Talk to me about ponds....

I currently own 12 goldfish ranging in size between 9" and 2", split between a 675litre tank, 220litre tank, 76 litre tub and 130 litre tub. Obviously I'm quite overstocked and currently maintain my water parameters at 7.6, 0-0-5 with about four 90% water changes a week on the tanks and daily 80% water changes on the smaller grow out tubs. (I also overfilter, turning over 2000l/hr on the smaller tank, 600l/HR on both the tubs, and 3200l/HR in the 6ft tank).

I have four comets, two hibuna, a wakin, two watonai, a chochokin, and two shubunkin. Ideally I'd like for the hibuna, comets, and shubunkin to go into a pond, with room for more.
I was thinking something in the region 5 metres in length by 2 wide by 2 deep; would this give me enough space for a few koi alongside my goldfish?
I am planning to make my own filter using plastic water butts and a pond pump to turn over double the volume an hour. Is this sufficient for a pond?
Finally is there anything else I should know? I know I'll need a pond test kit too (I use the API freshwater master test kit for my indoor fish room).
Thank you

 

I have bought nt labs freshwater aquarium test kits for my tanks and nt labs pond test kits for my pond. The only difference is the box, the bottles are labeled identically the colour charts are the same and the tubes and syringe are identical too. Don't bother with another test kit, just use the one you've got.

 

I would say yes you should be fine with some koi in that sized pond. I’m in USA so that’s about 15 feet long by 6 feet wide by 6 feet deep that should be plenty big enough for some goldfish and some koi. How many koi were you thinking?

 

I would say yes you should be fine with some koi in that sized pond. I’m in USA so that’s about 15 feet long by 6 feet wide by 6 feet deep that should be plenty big enough for some goldfish and some koi. How many koi were you thinking?

no more than four at the very most - probably 2-3. I seem to have become someone people give fish too when they can't be bothered with them anymore so need to have room to spare !! (I started out with three goldfish, less than a year later have 12 lol. Once the lockdown is up two more people have asked me to adopt their goldfish too so I will have 14 then)

I'd love a chagoi koi though and they seem to get very large.

The current lot in my 675 litre tank (180 US gallons) keep trying to breed as well so pond needs to be large enough for the females to be able to get away from the males if necessary which isn't possible in the tank - my big 9" female has had to be removed and is a 30gal by herself right now.

 

If I'm correct, that comes out to about 20,000 liters (5,280 gallons for fellow metric system users). Personally, I like it to be 1 goldfish per 100 gallons (about 380 liters). This being said, I know most people are just fine with 100 gallons for the first goldfish and 50 gallons (190 liters) for each additional fish, I just prefer more because they are very big and pretty active fish.

I believe the general stocking guide for koi is 1 per 1,000 gallons (about 3,800 liters).

By these guidelines, it would be able to fit all 14 goldfish (if you want to do that) as well as 3 koi. You would then have about 800 gallons (about 3000 liters) remaining. Honestly, you could probably do just fine with quite a few more goldfish, but if people tend to give you fish, and you want to have plenty of space for females to get away from males, I would start with the 14 goldfish and 3 koi.

 

If I'm correct, that comes out to about 20,000 liters (5,280 gallons for fellow metric system users). Personally, I like it to be 1 goldfish per 100 gallons (about 380 liters). This being said, I know most people are just fine with 100 gallons for the first goldfish and 50 gallons (190 liters) for each additional fish, I just prefer more because they are very big and pretty active fish.

I believe the general stocking guide for koi is 1 per 1,000 gallons (about 3,800 liters).

By these guidelines, it would be able to fit all 14 goldfish (if you want to do that) as well as 3 koi. You would then have about 800 gallons (about 3000 liters) remaining. Honestly, you could probably do just fine with quite a few more goldfish, but if people tend to give you fish, and you want to have plenty of space for females to get away from males, I would start with the 14 goldfish and 3 koi.

Thanks so much! That was probably what I was going to go with so this is cool.

 

I agree. 3-4 koi will be just fine. Especially if you start with smaller ones. They grow slowly and mine stay j see a foot. I live in NYS so it’s cold half the year so I think that keeps them smaller.