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I’m building a koi pond this spring and I was wondering if any other members had some sort of an outdoor goldfish/koi pond? Did you use a pre-made hardware store kind or did you use a liner and customize it? What filter/skimmer did you use? I need IDEAS! 😀
I wanna see pics of your progress!
One big caveat: koi ponds are all-you-can-eat buffets for many predators, such as raccoons and herons. Unless it is well protected, you might loose all your fish overnight!The most successful “Koi Pond” (term used loosely) setup that I have ever witnessed was an old metal cattle tank, partially shaded, filled with plants that had grown there naturally, constantly being filled with fresh water pumped straight out of the ground. Granted these were garden variety goldfish saved from a carnival to start with, but they had long, happy lives as they grew to be long, fat and jolly.
Things I found interesting as my sister has become a Lionhead Goldfish afficianado:
-Even freshwater tanks can benefit from a little salt – helps prevent Ick.
-You want to be careful and find out if your new fish was eating flakes or pellets. Switching from flakes to pellets can sometimes cause fish to get an air bubble and float towards the top – probably not good in a Koi Pond with potential predators. If fish could just fart easier, this wouldn’t be such an issue.
-Beware the implementation of snails, they sometimes have lots of babies or worse, bring diseases with them.
-Aeration is important, but you don’t want to blast them out with it. It would be like if we had to live in a loud dance club 24/7.I’m going to be building something around 3000 gallons. and deep enough that herons couldnt get a proper foothold. Plus my ducks are territorial and chase other birds away….
It will also be within my backyard with its 6 foot fence. I know raccoons can climb, but I dont know how well they’d catch a fish in whats ideally going to be an almost five foot deep pond. (with a fence around it to keep my ducks out)
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