Koi, anyone?

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BerlinKoi

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 13, 2007
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Wisconsin

I've always loved Koi, and marveled at their size, beauty, and temperment. I'd like to have them, but don't know anyone in my area with any expertise on them. So, I'd like some basic information and ideas!

I'd like to have an indoor pond, as I live in the country and have 6 horses and an abundance of wildlife that I think might try to eat any fish I have outside.

I'd only like 2 or 3 koi and I'd like to keep this as cost-efficient as possible. With the 6 horses, I have to keep other costs down.

How big of a tank/pond will I need? What kind of filtration will I need to use? I had GOOGLEd "indoor koi pond" and actually saw pictures of koi in what looks like a big pool like you can buy at Wal-Mart. Can you actually maintain Koi in a habitat like this? And the dumbest question ever, what would you reccommend I feed them?

Thanks for any input and advice!
~Jackei
 
koi are big messy fish. they can grow to 3ft or more depending. They eat and poop. It's recommended that you have like 250 gallons for one and 50 gallons for each additonal fish. So with that in mind you're talking about a nice sized indoor pond.
As for filtration. skippy filters are great outdoors but require sunlight i believe to help the grow of the plants that grow inside them. I'm sure its not out of the question to get a koi pond indoors. theres a ton of good koi forums llike koi phen
good luck
-chris
 
First off you need to get a real Big pond and filtartion you should get a sump or wet dry,but if you have the money to get all these things and the time to take care of them then your good and the koi's average life is about 26 years but there has been cases that kois have outlive that so yeah i think butterfly kois are really nice because of their fins
 
not 26years. they can live up to hundreds.

in Japan many people keep them in natural ponds with no filter
 
koi are one of my favorite :headbang2

lots of space when big
thousand gallon pond or more.
"mine are in a 150g growing.next is almost 500g,they will be there till the time comes for a bigger pond."
indoors will be ok when small.but when they get bigger you need room.
for outdoors just put birds netting over the pond and it should be good.

dig a big hole,1000g or more,lay pond liner down,add submersible pumps to pump up to a filter,barrels,tupperwares,anything you think of.

food
i feed mine
raw market shrimp
koi sticks
worms from the yard sometimes as a treat
they eat brine shrimp when i feed the smaller fish.lol

size
4" to 12" in a year
12 to 24 not sure yet :D
24 to 36 many years away
after 36" you have some big koi :D
there are stories about koi being passed on generation to generation.
and the koi being over 200 years old.
was atop a mountain,in a pond with perfect water
"or some dream like that"
:D

oh and go check out the pond section here
indoors and out
outside pond section has a bunch of things about koi ;)
 
Some ****head released 3 or 4 into my Mom's pond (about 5 acres). They are waay to big for one of the bass to get, but at least I don't need to worry about them spawning... plenty of bass, bluegills, etc. to take care of young...
 
Lol...

After looking through the indoor pond thread, I'm thinking I might try something like this guy did in my basement.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67866

I think that would be plenty big for a few koi. My thoughts are just the cleaning of it. I have a big empty basement, and think that would be the best place for it. I would just need to get a heavy duty filter, heater, and a better pump.

Should I start with small koi in a littler tank, say 4" babies in a 150gallon, and then upgrade as they grow? It would give me more time to put the large set up together.

Koi are pretty personable, do you think they'd mind a short person sitting in there with them? LOL
 
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