Will, my hubbie is getting the bug. He wants to start digging the butterfly a new pond. How big should it be for approx 20 butterfly kois? I know about the hundred gal rule, but how many feet is it? Not good at math.

Lynn, if you want your koi to reach their full potential, then I would go higher than the 100 gl rule. More like 500 gl per fish, a lot of people even say 500 gl for males and 1000 gl for females (or was that the other way around? ), so that would make it roughly 10.000 gl, and with the formular of height x length x depth x 7,5= gallons, you could calculate how you want it.
It depends where you live as well. If you have colder winters, I would go deeper with the digging, to keep the koi safe during the winter, since they are looking for the deepest spot in the pond during this time.
A new pond!! Thats great, especially with your hubbies approval!! I have to look forward to the same thing, a big pond infront of our house, but the pond is gonna be the last thing I am working on, but its in my mind a lot!!

Rachugirl,lol just to let you know makeing a pond in front of your
house is kinda of a bad idea.
I had people last year that stole a couple of my goldfish.
Not only that this might happen
there are so many cases of small kids walking over to a pond and fall in.


(Just to let you know)

It happen to me

Not olny is he approving it, but we are fighting about who's fish is going to be put in it. I told hem the only way to stop the fighting is to dig two. You, know he just might do that.(YA, RIGHT) We have to space, but not the money.

woah you have to have 100 gallons for ONE koi? holy cow maybe i WONT go with koi...i was kinda looking forward to having more than 1 fish in my pond hehe. :goldfish

woah andrea yeah i just saw that and i agree with black oranda. you know how you have your pool and if you have small kids its the law that you have to have a fence around it? (i think its to a certain age limit so i think your daughter is older than it) well at least here its the law. maybe you could still have it there but just have a fence around it? i would not be able to do that here-- theres tons of little ones around here! although a fence couldnt stop fishburglers!

A hundred gals is not all that much when you look at it undergound. Look at the 75gal tanks and the 55gal tanks not so big what is it 3ft x 2ftx 1ft. Very small. A 5ft x5ft x5ft pond is approx 937 gals. Now, that a little deep I know, but you get my mening. Can some one check my math?

So, what you guys are saying is that I need approx. a 25x15x4 pond. That may take a little more of a push, but I will try. Could I get away with a 25x15x4 ?

im going to be makeing a pond this spring.
And im going to put some koi and goldfish in it
I can't wait!

I am not worried about anybody stealing fish out from a pond infront of our house. The house is gonna be about 150 ft from the street, fenced in, with a huge hedge all around, and a couple of German Shephards running around. Only a very brave, and dumb, soul would dare walk in and take something.....
As for the fence, thats good thinking, Chelsea, I forgot about that. Julia had swimming lessons when she was a few years old, and she is a natural. A fence would be good security for smaller children, although I doubt it would look good around a pond....
Lynn, your measurements would make it about 11250 gl!! Thats a big pond to dig! And it would be more than perfect for your koi!! They are gonna grow big and healthy with so much water!!

im just planing on diging any size then ill calculate if it's a good size of gals if not ill dig more.

andrea, what we have around our flower beds are these little green wire fences to keep the dogs out (they jump them now but they DID get the hint for a while anyways) and they blend in and are hard to spot from a few yards way, so maybe you could get one of those. they are only about as high as mid-calf but only little ones would really need it anyways, right?