OH my goodness! Look how clear your water is and how beautiful your fish are! Those are just gorgeous!!!

Ahhhh! Thanks for the fix Joann! My how the pups have grown!

S

What a great thing to see first thing in the morning! They and your pond are just gorgeous as always. Glad to see Mr. Red nosey again, just love that little fishy. Debbie

Your fish are the cutest on the planet, as always, Joann! Koi lips have to be some of the most kissable, that's for sure.

Wait long enough, and I bet we'll see them grow legs and walk up on land to get nummy-nums. :D

Brenda

Don't like cheerios much do they? You should send one of photos into them.

I love looking at your pix's just beautiful :o)

*** giant grin ***

:) Mary

Thank you so much Mary, teri, hnladue, yourit, sockmonkey, sheepco, and destany for your kind words.
Joann

Beautiful pictures of your babies as usual Joann! Thank goodness I did not miss these! Now that I am all relaxed and happy, I can proceed with my day, Thanks!

I am in love with your fish! Where do you find these beauties!?

Absolutely beautiful !!!
Im sure its in the back-posts joan...but tell me again how big your pond is?
The water is real clear and the fish look great !
Mike

Hi Judith, good to hear from you,
Koikeeper, I purchased all my koi at a LI koi nursery
called Surburban water gardens in 1997 and 1998, they all grew up to be beauties, The first koi's were Terminator and Silver and they are the Moms to all my beautiful babies. My most expensive Koi was 15.00
This is Little Red Nose, whose a "pop" to many of our babies, he cost 7.00

{{gwi:203887}}

no matter where he is in the pond his trademark red splotched Red Nose is out of the water...LOL

see what I mean, as soon as I step out the door, the nose knows!

{{gwi:203888}}

Hi Mikey
The pond is about 2500 gallons, we added the dog leg which is 6 ft wide x 13 ft long the second year, the original pond is about 9 x 20 from the beach to the little dock...The love the two sections cause they love to swim long distances. The attached dog leg gave them a lot more surface swimming room.

Cliffandjoann,How long did you have your koi before you had the babies? Beautiful pond and koi!!!

Hi Christian,
The koi were 4 and 5 years old before they spawned.

absoultely perfect pictures. the water looks perfect, the fish look perfect , everything is just perfect. will you marry me?

How do you keep your water so clean?
Its always like that in all your past pictures also.
Mike

Thanks oppa,
Mikey, No rocks on the bottom (I only have rocks in the beach section) We have a bottom drain, a gravity fed system. We clean the filters once a week, unless we see that the water not sharp, then we may do it sooner. We use a skimmer this time of year cause of the pollen dropping from the oak trees. We don't have to use the skimmer after May. We do frequent water changes, from Spring through Fall, changing about 30 to 35 % of the water each week by adding about 10 to 15 minutes of water each day, fortunately we don't have to use de-chlor in our area. We do not need to use a uv light and we never use chemicals, never.
Our water is always clear and crisp, the last algae bloom we had was in Spring of 1998, the first spring after we put in the pond...after that we got what I call our ponding groove, and never had a bloom since.
Right now our water is a slightly tea color from the pollen,
that will last for a couple of weeks than our water quality go back to normal.

Water changes, proper filtration and clean filters is our secret.
If any wants I can cut and paste from my documents how our system works. It's a very basic DIY gravity fed system.

These are from this afternoon
{{gwi:188839}}

{{gwi:203889}}

{{gwi:203890}}

Wow! Beautiful! Can you come over to KS and help me with my pond?? =)) You're what I aspire too Joanne!

That last one looks like a watercolor, Joann. I really love your pups! They're way better than rock stars. :D

Brenda

Did you have any problems adding the dogleg on? What did you use to join the liner pieces? Any leaks?

Thank you Brenda and tcp

Splish splash. The dog leg is a name the head groundskeeper
(who also doubles as my DH) gave that section of the pond :)
It wasn't hard but it wasn't easy either. Good thing about it is the fish can stay in the pond.
We dropped the water level down about 18" to work on the pond ...where it is pieced is only 15" deep..it is a narrow passage actually about 32" wide (before the rocks go back) first you dig your new pond, then take the rocks away from the area, drop the water level, clean the liner real well. we attached the liners together with double faced tape as well as GE silicone. then we cut some liner strips (like a big bandaid)
and and applied the bandaid on top with more silicone. We waited the recommended days for it to completely cure, then filled the pond and put the rocks back.

Now if this ever sprung a leak the most that the water level can drop is 12" (that is where it is pieced.

Here is a pic, the left side the pond is 3 1/2 feet deep, the dog leg on the right side is 2 foot deep (except where it is pieced -- that's one foot deep

the orange koi is in the deep section and the white koi is in the dog leg.
If you want I can make drawings on how we did it, but not until Friday, cause I'm working tomorrow.

Joann

{{gwi:203891}}

Here's a pic from standing on the dock, Terminator is coming back into the 3 1/2 foot main pond. The left side is the dog leg -- that's only 2 foot deep.

{{gwi:203892}}
Here's Terminator, in the dog leg, about to re-enter the main pond. All the big flat rocks running across is to hide all the silicone lines. It looks like the rocks are high up, but there is actually about 10" of water on top of the rocks.

{{gwi:203893}}

This is another pic of the front of the dog leg, which we have dying into a little beach section...Since the water is shallow when you get down to the dog leg section, they often congregate there standing still to take sun baths. However, as soon as they 'hear ' me come out, they make a rapid u-turn and race to the other beach, cause that's where they get fed.
and I mean they are racing full speed ahead. They are like puppies always hungry.

the end of the dog leg.

{{gwi:203894}}

Racing to the other beach...
{{gwi:203895}}

Hi!
I have just been looking at your fantastic photos! What a beautiful pond you have. I can honestly say it is the best I have ever seen. The fish look absolutely wonderful. It must take up a lot of your time, but surely worth every minute. New to this forum today, and I'm so pleased to have joined - if just to see your pictures!

Cliff and Joan, it has been a long while since I have seen your exotic pond and the kids. It is an amazing thing to see no mater how often one sees it. It is one of the most soothing, peaceful sights I have ever seen. And seeing the pics is almost as good as being there (but not quite ;)

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you flounder and welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy it here.
Thanks Forgiven, there is nothing like a pond to get one started into turning your entire
backyard into your very own cozy retreat.

Joann

Joann,

Your pond and water babies are beautiful as always. I go to your site quite often to get my "inspiration fix". I always enjoy seeing your pics. Thanks for sharing. Sandi

Ditto to what everyone else has already said, Joann! I actually found your site before I found this forum and was thrilled to see your postings here. You provide so much great info on how to have a quality koi pond without the sterile look so many associate with that kind of pond-- the best of both worlds! :-)

Sherry

I absolutely love your pond and koi. Picture perfect!