[Shell Dweller]

Last year at about this time In Sept I came home from work and threw some fish food into the pond. Strangely enough no fish came to the surface to eat, not even "Hoover" our favourite golden shimmering KOI. I waited and waited and nothing came. I assumed that a heron which had been hanging around had indeed had a feast through the night and ate all 20 of our fish. I was going to set up a net that weekend to keep the herons out but now I was so angry at myself for not doing it sooner, I shut down the pond, filters, pumps, etc and decided to start over in the spring. Well spring time came and one sunny day in March I cut the grass for the first time and decided now would be a good time to empty the pond and get it cleaned up and ready for some new fish. As I was scooping crud from the bottom of the pond that had accumulated over the winter I saw something orange dart away into the deep end. I couldnt believe my eyes. There were still some fish in there. The heron didnt get them all, a total of 9 fish had survived all winter without a filter or running water. They even had doubled in size.
We put up a net that same day and have since added some new fish. I was lucky to pick up a few large koi from CL a few weeks later for an amazing price, including a large all black butterfly koi which the owner thought was a fancy black goldfish.

 

[eternity302]

Good story!

But i'm missing the most important fact! Did Hoover survive?

 

[jobber]

those KOI are survivers. they survive the bitter colds of china in shanghai and beijing. i thought of having a huge tank with koi inside one day.

that's an awesome story. thanks for sharing! btw, got any pics??

 

[Shell Dweller]

"Hoover" didnt make it. He was one of the fish that was eaten. We called him Hoover because he was the first to show up for dinner and was just like a vacum cleaner.

I did have some photos on my computer but it crashed and I lost all my pics. That and my camera broke and I havent replaced it yet. My camera does take photos but not that great. But I will post some as soon as I get a new camera.

 

[eternity302]

"Hoover" didnt make it. He was one of the fish that was eaten. We called him Hoover because he was the first to show up for dinner and was just like a vacum cleaner.

I did have some photos on my computer but it crashed and I lost all my pics. That and my camera broke and I havent replaced it yet. My camera does take photos but not that great. But I will post some as soon as I get a new camera.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Hoover didn't make it?!!!!
Dun worry Call me up when you see the heron again... He might have an accidental death and we might so happen to have a BBQ setup right next to where he land!

J/K... oh wait.. maybe not

 

[donjuan_corn]

Awesome but sad story, thank you for sharing.

 

[Smiladon]

Thanks for sharing the story. I should come check out your pond sometime

 

[effox]

Sorry about the loss of fish, but that's cool that many still survived that long. That's sweet!

 

[Morainy]

Terrific, upbeat story. Thanks for posting!
Now, I want to run outside with a shovel and dig a pond...

 

[Shell Dweller]

Believe me you dont want to dig that size pond ( approx 1800 gallons) by hand. It took me 8 hours steady digging to do a little more than 3/4 of it and I was totally exhausted. I know I over did it and should have had more sense than to try and dig it all out in one day. I hired someone else a lot younger to finish the last 1/4 and it took him 4 hours. Thats only half the battle. Then you have to haul in rock and plenty of it. I brought in 4 trailer loads of granite and some slate which had to be wheel barrowed into the back yard and then placed. It still isnt finished, I still need a little more granite, slate and pavers to give the finishing touches. Maybe by next spring.

 

[simonfish]

Thanks for sharing the story. I remember last year winter was not that cold, but the year before that (2008-2009) was terrible. Were your Kois outdoor at that time? Are Koi o.k. in that year weahter?

 

[Shell Dweller]

At the time I had a smaller 24 inch deep, pre-formed pond and all my fish survived that cold winter. The year before I had an even smaller 16 inch deep, pre-formed pond which froze over and they survived that winter too. They go dormant over the winter, we stop feeding them at the end of October and resume feeding in the spring.

 

[skabooya]

how deep is your pond??

 

[Koi Kichi]

koi are the "dogs" of the fish world....certainly one of the most affectionate fish towards humans. It is sad to see one go....but im shure hes in a better place now. Koi hide under the harsh weather as the water on the bottom of the pond is nowher near as cold as near the top.

 

[Shell Dweller]

My pond is about 7 x 10 and ranges from 3ft to 4 ft at the deepest end. I stopped feeding the fish about 4 weeks ago and I havent seen any at the surface since then. They are hibernating in the deepest end no doubt. I am still running the waterfall and in pond and exterior filters, and will keep them running all winter. I hope they grow as much as they did last winter as some smaller ones doubled in size. I havent lost any fish since I put the netting across the pond earlier this year. maybe will have some fry this spring