Koi Whisperer Blog

Oh Baby! - Culling Day

2011-09-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

We emptied the baby pond and caught all the babies. Had to decide which ones to keep over the winter and which ones to lose. We have put up the culls for sale at $1 apiece. Very inexpensive for koi, but it's the end of the season and they are unpredictable colors.

We estimate 600 healthy koi. Way more than we've ever seen. I guess we did a good job raising them over the summer. Maybe too good.

First we emptied half the water.

Chris was able to catch most of the babies in the 1/2 full pond, but we eventually emptied all the water to find the final few smart babies.

We collected the fish in plastic buckets and separated them into sell pile, lower pond, upper pond and aquarium piles. (Yes, we broke down and set up an aquarium for the winter. We ended up with 20 lucky babies wintering indoors. Currently they are very unhappy, but they'll get used to it.)

The picture above is the culls. They are for sale for $1 each.

The picture below are the keeps. They will be for sale in the Spring. Price will depend on their size and color.

It was a lot of work - about 6 hours of culling and getting everyone settled. But they are cute, aren't they??

Feeding time and a big surprise!

2011-07-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

A sunny Saturday.

The babies come running (swimming?) for feeding time. Chris is feeding them store bought koi food that he has ground up in a blender to make it small enough for the fry.

This is one of the fish we will likely keep at least until next year. We named it Mimi. We are looking for more red and white in our pond, and this little sweetie fits the need.

After their koi food, they get their favorite dessert - hard boiled egg yolks. They devour it!!

A couple pictures of colors and sizes.

There he is!! A good picture of Big Red.

This is Momo. She is a keeper.

We got a big surprise this past week. We spotted a fish we thought had been captured by a critter!! We hadn't seen this fish since June. And there it is.....We had named it Nicho - which means two red spots. (I think!) But we've now renamed it, Moby. As in - the elusive white whale. This fish was spawned last year and somehow managed to remain hidden when we captured all of last year's babies. We missed it and it lived unseen for months. Kind of fun. It stays at the bottom and even thought it's white and large (6 or 7 inches) we still have to search to spot Moby.

They're getting big and getting names

2011-07-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

An overview of the secondary pond. This pond has a lot of vegitation that gives plenty of hiding space for the fry.

The lilies are doing exceptionally well this year.

Hard to say how many we have but they are thriving.

This is Big Red. He is among the biggest of the fry. We are seeing probably 15 fish at this large size.

Big Red isn't the only one who has earned a name. We also have Big Yellow, Big Orange, Other Red, Pirate, Momo and Spot. We don't get creative with the names until we decide who stays and who goes. (Momo means tangarine in Japanese. To us it means, that fish with the orange spots.)

Getting bigger!

2011-07-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Unable to count - we have hundreds of healthy fry. They come running for food and love sitting on the surface in the sun.

You can see that we have a few that are much bigger than the others. We know at least 4 of this larger size.

This picture shows some colors. We see white, yellow, gold, red and black. Oh boy!

Six Weeks Checkup

2011-07-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Babies are looking good at 6 weeks. Lots of color as you can see. I added some flower and leaf pictures to try to give you scale. Most of the babies are at about 3/4 inch to 1 inch long. We saw one today that was significantly bigger than the rest. We are very happy to see lots of red heads and several with spots.

In the upper pond, it is a beautiful Summer day. Suki is enjoying some 'salad' as she eats hyacinth roots. And below are some pictures of the whole school. The red head in the middle is Fuji, our proud mother of nearly all the babies in the lower pond.

Got what we wanted!!

2011-07-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Looks like we got what we wanted. These fry are 4 weeks old and we can see hints of the colors to come. Looks like many of them will resemble their parents. We were looking for lots of red and black markings on a white fish.

We are feeding them freeze dried brine shrimp and hard boiled egg yolks. For now, an uncountable number. Lots and lots!

Hatched Babies and More Spawning !!

2011-06-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

The eggs from Monday hatched!! Ichabod did not die in vain. His thousands of progeny are making their way now. Hope for a good crop!!!

In the meantime, two more females spawned. Our remaining male was involved, but so were three of the younger fish. We were able to identify three of our four year olds as male.

The neighbor asked, "how can you tell they spawned?" One way is we looked at the water.

The water is covered with foam. Also, the cattails are all broken from the violence. It's a pretty harsh process. The male pushes the female against the rocks to help release the eggs.

Right now, the fish are enjoying a feast of fresh eggs. We'll see how many fry survive.

Sad News

2011-06-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Ichabod has died. We think it was post-Koital stress. RIP

Blessed Event!!

2011-06-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well, that didn't take long. Fuji and Ichabod must be very comfortable in their private pond because they were already "busy" this morning. They've only been in the secondary pond for two days and are taking full advantage. As a general rule, the fish become stressed after being captured and moved, so we didn't expect them to be relaxed enough to spawn so quickly.

We expect to be the proud guardians of thousands of fry within the week!!

Spring capture! (Or is it rapture?)

2011-06-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

Time to thin the herd - or cull the school - We need to sell the baby fish, so in Chris went to start the capture. They are clever little things and they can jump quite high and quite quickly! But he managed to capture them.

Chris uses a two-net method. Chase the little cuties with one net and make they leap into the other one.

These are the babies we are keeping for another year. We enjoy watching them grow and develope their color patterns. We've been trying to add more red to our collection, so we're keeping this red-head and the red and white. We're also looking for a tancho koi - white with a red dot on its head, so we have high hopes for the white one. The fourth one was a surprise. The pretty yellow markings are unusual and we just want to see how it turns out.

We also paired up a couple to see if we can collect more sanke babies. Sanke is a white koi with red and black markings. We moved two very large koi to the secondary pond and hope they like each other enough to mate and produce thousands of little red and black marked babies. We'll see. So far, they seem pretty happy. They are swimming side by side, happily destroying the plantings in the pond.

The red-head is Fuji, a 12 year old female.
The white fish is Ichabod Koi - a male, about 10 years old.
Both are 24 inches long and both were quite insulted to have been captured. Wish them luck!

One year olds and three mature fish for sale!

2011-06-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here are sample pictures of the babies we have for sale this year.

The biggest are nearly 6 inches!! Most are around 4 inches. Smallest is 2 inches.

$3.00 for those under 5 inches. $10 for 5 or 6 inches.

We also have two four year olds and a 9 year old for sale.
A pair of 4 year olds - Genders unknown. - $75 a pair. 1 Orange face, black and orange body - 12 inches long. 1 White with black markings. 14 inches long.

22 inches butterfly female. $300 oba

Finally, Sunshine!!

2011-05-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Finally, the fish get some sun. And we're pretty excited about it too. They are swimming and jumping and enjoying the warmth.

This is Sake. (She is for sale this year.) She is a beautiful butterfly Ogon.

We are up and running for the season

2011-04-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

The green is all cleared out. We bought a new UV filter this year and, along with a couple days of rain, it cleared out the green water in less than a week. Here are some pictures of the water. You can see clear through to the bottom.

No signs of injury or illness from the winter. Everyone looks healthy.

Above are the one year olds. Several of them will be put up for sale in two months.

In this picture, you can see one of our Midorigoi - which is a green colored fish. She is the small one closest to the camera. We have two right now. This is Hoshi. We purposely bred the next door neighbor's Midorigoi with our butterfly Gold Ogon to see if we could get some Midorigoi for ourselves. We ended up with Hoshi and Jade. Both are healthy and growing. Jade is bigger. Hoshi has a bit more blue in her coloring.

Here is a good picture of the babies with the some of the elders. In the very center is Madam Butterfly (a four year old). She has the prettiest butterfly fins we've seen. She truly decorates the pond with her beauty.

Spring is here and we couldn't be happier!!

Spring Muck-out Day

2011-04-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

Spring muck-out day!!

Winter holds on with small pockets of snow, but the crocuses are peeking and the lilacs are budding, so we know Spring is coming.

First, light a fire so we can warm our hands and feet.

Thankfully, we have awesome neighbors who share the chores. We help them with their pond and they pitch in with ours.

You can see how green the water is coming out of winter.

It looks like the babies survived the winter. We'll have 30 or 40 for sale in May or June. We lost one adult fish to an unnamed and unncaught critter. Sad, but not too unexpected. We have lots of racoons in the neighborhood.

Muck out day traditionally ends with a big breakfast!!

Moving the babies for the Winter

2010-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today's project was to move the babies in the secondary pond to the main pond. It is easier to care for only one pond over the winter - so we joined the two schools. The blueberry and strawberry plants are beautiful fall red!

Thelma is always there to 'help out.'

Had to remove the netting.

Chris catches and Dan transfers. We ended up catching 23 fish.

Incredible size difference. Geisha looks like a whole other generation, but she's one of the gang.

We will be keeping Geisha and also the two with the red heads, Momo and Mini-spot.

I got a picture of all three four-colored fish. Spot, Mini-spot and Tiny-spot!

The bottom pictureis of letting them go in the main pond and them finding their way. They seem pretty happy. Geisha has decided to hang out with the big fish. The others all joined the baby school.

Getting Ready for Fall

2010-10-09T11:08:00.001-07:00

Covering both ponds for the fall is a big job.

It is sad to put away the Summer sitting area.

I took a picture of the beech tree over the lower pond to give an idea of why we need to cover the ponds with netting. When those leaves fall, they create a tea in the pond that robs the water of oxygen.

I also took a picture of the maple tree - it's a monster and it is planning to drop every one of those leaves into our pond....unless we stop it!!

In the last picture, you can see the fish protected by both the falling leaves and the migrating great blue herron. Cats and squirrels always manage to figure out how to get under the netting to get their drinks - but the bird cannot get in!

Baby Pictures October 9

2010-10-09T11:02:00.001-07:00

Three new pictures - they really don't want to be called 'babies' anymore - they are growing so fast. In the top picture, you can see Geisha but under her, with the red head is Momo and on the right you can see Spot. This is a good picture of the various colors that are developing.

The second picture shows Spot and Mini-spot.

The Third picture is Geisha and Goldie....and other Goldie and a couple other Goldies. On the right is one we think might be blue. Too early to tell. And in the background is Mini-spot.

Upper Pond Group

2010-10-03T08:39:00.001-07:00

The group in the upper (primary) pond number about 28. In the first picture lower mid-right is 'Fiji'. We are hoping he grows to be a tri-color with lots of bright red. Right now he has a red head and some red on his sides.

The second picture is a nice overview of both schools, the elders and the babies.

Picture number three shows Ichabod (and Fuji at the very top) looking over the children.

The final picture is Suki and the kids.

Lower Pond Group

2010-10-03T08:26:00.001-07:00

Today's pictures of the group in the lower (secondary) pond. Our current count is 18 fish - survivors of a group of hundreds. You can see the varying colors and sizes in these three pictures.

The second picture shows 'Spot' - a black and white with red on his head, and 'Momo' a white with orange spots. I also see 'Mini Spot' and "Ninja jr.' as well as various fish called Sunny, Blackie, Whitey.....

The third picture shows a clear view of Geisha, our champ. Amazing how much bigger she is that the rest.

Nessie re-named

2010-09-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

This is the babies at feeding time. Nessie is the big white one in the upper right. There are five others in the is picture - Goldie, SmallSpot, Momo and two generically called, Dusty.

Nessie is about 4 1/2 inches long. We have re-named her. We have always liked the name Geisha and our last fish named Geisha died last year in an unidentified critter attack. So we have re-bestowed the name to this champion. We will keep her next year when we sell the rest. Wonder how beautiful she will get.

About 20 or 25 healthy babies in the main pond

2010-09-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

The top picture shows several babies joining the elders at feeding time. This picture shows Samaurai (or oldest), Sake and Suke and the orange one, named Madam Butterfly because her fins are so beautiful. The babies in this picture haven't earned names yet.

Closeup of the babies at feeding time. They are two inches long in general. In the main pond, the babies are all about the same size. In the secondary pond, the difference in size is 1 inch for the smallest to about 5 inches to the biggest - our champ, Nessie.

Our Champion Babies!!

2010-09-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pictures of Nessie (named so because you rarely see her and when you do, you almost can't beleive your eyes!) She is by far the biggest of the babies. Above she is pictued with Goldie - the second biggest fish. The second pictures shows her next to an average sized baby fish. Nessie is about 5 inches long. The average sized fish is about 2 inches.

The next picture of the second biggest fish (3 inches) with an average sized fish. Meet "Goldie" and "Spot." We have our eyes on Spot - he may be a keeper.

2010-08-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

No pictures today - The camera is on vacation without me!

Update on the baby population. It looks like we are down from hundreds to maybe 20 or 30 baby fish. We are pretty upset about losing so many, but the ones we have are looking really good.

Theories - The most likely is that we overfed them with crushed dry fish food creating a pollution in the water that killed them. We really feel terrible about it and even more, we feel pretty darned stupid. Next time, we'll know better.

Other theories are:
Large frog population is winning the war for pond territory. We are having an unusual year for frogs. We generally have one or two frogs a year, but this year, there are at least 5 and probably more young frongs living in the pond. Could they have eaten the very small fry?

Gloucester water??? We know Gloucester is adding chloramines to its wter this year and we know that cholramines in the water kill goldfish. What we didn't know is that sometimes Rockport taps into Gloucester's water supply. Did we accidentally add chloramine water to our pond? If so, were the big ones affected? It doesn't appear so. Only the very small babies died.

Too many plants - the water hyacinths have taken over in such good weather. Were there somany plants that there wasn't enough surface area to provide sufficient oxygen to the fish? We have a fountain and a waterfall in the pond. Probably not the cause....

Anyway - the biggest baby is now 3 inches long and she is a beauty!! Lovely yellow ogan (metallic.)

We have two red heads and we are hoping to keep one of them for ourselves. We also have several with yellow heads and several blacks and oranges.

More next week!! (with pictures!)

Perspective

2010-07-30T06:52:00.001-07:00

These pictures capture the sizes of the three generations in the main pond. There are perhaps 20 - 30 fry living happily among their parents. We generally see 10 - 14 at a time, but have to image there are many we can't see.

Above, the fry are in the lower right of the picture. The blue and the white are the parents' generation and the other four are three years old.

On the left, the fry are in the lower right center just below the rocks. On the right - they are more centered.

Dwindling numbers - but good lookin' kids - Week six

2010-07-30T06:43:00.001-07:00

The colors are more pronounced and it's fun to see them develop. We are especially excited to see a red-head (Showa) in the picture on the right - we would like to add another good looking showa to our pet group - but so far, have not had much success.

We are worried about numbers - the babies seem to be dying more quickly and in greater numbers than we'd expected. I did some research and we are worried that our use of dry fish food may be poluting the water more than the fry can handle. We've stopped giving them powdered dry fish food. They now get shrimp or egg yolk until they get bigger. In the picture below, they are enjoying a summer shrimp cocktail.

Other theories - the more fish die, the more pollution in the water creating a cycle. OR - too many surface plants cutting oxygen to the water. We did remove many of the water hyaciths to give them more water serface. They have a waterfall and a fountain, so should have plenty of air.

More next week!

The Elders

2010-07-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of the elders playing in the waterfall. This is a preview of what the babies will look like. In the above picture, the eldest is upper left - black with a yellow head - a male. The other male is the large white with black spots upper right. The laying females are the red-head (right side), and the all gold butterfly and the blue (lower left - blue above gold.) The smaller fish in the picture are the three year olds born in the pond.

The frog? Just a friend.

Playing in the waterfall. Altogether, we have 14 fish in the main pond (not counting at least 20 of this year's generation hiding under the rocks.)

Week Six - Earning Names

2010-07-24T08:08:00.001-07:00

Above you see red dots - that is crushed koi food. The white blotches are boiled egg yolk - the fish love their protein!

The biggest fish are two inches long and are starting to earn names. In this picture, you can see "Rudolf" on the right (bright nose), and Samurai Jr. near the top (black with yellow head - named after his father.) The orange ones are mostly named "Sunny" and the black ones are mostly called "Ninja." The multi-colored fish are named "Spot." We'll see how the grow.

Above you see three black fish and four yellow fish each about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long.

A good view of the size differences. The smallest ones just aren't growing as fast or strongly as the larger ones. The small ones are dying off - we can tell the population is dwindling. The strongest ones will survive. They have to be strong to survive a New England winter.

Week Five - how they grow.

2010-07-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

Thelma guards the baby pond against preditors.

You can see how some are growing way more significantly than others.

We fed them shrimp for breakfast - they LOVED it!

This is a good picture of the biggest of the bunch - enjoying breakfast. We also see some color variations. We still haven't seen any red, but we're optimistic when we see the mottled black. Red will be the last color to develop.

Week Four

2010-07-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

We got some good shots today - it is so sunny out it is hard to believe we are expecting thunderstorms.

We can already see quite a variety of sizes and some colors too! We have a few fish that are almost two inches long....but they are quick (and smart) and we didn't get pictures. The biggest ones in these pictures are just over an inch long.

2010-07-10T07:25:00.001-07:00

You can see two black ones and four or more white ones in this picture.

Black w yellow head on the bottom. Also near the bottom, you see a few very small fish.

2010-07-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

You can see a black fish with yellow head in the bottom of this picture.

And in the right hand picture, you can see a spotted fish. We don't know if he will develop any red (hi), but we know he'll be fun to watch as he does develop.

Here we have four distinct sizes and three colors. There is a black one with a yellow head at the bottom.

2010-07-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

This one highlights the various sizes we see. The big one here is about one and one quarter inches long.

Week Four - seeing colors

2010-07-10T07:14:00.001-07:00

Sunny morning so we were able to get some great pictures. The babies are growing at varying rates and we can see some colors! We did spot three that measured nearly two inches, but the norm right now is less than one inch, though the variety is stricking.

2010-07-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

Week three (two) July 3

You can already see that some fish are growing faster and developing color. Here is a picture of 'Tiger', 'Goldie' and 'Spot',

The other 900 are still named 'Nemo.' Feel free to make suggestions to name the Nemos.

Several views of the fry

2010-06-26T10:21:00.001-07:00

Thousands of babies .....

A little perspective - you can see the two week olds on the left and some one week olds above froggy.

Mostly one week olds with a two week old cousin in the middle.

Side by side - a two week and a one week old fry right next to each other in the center right of the picture.

With their friend, the tadpole!

Week two fry pictures

2010-06-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the fry growing up!! They grow so fast!

You can see how small they are compared to our resident frog. In this pictures, the younger generation is circled. The other fish are older by one week.

Babies!!!!

2010-06-26T10:10:00.001-07:00

We love the babies!!

The first spawning was June 5 and it involved our two ogon females. We had another spawning on June 12 with our Sanke female.

So we now have a recognizable separate generations. Week one and week two.

We will continue to take pictures every Saturday until winter stops us.

Pick your favorites - we will have them for sale next spring!!

2009-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great summer. It was a very wet one here in New England so that means the fall leaves are going to be very bright and beautiful AND PLENTIFUL.

It is time to put up the netting over your ponds so that the leaves don't turn your pond into a big bowl of tea. Your fishies wont like that very much.

(The first year we got the pond we didn't put up the netting and we lost all our fish.)

Here are a few pictures of our netting in 2008.

August is murky

2009-08-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Heat and lack of rain has let the algae grow. At least in our pond it has!!

What to do?????

First, don't panic. Our pond has always been more murky in August. Doesn't mean we have to like it!

Do a partial water change. Drain the pond about half and add in new, clean water.
Be sure to add some salt - the pond needs it for best health - fish need for gill function. Also, algea doesn't like salt!!
We use - Doctors Foster and Smith Water Repair Pond Salt. Ok to use Morton non-idodized salt.
This is a good time to add algea fighter too. You can find it at any pet store or at Doctors F&S web site!
Lastly, double check your UV filter to make sure it is still working! (The bulb needs to be replaced about every two years!)

Post your algea fighting hints here!! We could all use a tip!!!!

The elders

2009-07-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

Some of our favorites are pictured here. It is not always easy to get a good fish picture. Here, our elders are sunning on a great July day, the water is clear and the fish are happy.

2009-07-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

"Big Blue" the Fish killer!

The story of Geisha

2009-07-13T06:31:00.001-07:00

Do you have a favorite Koi color? We tend to try to balance the pond by having lots of different colors. Our large fish are a mixture of yellow, black, red, blue and white. We used to have a pure white fish - we lost her to an unidentified critter. We are currently raising three white baby fish to chose one to replace our lost Geisha. Geisha had been born in the pond and survived the winter. We didn't know she existed until the following spring. She was strong and native and we miss her. (You know, as much as you can miss a fish.) At the time we found Geisha, we were not raising the Koi fry, we were letting nature take its course. And by doing so, we were left with exactly one fish baby. As you can see by other posts, when we intercede on nature's behalf, we can find ourselves with hundreds of babies.

The rambling point is, Geisha was special to us, because she was our first pond-born fish. She was 24 inches long when the critter got her, and the queen of the pond. She led the other fish at feeding time. (They wait for one fish to start before they all come running.) She was the biggest and prettiest fish we had.

She was a survivor. We first found her in a pile of muck (outside the pond) when we were cleaning the lower pond. During Spring Cleaning, we scoop out the old fish waste and throw it into the trees and grass for fertilizer. She was 1 inch long at the time. We put her back in the upper pond and she proceded to grow. Then we had a visit by the dreaded Blue Heron.

That Bast...d proceded to eat most of our fish and gave Geisha a nasty cut/scar across her forhead. She grew some more and started having babies. In the process the Males were a little rough on her and broke her back. She swam crooked for a year but eventually healed.

Now we have three contenders for the job of pure white fish. We'll see how they grow and we'll pick the one that reminds us most of Geisha.

Koi fun

2009-07-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am convinced we bought this house because of the double pond in the backyard. Since then, we have made many improvements to the filtration system and the surrounding landscape. One of the biggest changes was ridding the ponds of the goldfish and adding koi fish. Koi are a colorful version of Carp that long ago were raised as food for mountain people in Asia - similar to how people raise chickens for food.

Now they are entertainment.Every morning and evening we rely on them to entertain us. In the evening they help wind us down. (The glass of wine doesn't hurt in that capacity either.) We have become somewhat obsessed with breeding and finding the perfect colors. At present we are foster parents to hundreds of koi born in early July in our ponds. Most are approximately 1/2 inch long, but we have spotted a dozen or so that are two inches long and one that is four inches long! We call her Nessie, because you really can't believe she exists, but there are those who swear they've seen her! Come winter, we will bring 20 or 30 into the house to entertain us over the long winter when the bigger, long term residents are sleeping the season away under the ice.We've had the ponds for 11 years and have learned so much that husband has become known in certain circles as "the fish whisperer."In the Spring, we will be here with 1 year old koi for sale or trade, and questions and advice about spring cleaning and keeping the fish healthy.In the meantime, we would love to know if any of our SandyBayDay friends are pond people or fish collectors.

Can fish be that fascinating?

2009-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

They are for us. We have been observed sitting for hours simply watching the baby koi eat. They love tiny freeze dried shrimp, flaked fish food and hard boiled eggs. Yes, we have cooked for our fish.... don't laugh, I bet you've given your cat tuna or your dog a bit of beef now and again.

We discovered the other night, in a temporary silly moment, that baby koi really enjoy Wheat Thins. Perhaps it was foolish of us, but we decided to share small parts of our appetizer plate with the babies. They loved the crackers!!

The plan for the fall is as follows: we will cover the ponds with netting near the end of September before the big maple tree starts dropping its leaves creating a maple tea in the ponds which, if permitted to go unchecked, sucks out all the oxygen thus drowning the fish. The netting will also keep out Big Blue (the great blue herron on his migration stopover), beautiful, majestic and relentless fish murderer. Big Blue caused the death of seven very beautiful and quite innocent fish one year. He will be stopped by the netting. But beware - if he is stopped at our pond, he will find another - maybe yours????We plan to bring in 30 or so baby fish to live in aquariums for the winter to provide us with entertainment and companionship - since we don't see our outside fish for the entire season. The 30 or so largest fish will be transferred to the bigger of the two ponds where they will, we hope, have the best chance to survive the winter.

The other 1000 babies will put Darwinism to the test and survive if they are strong enough.See you in the Spring!!

Intro post

2009-07-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog!! We love to talk Koi Pond with our friends around New England. We've been raising koi in our backyard for 10 years and have made some mistakes and learned some lessons.

The purpose of the blog is to talk koi. How to care for them, how they entertain us, how to share the fun of our backyard pond.

Join us and spread the word. Tell your friends, we look forward to sharing.

Beth and Chris