Hi Chubby, I am no expert, but do have a couple of ponds and my daughter Amber does know a lot about fish and ponds. They are still working on their new pond and it has been full of water, only a few plants and about 22 butterfly koi in it. So far they do not have the waterfall built or the filter that the water will flow over the top, their water is so clear and we think it is because they installed a skimmer right away. Usually lots of plants will keep the water pretty clear, but then you can't see the fish too much. It has been running since I think maybe May. Anyway, don't be changing the water often and don't feed them too often as that adds to the green water I think. Fish do get very big and are so beautiful. Mine are not that big yet as I started over after a disaster of some kind last summer. I need several of the plants taken out and it would be better. We no longer keep the koi and the goldfish together as they do mix and have half goldfish and half koi. I have one pond for koi and one pond for goldfish. I only have the regular koi and no butterfly koi. I hope my bit helped you. I am sure there are others on here that know a lot more than what I have mentioned. Enjoy your fish.

Sue

We have one koi that is about 20 inches long...the bigger the pond the bigger they will weigh Brian said about 9 lbs.....I can take pics tonight and post if u want....We don't have green water at all we feed (or have friends who feed when we are gone) 2 times aday...if it gets below 50 we stop....Stacy

Thanks! I'll have to research on the skimmer thing....
We feed our once a day.they don't seem to want to eat twice.You have a filter on your pond Stacy? We have one that Larry made from a big garbage can.Ugly ,but it cleared up the green water.It's so stinkin' hot here,I think that contributes to the algae growth.We don't feed in the winter either. I love the Koi,they grow so much faster than the regular goldfish.We just made a new pond,they out grew 2 ponds now.We started with a little pre-formed,then went bigger,now we went even bigger.Pretty soon,I won't hae a yard left! We built a rectangle shape one from landscape timbers that are above the ground about a foot and a half and about 3 1/2 ft deep altogether.Some of it is underground. We put the timbers above ground so I can sit on the side and watch the fish.And the dogs can't fall in.We had dogs falling in the ground level one.Dumb A$$ dogs! LOL! They would try to eat the fishfood and SPLASH...in they'd go!
O'd love to see your fish Stacy and Marilyn if you want to take pics of them! I will wait til he has the pond completely done to take pics of mine.Still has some work to do on it.

I just have a little 100 gallon pond, CR, and only have goldfish. I had a beautiful koi but he was getting too big for our pond so I gave him back to the watergarden guy that gave him to me on my birthday. In 4 months he had gone from about 4" to over a foot long. And they are very destructive, I didn't like that. He's a beauty, though, he's still at the place in their personal pond and we admire him every time we're there.

Our pond gets good shade almost all afternoon so that keeps the algae down. And we have a filter that's about the size of a small playmate cooler, it's all black so you can't hardly notice it in the water.

We have a large natural pond but it tends to dry up in the droughty months so we don't put fish in it anymore. My plants are happy down there, though, it's filled with irises and fiber optic grass and lotuses and floating hearts and parrot fern. Too many chiggers though for me to go traipsing down there these days, so it's on its own.

I can't wait to see your new pond, hurry up and git 'er done!

chubby before we were "hit" by a local blue heron, our first fish, simple .49cent gold fish had grown to 6-8" long! they were about 3-4 year old...since then, having been hit again 2 years ago have (mind you these are goldfish, lol)built a chinese inspired simple 6 ft tall pagoda over them, added netting, and yup, heaters in the winter so the water won't freeze...i do have trouble with alge cause dh loves the way they come to him, and over-feeds them, lol...

just found some gold fish flakes that say they are "cleaner"?? we'll see if they'll eat it...

CR, I have a 3000+ gallon pond and to keep the water clear, you will need a UV light hooked up to your fileter. Water passes over the light, kills the single cell algae and the filter will grab it. A skimmer will only take the top water and move floating thinkgs like leaves out.

As for size of the fish, they will only grow to a length that the pond can maintain. If your koi is very "fat" it may be a girl and she is egg bound, waiting to spawn. If you over stocked, no spawning may occur. Watch her closely as she can become septic from the eggs if not released.

You may want to go over to the ponds forum for more care instructions. With proper care, koi and GF can live for decades. I have had the same GF for 30 years and koi can go to 100.

Peppi

Ponds are such a great hobby! I have two, the original one that is about 8'X10' and 2 1/2 feet deep. It is for plants and filtration now but it has a stream that feeds into the larger pond that is 18'X14' by about 6 feet deep. I lost every single fish last year because of the terrible cold we had. It has taken considerable time to get the water back to crystal clear but it finally is. The new fish are growing but are still rather small compared to my old ones. The old ones used to hand feed cheerios out of your hands...I am trying to teach the new ones this, they sure do love the cheerios! We feed a little each time we are out there, they will follow you around the pond waiting for food. We did have one frog winter over okay and he is pretty tame with us.
If I get a chance I will post pics later.

Our fish follow us around when it's time to eat too....I find it amusing that fish can be so tame.LOL! Larry gets in the pond sometimes if the hose comes off the filter and they all gather around him like little puppies!I don't think we're overstocked,we have 3 kois and 11 goldfish. I'd like some Butterfly Koi but don't think I should put snymore in there.Hoping for some babies! I did have some fish disappearing in the smaller pond,either the neighbors cat or maybe the grackles.I had 3 other Kois and they just disappeared.And when we started,we bought about 40 feeders,never found any bodies,so don't know what happened to them for sure.I have 11 left.
Wow! I didn't realize fish would live that long.Mine are about 3 or 4 yrs old now.All but the one that was born here,I just saw him this year so maybe he's a last years baby that hid til this summer.
I have to get them some Cheerio's,the one bar here has a pond on their patio and that's all they feed their fish and they are beautiful.They have 2 Plecostamus that are HUGE,they bring them in in the winter though.Plecos can't take cold water.Even though it doesn't get bitter cold here,it's still to cold for them.
I do want to get a Water Lily next summer...have to hide it from the Kois somehow.I had two this year and they think it's great fun to take them out of the pots and toss them around! LOL!