Any koi keepers here on Sawmillcreek?

[Bill Jobe]

Just curious. I used to have a 4,000 gallon pond but gave it up a few years back. I still very much enjoy viewing pics of them.
Anyone have some they'd care to post?

JKJ, surely you do. You seem to have everything else on your place. Got any koi?

[Doug Garson]

Not sure if I qualify as a Koi keeper but I do have a 2000 gal backyard pond with Koi and goldfish. Here's a few pictures from last summer, they're sleeping right now so I won't wake them up to pose, they get kinda grumpy. 373119 373120 373121

[Bill Jobe]

Nice looking pond and I see a couple of big guys in there.

[Bill Jobe]

My pond had no landscape work around it. No plants at all. It was totally utilitarian. I tried to make it look nice but flowers and such made it hard for me to maintain water quality, much to my wife's displeasure.
Someday I'll figure out how to load pics to my phone so I can post them. A phone is all I have.

[Doug Garson]

Thanks, actually I think the pictures are from 2 years ago. We put the pond in in 1997 so the big guys (there are three of them) are about 22 years old now.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The internet tells me that it's illegal to keep Koi in Maine. However, it doesn't make it clear if Koi are a threat as an invasive species in Main due to some special conditions in Maine that don't exist in other states.

[Brian Henderson]

The internet tells me that it's illegal to keep Koi in Maine. However, it doesn't make it clear if Koi are a threat as an invasive species in Main due to some special conditions in Maine that don't exist in other states.

It's probably just stupidity on the part of Maine lawmakers, just like it's illegal here in California to keep ferrets, even though there's no reason and everyone does it anyhow.

[Jim Becker]

We have primarily comets and shebunkins (and their inbred offspring :) ) in the pond off our patio and have had them for many years. We do have one koi that we "took in" from someone who needed to discontinue keeping fish a few months ago. He/she has integrated well.

[Brian Henderson]

We've got a small pond but it's currently empty because we have to put in all of the filtration and over the summer when we had the roof replaced, we had to pull the electrical lines that fed the pond and I haven't gotten a new line all the way out there yet. Once we do, we live about 30 miles from one of the largest koi farms on the west coast so I'm sure we'll put something in there but it's low priority.

[Bill Jobe]

Really,Brian? I'd be spending a lot of time over at their farm.
What breeder is it, if you don't mind my asking. I know that about the time I was getting out of koikeeping their were 1 or 2 breeders who were producing near Japanese quality fish.

[Sam Force]

In my occupation I am not a fan of Koi ponds. A lot of people have big plans and ideas and then tire of the work or cost. Then they become major producers of mosquitoes. I treat several dozen every summer.

[Rick Potter]

I used to have Koi in a small pond years ago. Then the racoons put it on their list of motel stops. After three or four rounds of them growing nice size, then disappearing, my wife woke up about 3AM from a noise. She went outside and found three racoons. One in a tree, and two standing on the edge of the pond in a perfect 'sit up' pose, each with a fish in it's mouth.

That was the last straw.

[Jim Becker]

Rick, we don't have raccoons, but we do have to "discourage" a local blue heron from visiting what he/she feels is a personal, "roll your own" sushi bar. :) Accordingly, our patio pond has a black net over much of it, which increases the "pain for gain" factor enough that said big birdie stays away.

[Doug Garson]

Jim, there's another less intrusive solution to the heron problem. We live right on the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver. We see herons all the time, they make a huge mess on the hood of a black car. The solution is based on the fact that they have great eyesight and large delicate wings so they avoid going anywhere where their wings might be damaged. The solution is to run fishing line over the pond and the ground around the pond anywhere where they could land and walk to the pond, they see the line and avoid the area. We have 3 lines strung overhead about 7ft up over part of the pond and patio. They are barely noticeable but effective. Ours has been in place for about 3 years now.

[Bill Jobe]

You sound like a well seasoned koikeeper.
That is exactly one of best, if not the best, solution for herons that I am aware of.
For raccoons a mesh screen can be helpful, but they are resourceful little creatures and will even try to make a hole in it if they are particularly hungry for koi.

[Doug Garson]

Thanks Bill, we also have raccoons in our backyard quite regularly but rarely if ever see any sign that they are visiting the "sushi bar". We have a neighbour a few blocks away and a friend a few miles away that both have raccoon problems with their ponds, why we don't is pleasantly puzzling (knock on wood). I used to think the key was pond depth (most of ours is about 3 ft deep with about 1/5 of the pond at about 1 1/2 ft) but both our friends ponds are as deep or deeper than ours. The neighbour has a mesh screen which destroys the look of the pond and the other friend receives a couple dozen new fish from us each spring to restock their raccoon feeding station as we have to control the number of fish to avoid overloading our filters. Both the goldfish and koi spawn in our pond several times a year we even get crosses between koi and goldfish.

[Jim Becker]

That's an interesting suggestion, Doug, relative to the monofilament as a heron deterrent. It might be hard to establish for our particular pond, but I'll take a look at the possibilities. It certainly would be more pleasant than the netting... ;)

[Jim Becker]

Both the goldfish and koi spawn in our pond several times a year we even get crosses between koi and goldfish.

Interesting...our comets (goldfish) and shebunkins have very much crossed, but I didn't know that koi would get into the act. It could be interesting with that one koi we have now...broadening the gene pool, as it were. :D

[Doug Garson]

If you look up koi/goldfish cross you will see that the offspring are sterile, very hardy and not particularly attractive and according to our friend the raccoons find them delicious.

[Jim Becker]

oooh...designer sushi for critters... :) :D :p