Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 My neighbor asked for help yesterday to hang something on their porch, while I was there she started feeding her koi. We got to talking and I said something about not feeding much because I think they are in “hibernation mode” I don’t know if it’s true was kinda asking her. She found out I have aquariums, long story short. I’m now in charge of the koi for the winter. I asked for a couple days to research, this morning a knock at my door I have no clue what type they are or any clue what to do. Not worried about long term care I will research later when I have time. But for immediate time is there anything else I should do? I put a cycled sponge filter in and have wrapped in a blanket to start heating water up. Where should I take the temp to? Room temperature ? It stays around 68* in there. will be moving them to a 10G or should I go with a 20G later today? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 (edited) EEEP. This is what happens when we talk fish in the real world! Don't bother with the 10G you are about to enter a very heavy fish in cycle so the 20G will probably be easier. Depending on the winter temps they are often happy in a pond and eat when its warm and hang out in the deep bits for the colder periods as long as ice gets broken up to allow water to still preform gas exchange. So room temp tank will be fine, messy fish that eat and pull up plants so I used thin layer of substrate to make cleaning easier. You know what you are doing with fish so go with your instincts just don't kill yourself with scape they will probably ruin it. Edited November 1, 2021 by Flumpweesel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 Thank you @Flumpweesel im not too worried about the cycle I have plenty of extra sponge filters in other tanks and rocks and driftwood. I figured I was fine just didn’t know if there’s something special I needed to know for koi ive never read or watched videos anything about them. thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 11:38 AM, Flumpweesel said: EEEP. This is what happens when we talk fish in the real world! Lol… need to learn to control the nerm in me. I see fish and my mouth just starts moving I can’t control it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 4:21 PM, Atitagain said: Lol… need to learn to control the nerm in me. I see fish and my mouth just starts moving I can’t control it. I can just see you trying to convince the family that you haven't bought new fish they just appeared on the doorstep. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 12:29 PM, Flumpweesel said: I can just see you trying to convince the family that you haven't bought new fish they just appeared on the doorstep. Yea wife’s not real happy with it. But she don’t want them outside all winter in a 8” deep pond. I told them these fish are likely to have outgrown this pond by time I give them back in spring. “ uhh never thought they would get that big” 😬🤐inside😡 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 5:38 PM, Atitagain said: “ uhh never thought they would get that big” 😬🤐😡 The goldfishes lament. You'll be digging a pond this spring if you're not careful. But best of luck with them you'll probably really enjoy them they are very social fish and in the right environment not to much trouble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 10:38 AM, Atitagain said: Yea wife’s not real happy with it. But she don’t want them outside all winter in a 8” deep pond. I told them these fish are likely to have outgrown this pond by time I give them back in spring. “ uhh never thought they would get that big” 😬🤐inside😡 This seems like a win-win situation. You get to enjoy some pretty juvenile koi for the winter and she gets a caretaker. What size is the pond? 8” deep sounds tiny! Maybe you can steer her towards some Rice fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 3:31 PM, Patrick_G said: This seems like a win-win situation. You get to enjoy some pretty juvenile koi for the winter and she gets a caretaker. What size is the pond? 8” deep sounds tiny! Maybe you can steer her towards some Rice fish. It’s maybe 36”-42” long 20” wide kinda the out line of an 8 for the perimeter. I like the idea of rice fish👍. I do think it’s a win win ive never kept them before so it will give me something new to study on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Koi are great fish. They're kind of puppy-like. They will grow a lot, and I mean a lot, in the first year. One year of decent care, decent food, and those cute little guys will be 12"-24" long. On average they'll live about 40 years and keep growing the whole time, just not as fast as they do at first. The largest koi I've ever seen was four feet long and weighed over 90 pounds. Think of it as a fishy German Shepherd. The bug guys/gals have the same general size, food requirements, and waste output as a biggish German Shepherd. Most domestic koi tend to top out at 18"-24" with some up to 30", but good quality imports can reach 48" or possibly more when fully grown. If you go to YouTube and search for "Koi Harvests" you'll find all kinds of videos of some of the bigger guys/gals being pulled from their mud ponds. Due to the size of the koi, filtration is a big issue. Serious koi keepers tend to use rotary drum filters for solid waste removal (they're self-cleaning) and then bakki showers for biofiltration, though K1 type fluidized filters get used quite a bit also. Koi keeping tends to become addictive. They're really neat fish with good personalities who learn to recognize you and will even come when called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 @gardenman thank you , yea about all I know about them is they get big quick, messy eaters, and big bio load. I’m afraid they will out grow the 20G tall I have them in for the winter. 1 of them is like 4-4 1/2” and the other might be pushing 6”. Not sure what I can use as clean up crew. Lots of research next couple days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 They'll clean up behind themselves pretty well. No food goes uneaten around healthy koi. They'll scour the tank looking for any piece of food that escaped them the first time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Clean up çrews are tricky because snails are treat sized, I used swan mussels in my large goldfish tank but they aren't legal everywhere I gather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 7:56 PM, gardenman said: They'll clean up behind themselves pretty well. No food goes uneaten around healthy koi. They'll scour the tank looking for any piece of food that escaped them the first time around. On 11/1/2021 at 8:00 PM, Flumpweesel said: Clean up çrews are tricky because snails are treat sized, I used swan mussels in my large goldfish tank but they aren't legal everywhere I gather. Well I’m going bare bottom so I’ll just stay on top of it should be fine. And it will be a low level light and I’ll probably set timer for 4 hours a day so algae should be easy to manage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Sounds like you have a good plan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 On 11/1/2021 at 8:38 PM, Flumpweesel said: Sounds like you have a good plan. The start of one anyway, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 18, 2021 Author Share Posted December 18, 2021 It’s been a little over 6 weeks since I took responsibility for these koi. Both are healthy and have adjusted well. Eat every day and are active swimmers. I figure I’ll have them a minimum of 8 weeks maybe even 12 weeks+ And they have been staying in this. yuck I know but they were very skittish at first. Figured this would help especially because their used to being viewed from the top. Inside is a bare bottom with a couple medium sized rock and a small-ish piece of floating wood (I’ve had it under water over a year and it still floats). I’m gonna fix them up a little bit. Anything to stay away from? I’m not getting to detailed probably background, thin layer of gravel, maybe a central decent sized log, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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