VERY expensive beet juice!

[Don87]

Blasphemy!!! Everyone knows Koi are all sushi grade!

And yes sir...........whether it be 1 post...........or 20,000 posts..........


You have entered into 'troll' territory.

Feel better?

 

[Don87]

Whoa, Don. I'm funnin' witcha.

We have what I thought was a big koi, but a 36 incher would relegate our Behemoth to a minor league. I don't know how big they get.

I apologize if I misread your response, I recently had problems with several users on here, because my views differed with theirs.

I've raised my Koi since they were 4 inches long...........ton's of work. Thousands of dollars invested..............I don't take it lighly.

And to answer your question.........Koi will get up to over 4 feet long...........depending on the size of the pond. That's one of the reasons my pond is 19 feet, by 22 feet, by 3 and 1/2 feet deep.

 

[Short Game]

Behemoth was a gift to our pond. She was found high and dry beside her old small pond about nine years ago. Her old owner came home and on finding her looking like she was dead, put her back in the water. He came back later, surprised to find her revived. We think that maybe an osprey had pulled her out and then couldn't fly with her. An eagle could have carried her away, so it probably wasn't an eagle. Anyway, her pond was too small, and a bigger pond had just been built here, so he brought her to us. We all love her and hope an eagle doesn't get her.

 

[IslandTractor]

And yes sir...........whether it be 1 post...........or 20,000 posts..........


You have entered into 'troll' territory.

Feel better?

Somebody needs a sense of humor. Do you not realize that there is a current TV commercial showing a father eating the family goldfish? Yum.

 

[Short Game]

Our pond is about 50 by 70 and five feet deep at the deepest spot. We received five more koi a couple of years ago that were only about 12 or 14 inches. Behemoth must be pushing into the high 20s now. I've seen her get eyed by an eagle before. Osprey have dived into our pond. I've seen that.

 

[Don87]

Somebody needs a sense of humor. Do you not realize that there is a current TV commercial showing a father eating the family goldfish? Yum.

I don't watch TV

 

[Don87]

Behemoth was a gift to our pond. She was found high and dry beside her old small pond about nine years ago. Her old owner came home and on finding her looking like she was dead, put her back in the water. He came back later, surprised to find her revived. We think that maybe an osprey had pulled her out and then couldn't fly with her. An eagle could have carried her away, so it probably wasn't an eagle. Anyway, her pond was too small, and a bigger pond had just been built here, so he brought her to us. We all love her and hope an eagle doesn't get her.

There are several concerns with Koi. Number one is the depth of the pond.

Great Blue Herons can stand in water that is over 2 feet deep.........and although they can't eat the large Koi, they will peck holes in them that will allow bacterial diseases to start that will eventually kill the fish.

That is one reason my pond is 3.5 feet deep. Second reason is because of the freezing I experience here in Pa.

If the pond freezes over or completly to the bottom.............I lose everything.

I use a shallow mounted aerator, and a heater to keep an opening on top of the water in the winter. If the pond freezes over, gases will build up and suffocate the fish.

 

[Don87]

Our pond is about 50 by 70 and five feet deep at the deepest spot. We received five more koi a couple of years ago that were only about 12 or 14 inches. Behemoth must be pushing into the high 20s now. I've seen her get eyed by an eagle before. Osprey have dived into our pond. I've seen that.

Hmmmm, I would need to see the lay of your pond, but it sounds like you may have shallow drop-offs.

My pond has very steep drop-offs........like straight down.

Had a Great Blue Heron show up here once..............It couldn't stand up in the water so they never returned.

Shallows will draw the fish there, and it will draw predators.

 

[Short Game]

Great Blue Herons can stand in water that is over 2 feet deep.........and although they can't eat the large Koi, they will peck holes in them that will allow bacterial diseases to start that will eventually kill the fish.

We always have blue herons here. Behemoth had a red sore on her back that persisted for about a year. It's been gone for a year now.

I use a shallow mounted aerator, and a heater to keep an opening on top of the water in the winter. If the pond freezes over, gases will build up and suffocate the fish.

The pond froze about five inches thick the winter before last. The north end is shallow and choked with cattails and doesn't usually freeze, as that is where the spring that feeds it is. Thanks for this information. I'll be on top of this if we get a really hard freeze.

About four winters back, during a freeze, we had a serious die-off of multiple species: red ear sunfish, the only yellow perch, bluegill, several bass, and our one grass carp. Behemoth came through okay. The bass really became depleted. Too bad, there were some lunkers in there.

===========

Oh yeah, I wish I had me some loaded tires.

 

[Don87]

We always have blue herons here. Behemoth had a red sore on her back that persisted for about a year. It's been gone for a year now.



The pond froze about five inches thick the winter before last. The north end is shallow and choked with cattails and doesn't usually freeze, as that is where the spring that feeds it is. Thanks for this information. I'll be on top of this if we get a really hard freeze.

About four winters back, during a freeze, we had a serious die-off of multiple species: red ear sunfish, the only yellow perch, bluegill, several bass, and our one grass carp. Behemoth came through okay. The bass really became depleted. Too bad, there were some lunkers in there.

There are several things that can cause the fishkill you described.

One is a total freeze that can allow toxic gasses to build up.

The other is called a "turnover".........That is when the bottom layer of muck, gets too heavy............and you have a 'coinciding' cold front coming in with a lot of rain.

It changes the water so that it basically.............'turns over'............

The most noticeble thing will be that the water will be 'black' on top. I don't think you experianced this because you had surviving fish.............large fish usually die first with oxygen depletion.