The fish in my pond make a nice variety, but some planning was needed that I didn't think about until after I had the fish. One thing I did do that seems to be working is that I put PVC into the ground and strung fishing line across the pond. I have seven PVC pipes on each side of the pond, which I hammered about 1 foot into the ground and left about 6 inches above. I then drilled holes through each, and strung the fishing line that way. It has been working so far (since April 2002) to keep the birds from eating the fish.
You have to take into consideration the climate where you are and what types of fish will thrive in it. This is an important thing that I overlooked. I built the pond in April and a couple of weeks later, after the water had time to all balance out and the biofilter had a chance for some bacteria to grow, I had fish in it. The climate at the time, being in Florida, was already pretty hot. As a matter of fact, I got sunburned while digging the pond. I never thought about winter.
I put two koi in the pond, one solid gold and the other solid white. They are fine in all kinds of weather. So they are of no worry. They can survive the winters just fine. They originated from Japan where it does get pretty cold. Believe me, I have lived there. The Japanese farmers in Niigata prefecture used the common carp to supliment their diet. They kept them in the mud fields that were used to provide irrigation to the rice fields. The carp began to get color mutations and have evolved into the koi we know today.
From having had aqariums before, I knew that an algae eater would be vital to keeping the pond clean. For this, I added a plecostomus (also known as a pleco). They are great for eating algae and can grow up to 18 inches. There is a pleco message board that provides some good information. I am not sure if they will survive in colder climates. Here in central Florida, we had a cold front which caused it to get below freezing for 2 hours. The pleco survived that.
The biggest mistake I have made so far on the fish was to put two clown loaches in the pond. As it turned out they could not survive the colder months outside, and I did not know until it was too late. I will not make that mistake twice. I thought that they could help the albino freshwater catfish to clean off the bottom. Although the catfish is a bottom feeder, he will come to the surface to eat the koi pellets. Interestingly enough, the koi are really mutated carp. Carp are bottom feeders as well. I have noticed the koi pecking at the bottom of the pond.
Another mistake I made was to put two bubble-eyed goldfish in the pond. As it turns out, they are not as hardy as regular goldfish, and cannot survive if the water temperature drops below 65 degrees farenheit. This I did figure out on time. The bubble-eyed goldfish are now happy in a 20 gallon aquarium in the living room.
One thing that I had not fully planned on were toads. I knew I would attract one or two with the pond, but they lay a large amount of eggs. So, I ended up with many little tadpoles in the pond. Which was fine since they helped to eat the algae off the walls of the pond. We'll see what happens next year. I heard that the toads are supposed to return to their place of birth the spawn.
For a brief history of Koi, visit VSKC. For more information on the types and evolution of the koi colors, visit Byteline.
Jason's Koi Pond
How do you build a pond?
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