Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire forget the foofy koi pond stuff

wife and I spent the day restoring a decorative pond we had in the front yard. Small thing - its like 5X5 and 2.5' deep

went to get some water plants and the place we went to sold fish. Wife was looking at Koi, I said screw that. I bought 5 large mouth bass and threw then in it.

right now they are 2". When they get too big, I'll take them to the local fishing pond and let 'em loose and go get 5 more.

You should pellet train them.

the woman that sold them to me said for my size pond once they get about a foot long they'll jump out of the water. I don't know how long it takes for a bass to get that big.

Herons came and ate my fish. I bought 4 dozen little feeder fish and ended up with a half dozen good looking gold fish.

I've got feeder fish that are up around twenty inches now and very colorful.

-Jake

She's absolutely right. My dad has a small landscape pond in his side yard. A little bigger than yours, maybe 6' wide x 10' long x 3' deep. I put a few bass in it one summer and by fall they were all gone. Dad kept finding them dead on the lawn all summer.

How big were they?

Years ago we put in a 15x15x3ft deep triangular pool in a fence corner at school, had a recirculating waterfall and everything. But it had to be self sufficient so we only put two cheap Walmart fantail goldfish in there along with cattails, water lillies, some algae, topminnows etc. Didn’t take long for those goldfish to grow as big as softballs.

All was well for some years until one disappeared, so I sat and waited some distance away the next evening. Sure enough a great blue heron came in low over the school, folded up and descended upon the pond, a moment later it stepped out holding the other fantail, beat it against the ground once or twice, pointed its beak up and swallowed it. It looked like a softball again sliding down the heron’s neck.

Had to take that pond out, liability, it had to be 3’ deep or else it would have overheated in the summer.

10 - 14".

Whatever you put in, better put in a heater in the winter, or it'll freeze solid.

Paging Mr. Dutch.

But basically it will depend on how much you feed them.

And, in case you are interested in these kind of things, it might be best to check your local fish regulations before taking them to the local fishing hole. First, if your fish have contracted some sort of "disease", you could be unleashing it in the local waters. Second, it might cost you a fine and maybe more.

You have a cat? Dog? might be best to just feed them to your pets or maybe the neighborhood skunk?

Dang gold fish make excellent catfish bait. A 12" goldie would be on a trot line or bungee for sure. C'mon fatty flatty !

Isnt koi another name for carp ?

Yup. Fancy foofoo name for a goldfish

Nope, different fish, koi have a whisker on either side of the mouth, different scales and grow larger than goldfish.

Kind of a combination of goldfish and carp.

Size like a carp, limited by the size of the pond, but colorful like goldfish.

Separate species from either.

Live up to 70 years.

They will get to know you, and you can pet them like a dog.

Good pet for a fisherman, as you learn just how good fish eyesight is.

They can tell the difference between me and my brother, who unfortunately resembles me.

They'll swim up and let me pet em, but he walks up in the same color shirt, and no go.

Makes an angler think.

Every year I raise 3-6 hatchling snapping turtles for a year or so and then release them. Four years ago I got a scoop of crappie (fathead) minnows to feed the turtles, but although the turtles love them, the slaughtered minnows fouled the water so bad I ditched the idea. I put a couple dozen minnows in a 28 gallon tank and after an initial die off a handful of survivors held on. Every few months another minnow would die and now they are down to three. Still, after four years I'm impressed. I should probably release them - they earned it.

Years ago my boss under duress constructed a small koi pond about the size of OP’s. His wife stocked it with half a dozen koi.

The next day or two maybe was hot and a moose laid on them

Paul said he didn’t know whether to cry , cuss, laugh, or all three.

Down here the problem is heat.

Over time a sufficiently deep (at least three feet) garden pond will assume the average air temperature of the setting, which in July and August around here is about 85F.

Goldfish are remarkably tough fish, actually cold water but obviously can survive considerable heat.

OTOH our topminnows got so out of control I put in an oscar. That guy got big and survived until late November, when the average temps got down below 60.

Ya just never can tell.

Ya talk to a guy online for years and even meet him in person and have no idea the Dude raises snapping turtles, and then releases them.