Raised Bed Organic Gardening - How To Choose Between Goldfish And Koi

How To Choose Between Goldfish And Koi

Many people have asked us over the years "Should I addgoldfish or KOI (or both) to my pond? The answer is "itdepends."

Goldfish are better suited to smaller water gardens andponds, in the 50 - 500 gallon range. Goldfish areextremely hardy and easy to care for, which makes themthe perfect choice for the new pond owner or watergardener.

KOI Feeding

KOI, on the other hand, require a little more knowledgeand better water quality in most cases, than goldfishand are better suited to the more experienced pondkeeper. KOI generally thrive best in ponds over 500gallons (the bigger - the better.)

This is becuase KOI can grow quite large and thereforerequire more water in the pond for proper biologicalbreakdown of waste. KOI are also more expensive (andharder to replace) than goldfish, so this should alsobe taken into account before filling your new pond fullof KOI fish. More considerations...

Goldfish are an excellent choice for the average watergarden that is usually also full of a variety of pottedplants. Lilies, Lotus, Iris, and submerged annuals -these all do well in a water garden pond with goldfish. Goldfish will not disturb the plants, and will enjoyplaying around under the lily pads without disturbingthe plants.

Pond Goldfish

Japanese KOI on the other hand, and especially thelarger ones, will often create a huge mess out ofsubmerged potted plants. They seem to enjoy 'digging'in the soil of the plants and sometimes even knockingthem over. This all leads to added mess in the pond,and can create a real problem for the pond owner.

Generally, it's best to not have submerged plants inlarge pots, when also keeping KOI. The ideal KOI pondis much deeper than the average water garden, so thenecessity for plants to help with water quality andshade is reduced.

However, if you still do want to keep potted plants inyour KOI pond, we recommend wrapping netting over thetops of the pots, to keep the fish from digging in thepots. Another thing you can do is to top the pots with1" of pea gravel, and then larger river stones orsimilar over that. The KOI will not be able to getpast the larger rocks.

As far as mixing Goldfish with KOI, this is fine andvery common, we've just tried to highlight the mostimportant differences between the two and between theaverage water garden and KOI pond. Feel free toexperiment with both, and then decide which fish ismore to your liking.

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Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites includingMacArthurWatergardens.com
and Pond-Filters-Online.com. He also publishes a free monthly
newsletter called PondStuff! with a reader circulation of over
9,000. To sign up for the free newsletter and receive our FREE
'New Pond Owners Guide' visit MacArthur Water Gardens today!
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