Quote:
Originally Posted by gcuss  For me it's time to start thinking about Winter again....
I've heard a couple of different ideas about the best way to over winter your koi. One train of thought is that it is part of the Koi's natural cycle to go through a period of dormancy over winter and is harmful to keep them warm and fed year round through the use of heaters, indoor ponds and such.
I've heard that the females are at a higher risk from egg impaction if they're moved to a warm pond for the winter.
Of course then I wonder how people in Florida, or anywhere that doesn't have a "real" winter cope.....
I moved my fish in this year, and was planning on moving in my better fish in again so they can continue to grow over winter.
My indoor setup is decent, but if I decide it's OK for the fish to come in for the winter again, I'd like to go a lot bigger in terms of water volume, so I need to start planning now.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Grant |
There are a lot of factors to take into consideration . First of all age sex and size of your koi , what are your winter outdoor temperatures ? Then there is the size of your budget . I tried keeping koi in my basment but not a good idea , then I built a lean to greenhouse structure and that was the perfect solution for wintering my fish . Tem was between 44f and 49 for the whole winter and I kept filters running . These fared a lot better than ones in my heated pond as I had to give numerous salt treatments and cost of heating which now is out of my budget as well as constant filter cleaning .
I do not recommend indoor to anyone unless wife is koi kichi , If you do go indoors one has to have light as well as good ventalation or mould can grow . Mould is so dangerous that just a little has closed down portable classrooms in schools . So carefull costderation should be taken as water creates hummidity and one should look at ones health factor .
I did see one exception where there was vapour barriers in a basment ventelation and a wood stove but as soon as the gentelman stopped useing the wood stove he moved the fish .
Regards
Eugene