how much water is needed 4 one koi?
- Thread starter Magiccarp
- Start date
The amount of water per fish is dependent on what you are trying to achieve. I´ve been importing koi from Japan for years and have seen the occasional koi in huge ponds and an occasional drop of water between the koi (in both cases in Japan).
The reason for providing koi with a large pond is because of the large size they can achieve. I usually recommend a minimum pond size of 2500 gal in colder climates due to the necessity of using ground heat in winter when not artifically heating the pond (min. depth below ground = 5 foot). Ponds of around 1500 gal should be a minimum if heating artifically. Don´t get me wrong though, my opinion is that optimal pond sizes start around 5000 gal.
So what does this have to do with stocking 1 koi. I never recommend keeping one koi on its own. They just don´t do as well on average. In any case the amount of water per fish shouldn´t really be an issue for the first 2 or 3 fish as they usually have at least (hopefully) 1500 gal to swim in.
Why the 1000 gal rule came about is because japanese breeders noticed that the growth rate and skin quality of their larger fish improved when they gave them more water to swim during the growing season (summer). Do you need 1000 gal per fish?... no. 100 gal will suffice with very good filtration. Will your koi achieve their optimal potential with 100 gal per fish and good filters?... no. You will still need 1000 gal for large fish if this is your goal.
So if you consider it from this perspective everyone in this thread is right. You just need to decide what you want to achieve.
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The reason for providing koi with a large pond is because of the large size they can achieve. I usually recommend a minimum pond size of 2500 gal in colder climates due to the necessity of using ground heat in winter when not artifically heating the pond (min. depth below ground = 5 foot). Ponds of around 1500 gal should be a minimum if heating artifically. Don´t get me wrong though, my opinion is that optimal pond sizes start around 5000 gal.
So what does this have to do with stocking 1 koi. I never recommend keeping one koi on its own. They just don´t do as well on average. In any case the amount of water per fish shouldn´t really be an issue for the first 2 or 3 fish as they usually have at least (hopefully) 1500 gal to swim in.
Why the 1000 gal rule came about is because japanese breeders noticed that the growth rate and skin quality of their larger fish improved when they gave them more water to swim during the growing season (summer). Do you need 1000 gal per fish?... no. 100 gal will suffice with very good filtration. Will your koi achieve their optimal potential with 100 gal per fish and good filters?... no. You will still need 1000 gal for large fish if this is your goal.
So if you consider it from this perspective everyone in this thread is right. You just need to decide what you want to achieve.
j<><
knifegill;2826143; said:
uhhh a hundred dude unless you plan on having an unfiltered pond and koi attain adult size like that in about 15 years they live for about 75 and even at adult size a well treated hundred does fine my ponds about 1200 to 1400 gal after we upgraded from a 480 tho it doesnt look much bigger lol anyway i have 4 koi alot of comets a blue cat and TONS of rosie reds i only started with two and they bred like crazy but yeah all those fish do fine in my pond so a singular koi should do ok in a pond 100 to 200 gallons if well filtrated of course
no in about 3 years your koi will be 12 inches after that growth slows in a pond 100 to 200 gals my koi got to about 13 to 14 inches in two years in a pond 480 then i upgraded last year but hes still about that size
