Hi-

I'm new to keeping koi, bought a house witha large pond abput 5,000 gal. The previous owner took most of their fish with them, but left lots of goldies and two koi. I am working on a filter system for the existing pond before I seriously start geting fish.

Recently I lost my large Oscar from my 80 gal tank, and decided to purchase 4, 4" imported high quality kio to grow inside for about a year and then move outside. By then the filter should be rockin!

In my tank with the new babies I have a pleco who is about 18" long. How much impact does he have on water to fish ratio with the koi? I dont want to be in an over stocked situation!

Any one have experience with plecos in a unheated pond situation? I live in seattle, not the warmest climate, but not the coldest either. He is by far my oldest fish and I couldn't stand to loose him, But I would be thrilled if he could have all the room in the pond.

Hoping for some good feedback!

LadyJ

The thing is, with the pleco, he's most likely a common plec, and they need tropical temps which would be OK during the day, but at night if your pond drops temperature, he might not do well. Plecs also get a little squirrelly and jump at times, he could find himself outside the pond. He sounds amazing though, you should snap a picture of him!!

As for the koi in the tank....eh...... how big are they? I really, really don't recommend having 4 koi, no matter how small in an 80 gallon tank. Maybe if they were just TINY you could get away with it for awhile, but that'd only be about 20 gallons per koi (not counting that massive pleco, he's a HUGE poop factory!)

Can you take the koi back? Oh, and you said you wanted to wait until next year so the filter is seeded, right? Depending on how many fish are in the pond NOW, a small amount of fish in 5,000 gallons of water shouldn't be too harsh of a cycle for the fish. You could always put them in the pond and keep a very close eye on the water quality?

As Erika said, I think you maybe better off putting those 4 tiny kois in the pond and watching the water quality closely. The pond should already be established since the previous owner already had fishes in them. Right? Did he take the filter too with him?

Years ago, I had a plecostamus in my first pond and very little information was available. The temperature fluatution didn't bother him at all. However; out of all of the assorted fancy goldfish--he latched onto a small koi and killed it. I was absolutely horrified!

I'd advise keeping the plecostamus in the tank and the small koi outside in the pond. They'll grow amazingly FAST outside in that big pond. A tank should really only be used for koi as a very temporary home, QT or hospital tank.

Common plecs are a dangerous combo for koi and goldfish, especially one as large as him. After about 6" or so they become more omnivorous and will attack or kill fish because they are hungry. I would not trust him with your koi.

Bought a 4.5 inch koi in November. Put him in my 40 gallon tank. He is now about 10 inches long (and probably ten times his original weight). I must change 75% of the water weekly to keep nitrate under control. He goes out into my newly completed 500 gallon pond this weekend.

You won't make a year with four koi in an 80 gallon tank, unless you let the water quality slip, in which case the koi will be stunted. You will be changing a LOT of water to keep the nitrates down. With my one koi and one goldfish, I've gone through about 3/4 POUND of pellets since January. They are eating and pooping machines.

Good luck,
Dennis

Thanks for all the feed back

I was afraid you all would say the tank is over stocked. I really don't want to put these new koi out in the pond till they are 10'', this was my original plan. I put babies (about 4") out in the pond last year and they didnt make it through the winter. I was really hoping to maybe show these guys, so i bought them from the best supplier in town. I also wanted to closely document their pattern changes and development, just so i could learn some more for the future. Do I have any other options? If I'm crazy for water changes could i make it work?

no not really

i would suggest putting them in the pond and putting some wire over the top to protect from predators and since you don't have the filter for the pond maybe try the aquaponics like avalon did the plants filter the waste here is a link to that thread

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...=0&#entry669863

they wont survive very long in an 80 gallon tank