Large bullfrogs are a tadpole for 2 years. If things ate them ther would be no frogs on earth. The way they have protection is their Tails. If I put 3 five gal buckets of bulfrog tadpoles in a take on my fish truck an a fish gets in there the fish will be dead in a few mins. This is because of the poison in the tadpoles tails getting into the water. So no fish will eat tadpoles. Now I have seen here Hybrid bluegills eat toad tadpoles. This is because a toad is a tadpole just a few weeks and does not have the 2 years tail protection like the big frogs need. I ahv raised fish 40 years now and hate having 50,000 frog tadpoles in apond with fish then drain it and have to SORT by hand 1-2-3-4-50,000 tadpoles from the fish. Bar graders do not work if the fish are the same size, you have be careful not to mix then in a small tank and kill fish. My fish farm is for sale now and hope i do not have sort tadpoles soon :( rest my life :( Type LIVE FISH OF INDIANA for photos --i dont think i still haev tadpole pictures there ?

I can understand your hesitation to put the koi outside... especially when you've enjoyed him inside all this time! My suggestion is to make the tank (this is if you're going the DIY route) as wide as possible, along with being long. Koi really do like to be able to "stretch their fins" and swim. GF and Koi do produce quite a bit of waste, which is why if anything concentrate on a good filtering system to keep the water as clean as possible - along with being rigidly routine about water changes. On my goldfish tank (seriously overcrowded and I myself have to start thinking upgrade - hence my thoughts on indoor pond) I have two filters - a marineland biowheel filter and an eheim cannister filter. It keeps the water crystal clear and clean. I DO have to make sure I'm doing a 25% water change at least every two weeks if not every week - which is easy enough to do with the Python water changing system. If you go to the pond site, you will find folks who will say not less than 100 gallons per koi to not less than 500 gallons per koi!! There are also folks out there in this country that want the town of Fishkill, NY to change its name because it's current name sounds cruel to fish (although "kill" is a Dutch word for river or stream, which is why it's called Fishkill. Go figure!) So don't take any stuff you read here or on any other message boards too personally. Just glean the info that you know is useful for your situation. On a side note... I do have an outdoor pond. It's definitely a challenge when dealing with outdoor predators, but it IS doable. Something to think about in the far future (although you may not want to put your koi out there immediately until you would be perfectly assured that you've figured out the best methods to keep your fish safe!) Good luck.

I have overwintered fish before, successfully, but it needs to be done in the basement on a cement floor. Filtering is easy, the only cost is a pump. 1. You find a large heavy plastic container, a Rubbermaid storage container is perfect or a tall barrel often sold as a rain barrel. 2. Set this container onto something that raises the bottom of it as high as the side of the pool. I used cement blocks to build a stable base for mine. 3. Put a drain hole in the bottom of the side of the container so the water can drain out into the pool. I put my cement blocks and the entire thing inside the pool but you can put it beside the pool as long as the water drains out the hole in the side bottom and into the pool without leaking onto the floor. 4. Fill the container with filter media of some kind. There are a lot of things you can use for this. Plastic dish and bath scrubbies work well(ones without soap), as does clean lava rock with no additives. Anything to increase the surface area for bacteria to grow on. (Quilt batting is too dense). You want to establish a good bacteria culture in the media. It is this bacteria that removes the ammonia from the water as it flows through the filter. This really doesn't take two months. Two weeks is more like it, especially if you seed it with bacteria from another fish filter, either pond or aquarium. 5. Run the pump inside the pool sitting on a brick, with an output hose that runs the water into the top of the plastic filter container. If you are indoors and there's not a lot of splashing, you won't need a lid on it. The outflow hole in the bottom side of the filter container needs to be four times the size of the inflow hose. If it is not that large, the filter will slow the water down enough to cause it to overflow. Filtering a pond is really very simple. You don't need anything more complicated than the pump. Get a pump that moves the gallons through the filter about four times a day. That will be your biggest or only expense. I use this type of filter for my outdoor pond too. An out-of-pond filter like this one works much better than an underwater pump filter. It doesn't have to be ugly plastic. I had one that was in a huge terra cotta pot and I put a few impatiens in the top. (yes, ordinary garden impatiens love growing bare root in water). It is called a "trickle tower" filter. Google it and you will get a lot of information. Rule of thumb for fish is this: one gallon of water for every inch of fish, including tail. If you have a super filtration system, you can get away with more. They will grow through the winter if your water is warm enough. I would also add a lot of plants to the water to help keep it healthy. One that I like a lot for aquariums, doesn't need much light and the fish don't eat it: Creeping Jenny! (Yes, the same ground cover with yellow flowers in the garden). I grow it in my pond too, in the pots to hide the rims. Just root pieces in a glass and stick in water bare root with a little rock to hold them in place. One word of caution: Putting koi in a 2' new home will usually cause them to jump out. If they have been sitting out on the floor, even overnight, just put them back in, even if they look dead. They will probably recover (here speaks the voice of experience).

Hi, Last fall I dug out and constucted a 15 by 15 foot pond with a waterfall on one end. The deep end is about three foot but then it tapers to about 6 inches. I have kept goldfish out there this winter by leaving a hole in the ice and a pump running. Of course over the winter I have been bitten by the Koi bug and have been given a beautiful platinum one and also purchased 3 others. Just mutts. But from what I am reading should I be concerned about them jumping out in the shallow end. If this will be a problem should I use netting at water level or higher and also what kind? Seems kind of annoying to have it showing. I think I can anchor my water lilies with alot of rocks but then if I need to use a net how will they come up? Any help for a newbie would be much appreciated. I live in southern Minnesota. At what temapture does the water have to be to put the Koi out and will they fight with the goldfish? They are all about the same size. Happy gardening! :) gardin angel