The Pond Digger Grow Out Stats

[The Pond Digger]

Here is a shot of my number 53 Shiro. She is a JUMBO! Measuring out at a whopping 9"! I have a crazy notion that the males grow a little faster than the females in the first stages of development.......Is she Male? We'll find out!

[The Pond Digger]

Here is my girl 108. Measuring out at 7". When I picked this fish originally she had a nice split in her left pectoral fin. When we bagged her there was definitely an improvement however when I was ready to release her into the pond it appeared back to it's original status. I contemplated keeping her in an aquarium QT to see if I could patch her up faster but opted not to considering the warm aquarium is on 80 gallons. We'll see how she mends in 3000 gallons of cold water..........

[The Pond Digger]

Here is my special non-text book girl. She came in at 7.25" and cute as a button.

The Pond Digger

[The Pond Digger]

Here is my Trio of Shiros just before releasing them into my new pond! BTW, I picked out a couple of Dianichi Showas and a checker boardish Kohaku to raise up with my Shiros........



The Pond Digger

[The Pond Digger]

I had a little scare this morning.........

Yesterday after I released the Trio of Shiro and friends, I went to net the pond and it wasn't as quick and easy as I anticipated! Long story short, I ripped the net and went net-less last night.

This A.M. I went out to check on the group and as I suspected my skimmer fish guards that I snagged from Kent Wallace are designed to keep larger fish out of the skimmer. I found a Showa in the skimmer! Luckily it's a huge gravity flow skimmer with plenty of room and water! I tossed the Showa back in the pond and then turned the air off the drain so I could view the ladies.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five....... CRANKY! Where is fish number 6? NUMBER 53 is missing! I've had them less than 14 hours!

One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five....... Still missing! Pacing all the way!

Look in the CETUS. NO number 53! So, I start looking for a dried up crispy number 53 around the pond. Round and a round and a round I go. Again and Again. Look in the CETUS again!

Then I notice a couple of the stray cats sitting on the rabbit cages just barely out of sight! #@#$!

One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five.......
One, Two, Three, Four, Five....... STILL MISSING! Pacing all the way!

DEEP, DEEP BREATH.

Then one final last stitch effort, I turn off the pump and take apart the ACCELERATOR Static Pre-Filter to get a peek into the bottom of the Wave 24 settlement tank.

BAM! There's number 53! Sweating like Tom Brady in the Forth Quarter of yesterdays game, I grab a net and scoop the silly fish out.

Luckily it's a 3" gravity fed skimmer circuit that dumps into the large settlement tank. She was unharmed and in perfect condition! No harm no foul!

I played with the fish guard a bit and adjusted them slightly, turned the skimmer flow down and opened up the mid-water drain a bit.

Around lunchtime I tested the temp running at 54 degrees, tossed in a bit of wheat germ based Hikari fish food that I soaked for ten minutes and the group showed me a healthy appetite!

The koi pond is now netted so I can sleep easy. Let's hope I don't have anymore visitors to the skimmer!

Stressfully,

The Pond Digger

[RookieKoiGuy]

You keep me entertained reading your posts

RookieKoiGuy Grow out Form

[The Pond Digger]

One, Two, Three, Four, Five,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Six!!!! WHEW! Day two and all are accounted for, life is good!

DON'T WORRY, this should all wear off by the 150th day or so. Then I won't bug you with the counting results!

No seriously, I am already planning my next grow out tank! I will start on it in the next few weeks. I plan using the same structural design and frame work but will install different components for filtration. Probably a NEXUS filter off the bottom drain, the next size larger FlowRanger waterfall filter, Wave pump, Aqua-UltraViolet U.V., maybe a shower filter of sorts and what not. On the next pond I will make the pond a bit deeper. This one's only 4' deep.

I do have a method behind my MADNESS! In the next year or so I plan on building a large koi pond in my backyard by the pool and B-B-Q where we spend most of our non-working hours. In these grow out ponds I plan on bringing in a grip of high-end tosai.

I will thin them out (as needed) and each time I thin them, I will pick the ugliest of the best! In a year or two I will be left with one or two dozen of the sexiest of the bunch!

When all said and done, my koi pond will be stocked with my favorite and the most charismatic koi from the grow outs and be left with a couple large QT ponds for playing around with!

When does the next grow out challenge start?

Have a great day.............

The Pond Digger

[The Pond Digger]

At least you can't get on me for not participating! I think that kind of lashing would last much longer and possibly even leave a scar!

The Pond Digger

Quote: Originally Posted by luke frisbee PD I am just tired thinking about how much work you did for these shiros...and even more tired seeing how much you've done to show us thanks

[The Pond Digger]

I got the ABS panels at a Specialty Plastics House, but open to the public here in Southern California. They sell piles of acrylic and even bean bags!

The Pond Digger

Quote: Originally Posted by Sangreaal Where do you find the ABS panels? I checked Home Depot (the only place within 40 miles) and they have never heard of them. *LOL* Offered me 40mil FPS panels as a substitute....

[The Pond Digger]

Sangreaal,

I'm not totally pleased with the photos I took but at least have a good recording of what the sumi was/is doing at this time frame. We took some photos at Mystic Koi with their camera and my card but when I got home my Nikon of course wouldn't read the card because we used their Canon. Luckily, I took the time to take some more photos when I got home.

I have already planned on making sure my next photo shoot is top notch. Additionally, I have been thinking about out of the box koi photo shoots because of you. If you look through a tropical fish encyclopedia, many of those great scientific style photos are taken in super skinny aquariums, inside of aquariums! To keep the fish in the correct position long enough to photograph, yet still appear to be in a natural environment!

I am thinking of how to have a large aquarium on location during bowling of the koi for their six month photos. Move them into the aquarium for a couple of minutes for some side way shots. In the right circumstance the fish may give up a couple nice charismatic photos.

The photos won't have as much charisma as the ones you are showing off because your fish have been in the aquarium long enough to relax and be themselves. None the less, I'm sure the photos could be worthwhile.

Either that or spend the cash on some good underwater camera equipment! That sounds like less work and much more fun! Either way, I'm going to get some side shots for you!

The Pond Digger

Quote: Originally Posted by Sangreaal Oh cool! Can't wait to see your new babies! Get some good shots before you put them in that new Pond, Digger. I'll keep my promise...