Mike
The biggest problem to koi keeping are usuitable ponds . While Aquascape have come up with all the answers to sell a one day pond to the landscape industry at low cost . We have done very little to counteract that as a result most fish die within a year or two .People like to hear low cost pond installers like to hear high profits so both are happy .
Unexplained is that the pond will have to be cleaned every year at a great cost , the shallow depth will result too hot during summer too cold for winters . So fish will have to be brought in for the winter . Cleaning will have to be done well before winter as well as fish will not taqke the stress .If there is a gradual slope preditors can walk in and sides can pull in. One would need at least a 2ft streight down that would mean a cemment collar etc so that means twice the cost . No landscaper would want to put in a 6ft deep pond you need equipment then for the bottom drain filtration you need another big hole dug .You need to make a form and put a cemment collar . So at best you need a full week .most koi are purchased and put in fish tank with no idea of what is going to be done as they grow .So what is needed is to write a long article of explenation not pulling down Aquascape but rather running a comparison explaining the costs and the consaquences .So why not lay out a format of comparison so people could then make their own decisions . I think that we could do a good job between us .
Regards
Eugene