Learn Before You Leap Into Koi Keeping!
Maintaining Healthy Fish Is Your #1 Goal

There is no way to keep koi healthy (or alive) for very long in sub-par conditions. But unfortunately, this is the way most of us first start out! Most people who get bitten with "koi fever" are backyard ponders, who normally have a pretty looking, but WAY TOO SMALL gallonage pond with lots of nice water plants, and then one day decide "Hey! Let's add some fish".

So, off the ponder goes to a local gardening center or aquarium store in search of fish. And quite possibly, the person finds that not only are there common type goldfish to choose from, but there are these interesting other fish called "Koi".

Wow ... they are unique, and not too much more money ... and before you know it, the enthusiastic new fish-owner comes home with a few (or too many) koi in a plastic bag, ready to add them to the backyard pond.

Nine-times-out-of-ten ... (sadly) disaster strikes soon thereafter. The koi develop one problem or maybe lots of problems ... or they just end up quickly dying, with no initial signs of distress. Egads! Nobody at the garden center or aquarium store told the backyard ponder that it was going to start off like this! Aren't pond fish pretty darn hardy?

Really ... as long as you give them water to swim in and food to eat ... shouldn't they be as happy as can be?

Most Retailers Selling "Pond Fish" Don't Know Anything
About Koi Health In The First Place ...

Uneducated sellers of koi abound. It is a shame, it is not fair to those of us spending our hard earned cash on koi fish, but it is still more the norm than the exception. This is why it is imperative that YOU educate yourself before you make your first koi purchase. If you've already lost fish ... don't feel too badly. You're in a huge "club" of sorts. My wish is that this article, and all the others on my website will help to improve your koi knowledge base.

So all that being said ... what do you need to learn?

There really are no big secrets that aren’t supposed to be told to the average koi keeper, which is most us who are involved in the hobby. Truthfully, it isn't that the retailer who sold you the koi was honestly out to "get you" and sold you fish that were just waiting to die on their new owner ... it normally always comes down to the fact that the store employees just aren't trained properly in the special needs of koi.

Now, if you are expecting your pond fish to live longer than one season and you are like me, which means you treat your koi just like your other beloved pets ... then that means it is your responsibility to educate yourself on proper "koi keeping" techniques. That's all.

Like anything else in life, there are very few things we can just enter into blindly and be successful at. A little preliminary research and education will go a long, long way in helping make your koi fish keeping efforts happy, rewarding and stress-free.

Fact:  95% Of Koi Bought For Ponds In The USA
Die Within One Year Because People Don't Know How
To House And Care For Them Properly

Let's Learn From Other Koi Keeper's Mistakes

What successful koi hobbyists really and truly do wish for beginners to learn are the basic fundamentals and truths about the hobby that just can’t be ignored. One "truth" that I will briefly mention is this ... you cannot successfully keep koi on the "cheap". Not if you desire healthy, robust, enjoyable pets. Pumps and filtration equipment need to be purchased and installed, as an example. Stagnant water that gets increasingly more polluted as time goes on is nothing but a toxic environment for koi (and even the more hardy goldfish).

However, I have some good news for the beginner! There is no reason for anyone to have to reinvent the wheel in regards to this hobby. You don’t have to stand there trying to figure out everything by yourself. The groundwork to success has been laid before us by many others who’ve made many terrible, costly and frustrating mistakes.

The basic "rules" for maintaining healthy koi are quite doable and really haven't changed much over the years. And nowadays, these facts are readily available via the internet to those wanting to learn. Yes, advances and new inventions that can greatly improve the hobby do occur and believe me, these too are enthusiastically shared amongst koi keepers worldwide.

Are You a Happy "Koi Keeper" ...
Or a Frustrated "Fish Fixer" ??

Let me restate the question above another way to make an important point: there are two different hobbies we can choose from, koi keeping or "fish fixing". Ignore the need for proper aquatic facilities and ignore the very important need for excellent filtration equipment, well then, you'll eventually find yourself as a frustrated fish fixer, rather than a happy koi owner.

I don’t know about you, but I think koi keeping sounds like a lot more fun as opposed to constantly tending to sick fish!

Alrighty ... In A Nutshell Here Are The Most Basic
Yet Important Not-To-Be-Ignored Healthy Koi Needs

A koi’s needs are basically quite simple. If you provide these five things, you will have far exceeded what 95% of garden ponders ever provide to their fish. Your koi will more than likely thrive, while theirs die, or struggle with problems of one sort or another all the time.

Side note: Please realize there are a number of other extremely important practices that should be adhered to for maximum koi health and vitality. This overview is attempting to convey the most rudimentary aspects of koi keeping for the beginner.

#1  Have as deep a pond as you can to keep down sudden temperature changes, with 4 feet deep being the optimal minimum.

#2  Have bottom drains and sloped pond bottoms so the pond cleans itself -- such easy maintenence!

#3  Have a pump properly sized to the gallonage, "head" and necessary turn-over rate required to circulate the pond water through the filters and pond itself.

#4  Have some sort of prefilter to continually get the fish waste out of the water. Look for a prefilter that is very easy to maintain. Hopefully one where it only takes a pull of a valve to flush the wastes out, quickly and easily.

#5 Have a biofilter with clean media! (This is why you need a prefilter. The prefilter keeps the biofilter from getting clogged with rotting fish excrement and other pond waste.)

The purpose of the biofilter is to do ONE thing, and one thing ONLY ... to cycle the ammonia excreted by the koi.
It must have good bacteria in order to provide high quality, stable water. It’s not just show koi that deserve these conditions. All koi deserve these conditions! PERIOD!

We all have different objectives with our water garden or pond. To me, koi keeping is such a fascinating hobby. When I started over 7 years ago, I had a 75 gallon, very poorly filtrated water garden puddle. I knew nothing about the needs of koi. I just knew I wanted some.

Well, I received four as a gift. I killed two koi fish within 2 weeks, experienced ulcers in another that I did manage to save (that's another article all by itself) and I had the other one die much later because it had an infection called "dropsy" when it was purchased. (This is also another good story for another article!)

I decided enough was enough and started to educate myself. I studied the science and ecology of water and ponds. I started to learn about koi medical care. I even attempted to gain a basic understand of the engineering involved in pond plumbing.

These are topics that you ought to try and get a moderate understanding of so you, too, can have a garden pond that will support happy, healthy koi as pets for a long, long time.

Though most hobbyists will never go this far with their training, I am an AKCA Certified Koi Health Advisor.

Click here to learn more about Associated Koi Clubs of America KHA Program Details / Free Educational Downloads

Click on these links for in-depth information pertaining to specific aspects of maintaining high quality garden pond water parameters:

• Calculate Pond Gallonage: Mathematical Formulas
• Healthy Pond Water: Vital Need For Koi & Pond Fish
• pH: Strive For Stability
• Ammonia: Toxicity Issues & How To Remedy High Levels
• Nitrite: Toxicity Issues & How To Remedy High Levels
• Water Temperature Requirements for Healthy Koi & Plants

To easily view ALL the projects and how-tos I've got to share with you, please go to my Site Map and take a look. You might just find a few things that catch your eye.
Your garden will thank you! Site Map