Considering one of three projects. Which would you choose?

[gogger]

Ok now I am about finished setting up my 125 I Am think about a bigger project. I have three that I have considered. Which would you choose.

1. I have a small farm pond I dug about 15 years ago. It measures about 20 feet across by 50 feet long. The deep end was 9 feet deep. Max digging depth of the excavator I rented. And it tapered up to about 1 foot at the other end. It holds water year round. It was a wet spot in my hay field so I dug the pond to dry up the rest of the area. It worked. But I haven't done much with it. I would put feeders in a small preformed pond in my flower bed and then everyyear In the fall I would shut it down and put them in the big pond. So after a couple years I noticed giant gold fish about 18 inches in it. But I haven't seen any for a while. There is a blue heron that dines out there in the summer and I think he got them.

So I was think about aerating the pond, building a deck area by it and putting koi in it. Or maybe some type of other fish that could reproduce and maybe I could sell?

2. I was think of building a bigger goldfish/koi pond right by the house in my flower bed. Primarily elevated with stone and a waterfall. It would just mainly be for looks.

3. Or I have a 1500 square foot basement that doesn't get used for anything. I am thinking about building a freshwater ray tank in it and get with the freshwater guy in michigan and start a little breeding project. Not so much for financial gain, but they just look really cool.

I am not in any big hurry. Just considering my options. I can't add anymore tanks upstairs or they will end up in the basement anyways.

 

[redman88]

this should have been a poll i think

 

[redman88]

me i would do all three, as time and money allow

 

[Pomatomus]

I would go with the pond if you were in a warmer climate, but even protecting koi from predators (and in a small pond, the elements) is difficult up near you. I have a friend in Connecticut that just lost all of his koi to a particularly harsh winter. He had a heated pond too. I know a koi breeder in Florida that had the same thing happen in shallow ponds.

Go for the basement. Maybe a ray tank/pond in there? Maybe a couch next to it?

 

[broken]

I would go with options 1,2 and 3.

 

[Ocean Railroader]

I have a freind that had a giant 44 inch long white Kio in his farm pound that was there before he bought the house and it did really well in his pound uncared for living off what the pond gave it. But saddly it died last year and it turned out that it was a white Kio worth over a $1000 dollars. The Kio in this pound must have had least been 40 to 50 years old in that my freind had the house for over 30 plus years and the Kio was in the small farm pond the whole time. As for the Heron you are going to have to put in a defense system for the fish.