Koi + natives?

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I have kept koi in my pond with my bluegill and green sunfish. They are now in there with goldfish. So I would say it is ok as long as you have enough room. In a tank I probably wouldn't do it. I know somebody that has koi with all sorts of sunfish, bass, walleye, channel cats, blue cats. BUT he has like an acre pond.

Chad
 
Ah. What about a black/brown bullhead and maybe a channel cat?
 
hmt321;648139; said:
koi and gold fish would be fine with natives, until a bluegill gets ticked at the koi, sunfish can be very aggressive at times, you would need lots of space

Never had any agression with my Sunfish and Goldfish. Just the catfish eat whatever they can fit in their mouths (aka fingerling Koi)

How big is this pond, stocking rules for Koi are 3 fish/1000gallons

Keep in mind we are talking about a fish that reaches 4 feet and can live 2 centuries.
 
RadleyMiller;648465; said:
Never had any agression with my Sunfish and Goldfish. Just the catfish eat whatever they can fit in their mouths (aka fingerling Koi)

How big is this pond, stocking rules for Koi are 3 fish/1000gallons

Keep in mind we are talking about a fish that reaches 4 feet and can live 2 centuries.

Can i stick a baby channel in with baby koi? or will the cat grow too fast?
The pond is a good 15 by 18' by 3' deep
 
The cat will grow faster than the Koi. You can expect to search for a fish that no longer exists.
 
ewurm;649010; said:
The cat will grow faster than the Koi. You can expect to search for a fish that no longer exists.

Ah. Thats what I expected. How big should I let the koi get before i put a 4'' channel cat in?
Are koi quick growers?
 
It's not a good idea to put koi and cat together at the similar sizes. Maybe you can put an apparently larger koi and a little cat together.
 
ewurm;649010; said:
The cat will grow faster than the Koi. You can expect to search for a fish that no longer exists.

Yes, the cat will grow faster than the koi, but the koi will still grow fast enough to be bigger than eating size. In a 5500 gallon pond (yours) you won't have any problems. I have has 4 inch fancy goldfish be fine with 20 inch channels. DO NOT get a blue catfish though, they get so big they could eat an adult koi.

Here is the pic I posted a while ago just to give you an idea.

BlueCatfish.jpg

bluecat.jpg
 
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