beginner's corner: the value of a bigger koi

[dick benbow]

One of the situations i see with beginners is that often after their pond is built they invest in some 6 inch koi only to have them run and hide because they feel vulnerable.
Even the most patient koi keeper will soon be outlasted by their skiddish pets, which causes their anticipated joy of beautiful wet pets to be crushed. Ahhh, do not get exasperated....simply invest in one or two bigger fish and watch the smaller guys settle down. a fish that's 12 - 13 inches is about right!
Yamabuki, Ochiba or Chagoi are great candidates for the purpose of quick growth, friendly nature, and calming effect on their school pond mates.
Once the little guys see the bigger ones eating out of your hand, they get the idea quickly, that actually your not so bad.
With lots of love and care shortly your smallest pond koi will be big enough to be past the skittish stage.
One thing to be considered is that you need to establish one certain spot from which you feed from. There's two reasons, familarity with surroundings
and the ability to protect you koi from intruders.
Around your feeding station it pays to have a movable fence/barrior that can be placed in that spot to keep the koi out of reach from preditors. If you feed from all over, soon the koi will run to the first movement they see and become vulernable. Nothing is worse than to invest in months of quiet work to get them hand feeding only to have them picked off as a meal.
Koi keeping can be fun and relaxing when you know the ropes a head of time. Any other advice by those graduates...that might give a helping hand to those just getting started?

[janemm]

Thanks Dick, another great teaching thread. I really appreciate the time you're taking to educate us. I'd heard of the single feeding spot before, but the idea of a barrier to prevent reverse "feeding" is a great one!

Jane

[dick benbow]

jane, with your permission I'll use your "reverse feeding" line, I thought was most apprpriate! LOL

[Danjols]

Dick, along with feeding habits, we as koi keepers have noticed while feeding it gives us a great opportunity to really look at our koi. Often small signs of ill health or compromised koi can easily be seen during feeding. Sharon and I often work as a team, she will be the one feeding her koi, she may see something going on and ask me then to observe. Point is, feeding is the best time to observe.

What and why we observe would be a great thread on its own.

[MikeM]

OK, Dick, here's one: When introducing new koi to a pond, give them time to become familiar with their surroundings without much movement around the pond. They are stressed and sense danger all around. The change in water, light, depth and currents can result in a new koi jumping out, as if looking for their familiar old pond. It is instinctive to flee. The risk greatest in the first hour. So, sit back quietly and keep a watch on your new koi as they begin to school with the new pondmates. (They will all come around to check out the new arrival.) Leave the first feeding until they have settled in.

[PapaBear]

We tried something a bit different last summer when we introduced our last new Koi to the pond. We got one of those cheap, inflateable side, 4' diameter "kiddie pools" and floated it in the pond. We just floated it under the waterfall and let it fill up with freshly filtered, well aerated water, floated the bag in it to equalize temperatures, and then released her into the small pool. It allowed us to observe her in the new water in an easily controlled space before letting her go to meet her new family. It seemed to make for a smooth transition as she quickly settled in to her new home.

[dick benbow]

Thanks Larry....cause and effect/observation....all good learning techniques that others can learn from. One of the things I've learned over the years is there are many who don't post on hobby boards but are hungry for useful information. Thanks again for contributing......

[PapaBear]

This board has been so valuable to me I can't begin to describe all the ways (thanks KFG for pointing this forum out to me). BTW, I forgot to mention that our new addition was a 20" Kohaku, which also fits in to your "larger Koi" scenario.