Why are we here?

[saratogatan]

I ued to keep a lot of betas and gold fishes as a teen. I have many gold fish (the chinese type, not feeder) that I believe was very rare, and might have become extinted in 30 year. Then I packed my books, and left everything behind me to study.

later, I bought a house with a fountain and 3000g pond, with a broken pump. I didn't do a thing to the pond, and that became coon's playground. After I got married and have my first daugther, wife hired someone to work on the backyard, and the pond came back to life. In went some kois my wife bought, they kept dying and my wife just kept buying. Some managed to stay alive until we bought our current home. Kois were kept in a QT which the 1st pond was built, and I make the mistake of trying to eat the free BBQ served during tse's koi show. By the time I got there, all the BBQ were gone, and I knew where to find better kois than what my wife bought.

after the pond was completed, it sucked. my wife's focus turned to the kids, am I was chartered to take care of the kois. So I talked to a couple of landscaper who have experience with water feature andkoi pond, coughed out a couple of bucks, and there was our second pond. Ater thing settled, all kois went in.

some of our kois were missing in the first day. We were looking everywhere for the guilty. Quickly the constractor realized that he forgot to put a cap on a 3 inches intake to the fountain pump, and there we found all the missing kois. he said sorry and bought a couple of nice tosai from Genki, and that was the first time I heard about the existnace of even better kois in northern CA. Well, good day did not last long. 5 univited herons (some might be cranes, but hell with it) became regular to our pond, and very soone only a few were left. I opened up my wallet a litle, out flew all the green back, and into my pond came all the better quality kois.

See, i didn't planned to be in this hobby, it just happened.

stan

[jnorth]

Well I guess about 6 years ago I bought this house that had a 700 gallon "koi pond". So after killing them I got lucky and met somebody else that kept koi and actually knew something about them. So pretty much for 5 of the last 6 years it was all about keeping my friendly pond mutts alive and building bigger ponds for them. I'm up to 3 (1k, 2.5k and 5.5k gallons)ponds a 700 gallon indoor q-tank. For those first five years I was into the koi but not from a "show" or "appreciation" perspective. I just liked them. For the last year though I decided to learn something more about them (for instance a kohaku is alot more then just a red and white koi ). So I've been kicking around the various boards and just to make it a trend I met Joe, keokoi, and here I am.

[aquitori]

Quote: Originally Posted by Andrew from FL I live in Central Florida and I am here because I hope to build my first Koi pond this year. This site has taught me so much. I have always loved Koi and every time I see them in person I think I have got to put in a Koi pond. Went to Bok Towers last year and boy have they got some huge Koi there Have had a few small water gardens in the past with goldfish but that's it. Right now I am catching up with a bunch of remodeling I promised the MRS and then I am going to start my first Koi pond. Thanks to everyone on here for making this such a good forum

Andrew from FL, welcome to the board!!!! Well, we are all here to learn and if you have any questions in regards to this hobby, feel free to ask!!!

[estanque_koi]

When I was a boy one day my uncle Leon took us (my cousin, my brother and me) to a secret valley in the hills for fishing. Had no idea of what was all that about, but I was very excited.
The place was just like a wonderful and lonely paradise in spring. We sat under a huge tree by the river bank. The water was crystal clear, and my uncle started preparing all the things for fishing. I couldn't believe this might work, and suddenly they appeared: a mixed group of big, impossing fish, most surely barbels and wild carps, swimming majestically right in front of us and around the baited hooks.
After some minutes of excitement, it was clear that no one would take the bait. My uncle and my cousin were very disappointed. Picked up all the fishing junk to place it into the car and went for a walk. Fishing could be a very boring enterprise.
My brother and me stayed there silently, by the iver bank under the huge tree. I was completely fascinated just watching the fish circle and swimming very close to us. It was a truly magic experience, and I can't recall other memories of situations were I felt that way.
I'm now 47 and got hooked straightaway on Koi by chance, some years ago.
Watching magnificent and tame koi approaching at me and letting me touch and feed them makes me feel somehow like in that secret paradise.
Should I blame my chilhood memories for this love at first sight?

Diego

[Akinosan]

Its so funny how so many of our experiences are similar. I built my first pond mostly for a water feature, but big enough to put a few Koi into.(4200gals.) I soon found out that it was too small for 70+ fish! Visiting Champion Koi on a regular basis, I met Aquitori and Erwinsan who immediately got me in trouble with the Wife and I built a second pond of 8000gals. This pond is more Koi friendly and now its over stocked! I recently took the first pond apart and am in the process of making a 10,000gal. pond in its place. My family thinks I'm obsessed and I guess I agree. Are'nt we all? It's agreat hobby with great people in it, and I Have really had a good time doing it. Aquitori and Erwinsan Are still getting me in hot water with the Wife though, and I don't mean a Hot-tub!

[marco]

Nice to see that a lot of us react the same, bilding a little pond and then a bigger just a few year after. I dig my first "hole" for red fish because my daughter wanted some fish in the garden, but once i was digging the project¨change when for father day two years ago my kids bought me two koï.
After one year I realize that the pond wasn't deep and big enough, and I started again to dig, made a 3500 gallons pond, change the filtration, bought some other koï and realize that I was again overstocked. So a new project might come again.
Like we say: do it once but do it right............but not the first time

[jacovors]

My wife and I first saw koi at our local garden center and were mesmerized by the elegance and strong nature koi reflects. The koi were kept in a water feature of no more than 12 tons and housed about 20 large koi. Their colors were washed out and some had bent bodies ,but to us they were magnificent.

There and then I decided that Koi is what I want and the planning started.

Here we do not have any koi dealerships nor did I know any people with any serious experience in the hobby. My first pond was built by a so-called koi pond specialist and contained 7000L of water. After spending a fortune on creating a nicely landscaped pond with nice plant boxes in the pond made from cement shelves with rocks on the sides to keep the appearance natural and buying as many small koi my budget would allow I thought I had the perfect pond for keeping koi and of course growing them to meter in no time at all..

Firstly no koi could be seen when approaching the pond and at first I thought I have been robbed ,but after some probing discovered them hiding beneath the plant boxes. The first month all the koi seemed fine and everything was going well. Then one morning when I visited the pond like I always do I discovered that the pond was loosing water and had sprung a leak somewhere. I bought myself a port pool and pumped the water from the pond to the port pool and started netting all the koi and moving them to the port pool (with a pool net and ruining many of them for life). The bottom drain was the problem and after talking to the pond builder he informed me that when the bottom drain was constructed he removed the rubbers on all the bends of the 110mm pipe because according to him PVC Weld was much more reliable than some rubbers in sealing the pipes. So what happened was that the piping must have moved and cracked the glue and now no seal was in place to seal the pipes.

I decided to cover the bottom drain since that would be easier than taking the floor apart and reinstalling the bottom drain. I changed the piping to draw water directly from the pond and to prevent some fish from being sucked in I place a filter brush before the inlet. Many of my favorite koi was found in the strainer basket of the pump after that.

The fish was kept in the porta pool for about two weeks waiting for the cement to dry and the sealant to cure. I did not have a clue about what happens to the water quality when you keep about 30 koi from 10 to 40cm in about 3000L of water for two weeks without any filtration, but soon discovered some hanging in the water and not looking as nice as they were when first purchased.

The first thing that came to mind was that I was sold some sick, disease carrying fish that was now causing the problem, not that fish could not be kept under such conditions and that there was a problem because of some stupid thing I did. After the fish was placed back into the pond they started dying. I went to the pet shop for help and came home armed with any available antibiotic and anti – parasite treatment available and the treatment or killing started. I lost about half my collection through idiocy. I could never understand why other people keeping koi looked so happy and their fish looked so good and seemed hungry all the time until I discovered the internet and the SAKKS.

I spend about 100 hours on the Internet reading anything I could find regarding koi and anything else that goes to keeping them successfully.

Today I have a Quarantine pond of 8000L and my main pond contains 70000L of water. It was build using concrete bricks, rendered and fiber glassed. It comprises of two lines of filtration running parallel .The pond has two bottom drains feeding the water to a standpipe chamber which enables me to flush the bottom drains once every two weeks.

The pond has been running for four years now and is fully matured.

I did not have any ulcer decease in this pond for the last three years.

Oxygen is always kept at saturation level and the filters are kept very clean.

[aquitori]

[quote=Akinosan]Its so funny how so many of our experiences are similar. I built my first pond mostly for a water feature, but big enough to put a few Koi into.(4200gals.) I soon found out that it was too small for 70+ fish! Visiting Champion Koi on a regular basis, I met Aquitori and Erwinsan who immediately got me in trouble with the Wife and I built a second pond of 8000gals. This pond is more Koi friendly and now its over stocked! I recently took the first pond apart and am in the process of making a 10,000gal. pond in its place. My family thinks I'm obsessed and I guess I agree. Are'nt we all? It's agreat hobby with great people in it, and I Have really had a good time doing it. Aquitori and Erwinsan Are still getting me in hot water with the Wife though, and I don't mean a Hot-tub![/QUOTE]

Akinosan is by far one of the most KoiKichi people I know and probably one funniest people I know in the hobby, the first being me ! Well anyways, Akinosan has come along way and is always willing to learn the hobby...Hey Akinosan got Cheetos?

[hauns]

Well some years ago a friend (or say his grandfather) dug a pond. Now I also want a pond. Got one. Ok, no really pond because we don´t had an idea what it is all about. In this "pond" came some Koi. Or as I referred to them: Colored Goldfish. But I think that a lot of people started like this.
Last year my interest (which I lost before, hey I was young) came back. So I dug a bigger pond. My idea was a mud pond with a water source. Then the winter came and the pond was empty. My fish were death. For the next week I ran with my head against walls. Hard walls.
And then i replanned everything and now I´m trying to finish my pond and give Koi into it.
I can´t afford big Koi, but maybe in some years when school or whatever is finished.
One of my future plans is a 2 million litres heated indoor pond (Yeah, I´m going to own Momotaro!! he he)

But I´m realistic and I´m happy with what I have at the moment.

[ChrisC]

I bought a 22 acre piece of property in a forest, overlooking two mountain ranges. Over time, I put up my house. The forest birds are amazing looking, so I got into birding. Birds are attracted by running water, so I thought of putting in a water feature for them.

Also, the mountain west is extremely dry, especially after five years of less-than-average rain and snowpack. So, people in the woods are extremely concerned by the possibility of fire. I thought if I had a pond, I would have a source of water already pumped up out of the ground (since electricity usually fails in a fire) that could be used to defend the property. Some people do this with a giant ugly tank on their property--I thought I'd be more aesthetic about it.

Once my 7000 gallon water feature was in place, the birds came. (Including a herd of about 50 wild turkeys which I have subsequently learned were placed in these woods by none other than our own Dan Blatt!)

I got excited about the idea of putting some fish in the water to make it "active." People recommended koi, which seemed prettier than goldfish. I was not sure where to buy koi, so I got on the internet, and for grins, typed in www.koi.com, which landed me at Pan Intercorp, which just happens to be in my neighborhood. There endeth my sanity.

Now, I am working on a pond which is going inside my 15 x 32 foot greenhouse (so I can control the temperature and the predators...) I am grateful to have Koi-Bito magazine (bought all of the back issues) and the experts on these boards to help me do this right. Brian--I got serious inspiration for the design from the Momotaro DVD about putting parts of the filtration under the floor. This helps me actually have some, er, plants in the greenhouse too, which was the plan for that before it got hijacked by my koi-kichiness.