The differences between a water garden and a koi pond.

[MCA]

As animal owners it is not a matter of we can do...but rather a matter of what we should do. We should want our koi to thrive and not just survive. As their owners we have an obilgation to do all we can for them. And since they are large riverine carp....that should mean an environment that closer to a large clean river. Form follows function and yes....the devil is indeed in the details.

[dick benbow]

If you read many magazines from overseas including from the Mother country,It seems readily apparent to me that initial ponds tend to give way to new ideas and increased interest among koi keepers. Ponds can be rebuilt many times to allow the owner to change their minds on what they enjoy about their ponds and their purpose.
Just as colleges are considered training grounds for the pros, I think watergardeners can be a starting point for koi kichi's. It takes time and opprtunity. Since learning styles are all different, it's often hard to break thru initially and for those that really don't know what they want it takes time as well. How many of us have gone to college and changed our major?
So I think we graciously extend a friendship to those attracted to a water feature, and allow them to gravitate toward koi and their needs.
while this might not be the forum to ask this ( cause I think this group is pretty advanced and avid) but would be interested in hearing from those that started in the hobby as strictly a watergardner and why or what or whom influenced you to advance where you are now.

[smithvillemike]

I have always liked the sound of running/flowing water. I started with a 17" deep watergarden, with a little waterfall, some nice plants. I added a couple of koi to enhance the pond. Well needless to say the koi grew and the pond became crowded, so I built another pond. Pretty much the same thing, but this one was 24" deep and better filtration, but still all the water features. The koi destroyed the plants rooting around in the dirt, so all I had was koi and a waterfall.

Since the koi were now the main focus of the pond I started doing research on how to take care of them. I increased the flow and filtration added UV since they were in direct sunlight, and actually had some pretty nice pond koi. In my research I learned about the different varities and standards and I wanted to have some quality koi. Although I wasn't ready to spend the amount of money on the koi that most of you do, it was because I wasn't certain I wouldn't kill them. So in order to take this next step in bring Koi to their full potential, I built another pond last march.

I live out in the woods and when I say woods I mean it. I have hundreds of 75'+ trees in my front yard. I also have a little wooden bridge that you have to walk over to get to my house as a stream biscects the property. Which means lots of roots as well as the rocky soil and no way to get heavy equipment in to help dig. So I built an above ground pond. I have a 10x12x6 foot pond that has a roof over it because of all the pine needs that fall. Now I have what I consider to be a nice pond so I am ready to try to grow quality koi. I purchased a Japanese Tancho Kohaku koi from Japan at the Texas Koi Clubs April show for $300. I know this isn't much but it was a big step for me as the most I had ever spent before was about $10 a fish. I also got in on NKF's May 555 event (which I really want to thank them for having) so I now have 2 fish that I think are quality, although the NKF koi won't be in Texas until 01/09. I'm bidding on a Sakai Kohaku on Nishikigoi right now. I realize these are not top quality fish, but I'm happy. I'm hoping to learn enough about raising them that I will have one to enter in the TKFGS's October 2010 show.

So when it all comes down to it, it was the Koi who made me KK.

[MCA]

koi keeping is a journey, not a destination. We can achieve various levels of knowlledge, skills, understanding and persception. But we will never arrive at a full and complete understanding of all aspects of koi keeping. And that is just fine. Enjoy learning....then sharing....and finallly teaching.


We got started when my wife got very ill just before Christmas around 9 years ago. In the hospital (1 week before Christmas) she asked if she survived and came home...could she have pond. Duh? What DA husband would say no to that request. As it turned out her condition was not a massive cardiac problem but rather Graves Disease (hyperactive thyroid).

Anyway, come spring...I paid a "pond contractor" ~$1200 to put in a pond. It was around 10'x8'x2' liner pond...no bottom drain, no waterfall, no gravel (thank God), and a small inpond filter with a sumsersible pump. Yet, they sold us koi for the pond. My wife worked hard on that pond to keep the water quallity up...etc. One day the Calpump shorted. The engineer in me said "enough of this crap". I put in an external pump and a Biotec 5 and a waterfall. We joined a local club and started to learn just how bad a mess we had made of it all.

So late in 2000 I built a temp tank on the patio and moved the koi to it. I started the demo work. I put in a 16'x8'x4' pond with two of those things no one in our club had seen....Spindrifter bottom drains with air domes!!!!! Folks thought I was craxy. We got the pond compleded the week before the 2001 AKCA Seminar in Houston. We filled the pond and drove down to Houston as our club, and Lone Star Koi Club, were hosting the event.

When we got back from Houston we transferred the koi to the new pond and I turned on the pumps. I had a whopping 40lpm on both BDs. I thought that was rocking the house. Two months I put a 40lpm on each BD...the difference was amazing! It was around that time that a new couple joined the club. A certain Steve and Cheryl Childers. Yep, that jumped up koi learning curve...to say the least.

Years later we moved to Atlanta. Time for a serious koi pond. It is 10'x16'x8'. Folks has me why so large and deep. I tell them....because it is a koi pond.
When we launched the new pond, we hosted a club meeting. One of the ladies in the pond told me it would be difficult work...but she would help build PVC plant stands for our pont. The funniest part of that is that Dr. David Knox was standing behind her at the time. It was all he could do to hold back the laughter as he turned away.

Yes it takes time for folks to understand and accept that koi are large riverine carp...not little goldies. Once you understand that very simple idea....proper pond design falls into place and you are much further up the learning curve.

[Auntiesue]

I started as many do in this adventure!! A small water garden as an accent to landscaping. I also have a inner need to be near the sound of running water. Spent much of my youth near the ocean. We started out with plants and a few goldfish then during one visit to Petsmart we saw these cute little fish called Koi. Lots of colors available and pretty babies. They came with no information or care labels!! Once home in our itty bitty pond, they grew quickly. I started reading more about them and their needs online. Then I started dealing with sick fish. My koi health learning curve and proper care took a sudden and quick spiral upwards. Over the next two years I learned about basic proper filtration, a proper koi pond and proper feeding. About this time we attended our first koi show (OKC) and got a good look at fully mature grown koi. JR was the judge that year (thank you JR)!! We came home, took one look at our small water garden and realized this simply would not do if we were going to grow these majestic creatures. I started adding on to that small water garden still attempting to keep plants as well, but the rocks were taken out after the first season. The plants went away once the fish got a bit larger as they enjoyed tearing them up (what a mess that was). I was always upgrading, but never getting where I really wanted to be with that meager start. Finally we took the plunge and dug a proper koi pond with proper filtration and have not looked back since. What happened to that meager water garden start you ask? Well last year it was totally dug up and replaced with a smaller koi pond with even better filtration and much easier to maintain. So now we have two ponds. One grow out pond with soft water and a smaller pond to finish them off with a bit harder water.

So yes, many of us do start out simply wanting a landscaping accent, but soon fall in love with these fish and learn to do better for them. If the passion is within you to move on, you will. If not, then by all means, be happy with your water garden, just don't expect healthy large koi to thrive in those ponds.

[JasPR]

You know, I was going to launch into one of my rambles but instead I will take an entirely different tact:

I think that it is not unfair or unreasonable to say that koi are a single major focus for the koi keeper. This is different than when a homeowner focuses on the pond as a water feature or a place to build a mini-ecosystem or wildlife refuge. There, the associated species are often an after thought or a thing to provide movement or color. They can be a random collection of circumstance and impluse or maybe looked at as a community of living things- from dragon flies to fish. The point being that they are all parts of the pond or water feature.
But I think from that singular focus on only koi, there is a desire to build the right kind of environment for that particular pet. And so it has been and evolved since the first wave of keepers in the 1960s. And now, in 2007, we have a real handle on what the environment should be and how it should best be maintained. Experience IS the best teacher. In 1976, Ed Fujimoto wrote the first editoral page in the brand new KOI USA. He said in his mission statement;

KOI USA is dedicated to all koi lovers and is published in hopes that it will be looked upon as a focal point, the sounding board , and bible for the much needed communication concerning koi activities in the USA.
KOI USA attempts to upgrade the knowledge level of USA koi fanciers so that some day, we can proclaim to the world that US koi ( knowledge) is competitive with the best.

From this mind set came proper koi keeping techniques, koi appreciation and modern koi ponds.
The giant water garden industry has produced the water garden pond. But it is the tiny koi community and the dedicated koi hobbyists that created the modern koi pond.

JR

[MikeM]

And, watergardens are beautiful! Why mess one up with an oversized fish that tears everything up? Koi in a watergarden is the proverbial bull in a china shop.

[MikeM]

....not going to grow lilies like that with rambunctious koi around.

[kent wallace]

For me a Koi pond is a decorative WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT. Koi eat and excrete. It's how the system deals with what the fish excrete and at the same time provides them with what they need for optimal health and growth that makes it a koi pond. The needs of the fish come first and then the object is to make it beautiful. Aesthetics follow form, form follows function, function is all about the needs of the fish.

[MCA]

Quote: The needs of the fish come first and then the object is to make it beautiful. Aesthetics follow form, form follows function, function is all about the needs of the fish.

That says it all when it comes to a koi pond!!!!!