New Temporary Home

[koimom]

) Well, 3 of our Koi will finally receive a new temporary home this weekend! I'm embarrassed that it has taken us this long, but our family has been hit with a lot of illness which has delayed us. My big Ogon baby, Cho-Cho and his/her two Sanke friends, Keitaro and Tanaka, will be entering an OUTSIDE 100 gallon emergency tank ALL THEIR OWN, as of this weekend. The tank was filled last night, I squeezed a sponge from our filter to provide the bacteria to the filter unit, added the chemicals, pond salt, etc. and let it sit over night, to retest again today. We are hoping to get the new koi pond off the ground soon. At this point we have changed our mind about the placement of the pond. Instead of adapting it to one side due to the kid's playground, we are going to shorten their playground, move it to one side, and put the koi pond in the major portion of the yard, where it can be better seen and enjoyed. Before anyone is upset, our kids are now 10 and 8 1/2 respectively and use the tower slide portion more than they do the swings at this point. Also, my daughter can almost make the swing go over the swingset! YIKES! So, I guess it's about time. Later I'm hoping a smallish teahouse with garden could go in that portion. I'll keep you updated. My husband already has shadecloth draped and secured over pvc to shade them properly (it was recently 101 degrees here, during Spring, for goodness' sake) and we also have a plastic lattice over the top of the tank to prevent the koi jumping and hopefully heron banqueting. I'm too attached to these darlings now and don't want to lose any of them!!! We're hoping the final pond will be at least 5,000 gallons and 4 feet deep. At this time I'm thinking it may be wisest to have no more than 9 koi tops so everyone can stay healthy and happy. I would just like to get one more to replace the Benigoi, Ran, we lost earlier. Can't wait to see Cho-Cho's reaction to the new digs!!!

 

[ryan]

Sounds like a good plan, best of luck. How big are the current Koi. You may also want to add some other fish? I think more than 9 Koi is easily possible providing you have good filtration.

 

[koimom]

The Ogon has to be a foot long by now, and the two Sankes are close behind. The rest of the koi are smaller, with the littlest, Sachi, being 4 inches maxium. Sachi is Gin Rin white with a sort of Tancho spot that looks a little like it's dripping off the side of her? head with Kuchibeni around the lips--so, will she grow up to be a Tancho or Kohaku or something else? We'll just have to watch. She's very shy and sweet. Fu-yu (winter in Japanese) appears to be a white Doitsu; Mieko is a gold Gin Rin sanke, Nariko a white Gin Rin Sanke, Mayonaka (midnight in Japanese) is all black, forget the name? for this type. I think the one we lost, Ran, was a Benigoi--a beautiful deep red orange with white trim on the fins, very tame and very pretty. Fu-yu seems to be the next tamest to Cho-Cho, although Mayonaka has started to come around. Having the 85 gallon tank to themselves (with the 2 plecos, Yubaba and Zenebia and 1 syno, Haku--can you tell we loved "Spirited Away"?) it will be interesting to see how fast they tame. Also my husband wants to see how fast the tank will clear! with the BIG FISH out of it...

 

[jams.alaskan]

Koi have always been one of my favorite! Best of luck on your new pond - sounds great

ALASKA

 

[koimom]

OH NO!!! Outside tank leaking! Had to drain and repair, need to wait for aquarium sealent to cure! The best laid plans o' mice and men, as dear Robbie would say. Thankfully we hadn't moved the fish yet; this potential was why we waited 24 hours. Will wait for try number 2 and hope it works. Thanks for all the good wishes!

 

[ryan]

Sorry to hear about the leak.

It sounds like you have a nice collcetion there. The Koi you are unsure of sounds like a Kohaku the Tanchos have one marking against a background colour around the top of the head.

Here is a picture of a few of my Koi, thought you might like to have a look.

 

[Opcn]

You will need to sed the bacteria after the water sits and/or is dechlorinated oterwise it won't do any good as for the tea house That would be infinitly coolespecialy if it were sunken into the ground and had an infinity edge on the pond

And Alaska don't worry you can get a koi pond up there all you need to do is dig below the frost line thats only what 22 feet oh well at least you get to keep greyling

 

[koimom]

Well, I don't think I can do an infinity edge; it has to be a raised pond, unfortunately. My dog is elderly and my son is special needs, so I would prefer to have the little extra barrier for safety's sake. I have been looking at the teahouses by Tony's T House (they're on the web, if you'd like to look them up). Probably we'll end up with a semi-formal style. It is a beautiful mind painting, though. We live near a local koi pond at a university and love to feed the fish there, but the garden is a huge strolling garden, complete with teahouse, Zen garden, etc. Don't think we can fit it in our back yard!
The challenge is to find what would look right and feel right with the house, the yard, and yet be great for the koi as well.

 

[Opcn]

Well I may be able to kill two birds with one stone if you have the $$ for it. In your tea house you can build a low able and then add 1X12s to the side makeing a 10" tall box then fill with about 2" of white sand and a few stones rake to perfection and add a glass top Oriental tea houses usualy have high tables anyways. And as for an infinity edge above ground works even beter for an infinity edge but dont let me encroach on your vision (I can be very push ) Will the above ground pond be deep enought for the koi to overwinter? Good luck

 

[koimom]

Nice thought but the tea house will be located in a separate area too far away from the pond; also, we won't get it until the children have completely outgrown the playset!
The infinity edge sounds nice, but we'd rather have the raised sides that we can sit on to hand feed the koi. (At 44 it's a little harder getting up and down than it used to be at 25!)
Sachi, the would be Tancho is ALL Gin-Rin white except for the red splotch and lipstick on the head area. Kind of looks like a little kid that went a little too wild with Mom's red lipstick! which is why it's hard to picture her? as a Kohaku--thought the red had to be at least 2 step pattern to qualify.
My dear husband as added the water again tonight to both the tank and the filter (which had also been leaking and fixed). I'll wait until tomorrow to dechlorinate, seed with bacteria, salt, ph, etc. Hope it holds. It's been a whopping 102 degrees here in Southern CA, I don't think winterizing will be a problem...
Once I can transfer the first three into the new tank, I'll try to post some pics of them. Cho-Cho, the Ogon, still remains my favorite personality wise...

 

[Opcn]

What are you going to do to oxygenate the water and to keep the temp down? as for haveing a raised pond and a special needs child if the pond isn't high enought to prevent your child from ever being able to get in to the pond (probably 4 ft high) you will need to ramp the earth up to the edge of the pond providing an escape. You could even dig the earth out from the middle providing a deeper pond which means cooler fish (health) but less visable fish.

And as far as the infinity edge goes, How dare you ruin my vision for your pond simply to provide yourself access to that which will cost you several thousand dollars. Shame on you greedy lady shame on you

 

[koimom]

The pond is going to be professionally built, complete with waterfall, filters, et. al. Neither I or my husband are in shape to dig! Also, our kids are older and both good swimmers with many lessons under their belt. Both children are over 4 feet tall also, so if the pond is 4 feet deep, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm not so worried about them falling into the pond as much as my older dobie. Also, we plan to build an overhead lathe with shadecloth to keep the temp down. I'm considering misters for the plants on the sides, and of course lighting to view the pond in the evenings.
Sorry for your vision, but ours takes precedent.
Hope this answers all of your concerns...
p.s. to Ryan--your koi are beautiful!!! Love the Asagi!

 

[ryan]

Thanks Koimom, I have two Asagi at the moment one large and one small.