Koi Ponds Blog

There have been many articles written regarding mixing Koi with pond plants.  Alot of people claim that Koi will eat plants like Lily Pads, Duck Weeds etc… I’ve seen Koi eat duck weed and other vegetation.  In the last few years I used white flowered Lily Pads. I noticed Koi had a liking for their taste and would pick and nibble at their fresh leaves and flowers. This was getting a little frustrating since I was trying to provide them shade in the summer.

I noticed, however, the koi in my pond did not nibble on the pink flowered Lily Pad.  Thus, I took what was left of the white flowered Lily Pads out of the pond and left the pink flowered Lily Pad to grow.  Since then, during the last few years the pink flowered Lily Pad has grown back every year to cover half of the pond and providing great shade for the Koi.

I would strongly recommend this variety, from my personal experience.  Shade for the pond is essential to keep the water temperature at it’s optimum level.

It’s the middle of summer and the last couple of days in Vancouver has been about 37 Celcius in Vancouver and even hotter in the Valley.  I’ve installed two venturies on either side of my 2000 gallon pond to increase air turn over in the water column and I have made sure the waterfall is flowing at it’s maximum.  I’ve also made sure that water is shaded with various plants around and in the pond, keeping certain areas cool.  Lilly pads are great for this and also the large plants around the edges of the pond.  As you keep the temperature down it will hold more oxygen. The Koi in the pond seem to be breathing properly and doing quite well, I have 8 large Koi over 2 feet in length, along with some smaller ones.  I hope you all enjoy your Koi pond this summer!  Feed them ofter, clean the filter regularly and make sure you get maximum water fall and shading!

I just set up an automatic water top off for the pond last weekend.  The pond is about 2000 gallons and I used a 100 gallon Rubbermaid container along with a Laguna float valve and some tubing.  In addition I put in a shut off valve.  I put the shut off valve in so I can condition the tap water before letting it top of the pond every few day.  It was just a small project so I can reduce the amount of chlorine the Koi is exposed to when topping up with the hose.  The float valve seems to be easy to set up with a little bit of adjustments.  Magic tape and teflon tape are good to have around to manage some of the small drips you may get when setting up the tubing.  I hope this article works for some of you out there that was looking for a DIY (do it yourself) top up idea.  I guess I could have gone more hi-tech but since I’m on a budget this may be the best solution for now.

Welcome to ”Koi Fun”. Enjoy the hobby and relax in front of your pond while listening to the water flow down the waterfall and watching your Koi peacefully swim in their crystal clear water paradise!  Find out how you can enjoy Koi keeping through the knowledge of others in the ponding community and about water maintenance techniques from various experts and resources I’ve collected from just a few years in the hobby.  Remember “if you take care of the water, the water will take care of the Koi!”