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Top Poster: markf1fan (3,500)
Moved this little Lady from the Growing on system to the main pond today, she is doing well but just getting a little chunky so will hopefully benefit from a few months chilling.
She's put on 40cm in the last 11 months and its not an easy decision whether to push her on in the warmth or give her a bit of a rest for the winter, guess come this time next year I’ll know whether I’ve done the right thing?
Dave
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Ive starved my fish for the last two months , and it will continue till feb/march , Ive done so the girls reabsorb there eggs , for next years growing season , your fish look OK to me , so you could go either way
Thanks Guys, this Lady has always been of powerful build but no point in ruining her by pushing her too hard growth wise.
Steve, you certainly give them a long winter. I tend not to start feeding the main pond fish heavy until the end of July and maintain high feed through to early December, then dropping down food and heat and giving them a winter Jan through to March.
The Kohaku is only just Nisai so hopefully should not be wasting energy on egg production for another season or so.
Looks very good to me Dave not chunky at all from the photo imo.
I am a believer in giving a winter unless a 'young' or small tosai. Lots of different opinions on wintering koi, I just think personally that's the way for me.
After a very interesting talk by MankySanke at a club meet I am much more targetted on winter temp, something I think you have covered elsewhere. I let the weather sort of dictate how long it is... what I mean is our winters vary so much heh... but will hold temp to 12+ until Dec and then drop it to 4 - and in that there is a problem - to avoid the alley if the ambient temp is say 7 then am sort of froced to give the heat until a constant sub 4 degrees has set in. Cost is a factor but will spend whats needed in kw to hold at 4 or above 12.
The other thought I had on growth... and this is just what you prompted me to think more about - have sort of thought in the past that koi tht some koi will develop growth faster than others [lots written about this or that breeder jumbo tosai etc] - so if say there are 2 koi one with MORE potential to grow faster and both grab same amount of food where does the extra grub go... on the waist line? I also wonder if too much 'forced' growth too fast can be detrimental to future development?
I will be taking my last pics soon and an interesting one for me is my 2 migoto-koi grow and show kohakus - they have had the very same ebnviroment and feeding and are sisters [ or brothers ] - yet their growth is very different. They are both 'at' the food keenly and so that isn't it - my enviroment isn't kept at high temp, for most of the time I just had thermostat to 'catch' at 18 not pump it higher and so ambient temps ruled above that.
Sheesh babbling on writing my thoughts... you tend to get me thinking Dave and yet again just gonna say very nice fish and that is some growth my mate .
Winter temps; There’s a load been written about ideal winter temps and at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.
I’d be comfortable at 8C and wouldn‘t have a problem at 10C but again, personally would avoid 10-14C but that’s just down to my personal preference.
Growth; my goal with the younger fish is to give them the chance to fulfill their potential and that isn‘t easy when they all have different potentials! - so it has to be a balance of sorts.
The Guys that show, particularly in the smaller classes may have other priorities though?
Dave isn't danger alley 4 to 12 degrees? That was my reason for maintaining 12 - 13. When it gets cold enough to drop to 3 ish will ower to that level... that was my plan mate but listening .
Potential... heh what a question that is . I suppose its giving the best life we can for our fish... rest is up to them. I think thats partly why a lot if us like a 'growing on' system. We scale up temp, filtration and even volume of water /quantity of fish. Hard to recreate that molly coddling into a full scale pond - money is an object :/. If money was not a question would a growing on system be needed?
There's a thought... what would your perfect pond be if money didn't matter?
I remember seeing pics years ago - think it was a Japanese set up - where the pond part came into the lounge, the floor of the lounge was GLASS with some rugs on it... and it opened up outside to the air if you see what I mean. Think I saw [or again its the cobwebs] a pond which had on 1 side a walk down so you could look at the koi through a full glass wall... like the shamu set up at Seaworld in Florida if you have seen that.
Nearly put my Mod hat on and split this into 5 different Threads!! But hey the garden centres have had their grottos up for a month or more so it must be nearly Christmas.
As I said there a load been written on winter temps and at the end of the day it is down to Guys to make their own minds up.
My take is that 8 to 10C is a nice temp. Any critters save for probably costia are not going to be doing much but the fish are not going to be in a totally dormant state.
Again my take is to give 10 to 14C a miss.
The wildlife pond fish survive with the stat at 3-4C but sub 8C on the main pond is not for me. I look on it in a glass half full type of way - over the winter the extra heating costs are more than offset by the savings in food, so it’s a cheap time of the year.
Enough from me;
Do different age and gender fish have different feeding needs?
Its always a tough one as we all have our own take on things and different systems and how people run things makes a big difference
My take and this was stuff i went over trying for a few years and chatting with Duncan Griffiths is that most problems seem to come when people go lower than 12 as this is where the immune system on a koi starts to fall off and the lower we go the more it drops off. Now i am not saying our fish will die but IMO and from what has happened to me in the past i stay at 12c and no lower.
Feed her or Starve her 
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