat them. Then you can get special morter that doesn't leach into the water, and cement the rocks or slate tiles like I did and do that for the edges. There are soooo many ways to do a pond, I just recommend going online and searching for the pond you wanna do. Try www. moorehaven.com they have great advice. Good luck to all on their ponds, and feel free to email me, as I've made all the mistakes so you don't have to make the same ones as me. - ali:happyfish