My Koi

[andy]

Just taken some photos of the koi whilst they are still fairly active.

None of them are show winners....if i like a fish, i'll buy it whether it costs £100 or £2 from a garden centre !!!



The front fish (red and blue) is a shusui and the black and white fish is a shiro bekko



One of the better fish...this is a chagoi. This fella should get to almost 1 meter long as it's from jumbo bloodline



and again



This is another chagoi, this time a gin rin chag (shiney scales along the back)



This is probably my fave in the pond....a 10" sanke



This is a doitsu (scaleless) kin matsuba



Lastly, my shusui

[4pygmies]

I know absolutely nothing about these fish but I do love to watch them. They are fantastic Andy! What amazing creatures they are and beautiful colours. What happens to them over winter then? Do they hibernate or something? Sorry to display my woeful ignorance!

[andy]

They go into a kind of "shut down" mode. As fish are cold bloodied, their body temp is the same as their environment. So one day.....especially in the UK, the temp can be zero and the next the temp can be +15.

So it would be almost impossible to maintain any hibernation for any length of time.

Instead, the fish will sit at the bottom of the pond, all huddled up and their body and metabolism slows right down. The fish will not feed and they rely on stored body fat to live on.....sometimes i don't feed my koi for 2 months during the winter.

The problem with this is the fishes immune system can take a right hammering...especially when it starts to warm up in spring. The fish are fairly week, the bacteria in the filter hasn't woken up yet but the diseases and parasites have and that's when you can get problems.

Hope this helps a bit.

I never really liked koi....shubunkins, goldfish and golden orfe always suited me better but to see a pond full of these lumps feeding out of your fingers in summer is a sight to behold.

[Deleted]

Love the pics andy.
My dad has got 11 in his pond he has had them for about 15 years some are very big, hes got one he calls the old man its a yellow and black ill try to get some pics but it may have to be next year when they are more active,
He used to have 2 indoor tanks with tropical fish but eventually they died and he didn't replace them, a shame relay as i loved to watch them.
I love the pics of your tropical fish tanks they are a credit to you.

Regards Karenwl