Large cichlids with koi

[Covetous]

Ok, forgive me ahead of time. Because I’m pretty sure of the answer already. But I want to ask for the sake of asking.

Has anyone ever had any luck keeping large central or South American cichlids with koi in a large pond?

I take care of a roughly 4,000 gallon pond on a daily basis. The owner just likes throwing random crap in there. Currently there are lots of large koi, and a buch of African cichlids. (They’ve spawned and are growing in number)

Today he mentioned wanting to put a large aggressive cichlid in the pond. I told him Long term it wouldn’t work. The Africans would end up eaten and the koi would get harassed too much.

But as I sit here and think on it, the pond is very very long and an odd shape. Perhaps the cichlid would carve out territory and only bother those that enter it. I don’t know, please if anyone has any experience and first hand knowledge or has tried it let me know.

The pond is roughly 20ft long, by 5ft at its narrowest and 8ft at the widest. And 3ft deep with a slight slant at both ends to just under 4ft

 

[MrsE88]

I guess depending on what cichlid he chose it might work. For how long... who knows. Does he really care so little about his koi? Africans? Yikes.
My koi aren't really high quality or anything, but I could never toss a fish in that could shred them at some point in time.

 

[Covetous]

I guess depending on what cichlid he chose it might work. For how long... who knows. Does he really care so little about his koi? Africans? Yikes.
My koi aren't really high quality or anything, but I could never toss a fish in that could shred them at some point in time.

Well, he must care enough that when I told him a large aggressive cichlid could shred his koi up and cause havoc that he didn’t go for it. But, who knows it seemed like a whim. The Africans are in there because he got rid of his sons 300 gal African tank and just decided to dump them in the pond. We live in south west Florida so they are doing fine. And don’t seem to bother the koi at all. The smallest koi in the pond is easily 8 inches in length with the largest being close to 2ft

 

[dcorreia]

Honestly they would probably be fine together, especially in a pond that size. If the cichlid gets territorial it will nip at the koi and the koi will learn to stay away from that area. I have about 10 koi in a pond with some largemouth Bass and bluegill. The bass is definitely the alpha in the pond but pays no attention to the koi. It pays more attention to the bluegill if anything but it seems to know the koi are not a threat.