dmast
Koi Lover
Apr 12, 2007, 11:56 AM
Post #6 of 6
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Not sure I understood your question in the first post. I have a 200 gal pond with 7 Shubunkin and 5 Koi, for a total of about 90 inches of fish, for the past 7 years. The Shubunkin appear to have stopped growing at about 5". The Koi are still growing, but do grow much slower than other big pond owners report.
You can keep Koi and Shubunkin in a small pond up to a point. You obviously need the best biological filter you can put in. That in turn will determine how much you can feed them. There will obviously come a point where you simply can't feed them enough for their overall health (bio filter can't keep up). It also probable that at some point your fish just won't be comfortable in such a small pond, especially if it is shallow. Another problem with small ponds is that the temperature will just about exactly follow the air tempurature, which is too much variation for Koi. So you must keep it as shaded as possible, and consider installing a heater (believe it or not) to keep the temp from plunging too far at night.
I do all of this stuff. My ammonia is zero, my fish are happy. I haven't lost a fish to a chemical pond problem yet (in 7 years).
Having said all of that, bigger is always better and easier when it comes to ponds but sometimes the yard just doesn't support a bigger pond, so you can make do with what you have.
Hope this helps.
Don Maston
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