koi/goldfish pond question?

Hello! I have a pond with 6 Koi in it. I am here to answer your question. :)

First off, starting your pond, takes time to PLAN. So maybe get a person who marks lines on the grass where your gas line is, your water line, and ect just to be safe so you dont hit them. Now, Koi can grow 3 feet long...thats a big fish. What you need to do, is go to your local petstore, and ask them about their Koi goldfish. Ask them ALL of the info you need. Such as, How many gallons is needed for a full grown Koi goldfish? Just in general, what you want to know about Koi.

After you have your lines to your house marked, depending on where you live, you need to have it 3-6 feet deep. If you live in the southern states, then a pond 2-3 feet deep would work wonders. I live in Minnesota, so I would need to build a pond about 3.5-5 feet deep. 6 feet deep is to ensure that it doesn't freeze to its core. But i have a pond and it is 1 foot deep, so i ended up building a new pond, which took months to fix it. Do not make it under 2 feet if you live in the northern states. Do 3.5, or however deep you want it.

You may want to buy a pond kit, on aquascapes.com, and order that, as the kit comes with skimmer, and microfalls, (waterfall) pondliner, fish safe silicone seal, pump, and tubing.

When you are ready to dig and exceed your pond the the 3D experience, mark out your pond with a garden hose, and go around it with a can of spray paint. Any color, but neon orange, or pink would do you best. Place the skimmer and microfalls anywhere you like, or specifically at the two ends of the pond. And mark those in the grass with the paint you buy. Now dig the microfalls and the pond skimmer to make the very top of the skimmer level with the ground. level it from back to front, and side to side. Then, dig the rest of your pond (read the next two parts)

Grab that shovel, and dig your heart out! If you want a big pond, (ignore depth right now) big pond i mean the pond of your dreams, get a hold of someone to get a backhoe. or if you want a smalll pond, like a tiny pool type thing, then just use a shovel, although no matter the size, a backhoe would be very helpful.

Also, when your digging, you may want what they call them as layers, AKA shelves. or parts of the pond that are shallower than others. Make 2-4 of them, or however many you want. You may wish to go one shovel head in the ground, and dig that deep over the entire area of the pond, and then mark out the next shelf, 1-1.5 feet away from the original pond wall. Avoid mimiking the first shelf. Shelves catch some fish waste that may cause harm to the fish later on, and you may clean the shelves to your preference.

After your planned depth has been reached, make sure thats how you want your pond to look. If so, lay the liner and the subliner down (in your pond kit). You may WISH, you dont have to, but buy river rock s well as boulders to place about the shelves of your pond, and the bottom. Then, fill the middle of the pond, with the river rock you may buy. Make sure thats how you wish to have it, if so, rinse the rock out while its sitting in the pond. In your kit, there is an extra pump to pump out the rinsed water.

Last call to make it how you want it.........................................

Once it is how you want it, filler' up!

After it has been filled up, you may want to add little pond comets to the pond. They are the cheapest things on this earth. 15 cents. If they die, dont be surpised. They also have the weakest immune system. Koi tend to do better that comet goldfish, but yet they cost more.

The pond is going to be VERY expensive, but yet, once it is done, it is 500% worth the money. This isnt coming from a person who has seen one, this is coming from a person who OWNS one, and LOVES it! Also, remember to get a shade or like a tent that can go over part of your pond. This will reduce the level of algea growth. By the way, the micro falls is completely optional, i would as it adds oxygen for the fish, and carbon dioxide for the live plants. Theyll grow on their own. Good luck!

Yes, 3 half of ft of water will be first-rate so long as you know that the water doesn't freeze solid all of the strategy to the backside. It's not the temperature of the water that issues, it's the fact that they nonetheless need liquid water to swim round in. Additionally they need a gap for oxygen constantly. When you would not have a pump/filter that circulates water always, then you definitely ought to smash a gap within the top of the ice at least 12 inches across and keep a gap for air at all times. Stop feeding them as soon as the water temperature reaches 50 levels. They go into hibernation and don't eat and in the event you put food in the water, it will simply rot and foul the water and make it toxic for the fish and kill them. Make certain all of the lifeless leaves and junk on the bottom is removed earlier than the highest freezes over, once more, so it would not rot and foul the water and kill the fish.