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Comment by Donovan Schult on October 26, 2018 at 1:53am

Hi all,

I'm new to aquaponics and I'm using Koi in my FT.  After a couple days of introducing the first batch of koi (10 fish), one of them decided to jump out of the tank and found its way through a small opening on one side (I though it would be impossible but nevertheless...)  I'm not sure what time the fish jumped out but I discovered it early morning.  I assumed it was already dead and scooped it up in a net.  After showing my kids a few minutes later, it started moving and gulping for air.  I immediately put it in to a bucket of water from the same tank and left it there for a couple hours to calm down.  I then popped it back in to the FT.

It's doing great and doesn't seem to perturbed but I was under the impression it had been out the tank for some time as it's body was not wet and slimy and I seriously though it was dead.

How long can these guys realistically survive outside of a tank?

Comment by Averan on May 30, 2013 at 9:32am

If your fish get sick or have ick you can take them out and sink them in a salt bath for a little while. I setup a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone and the recommended salt concentration (Google it) and kept the sick fish there for 30 minutes or so. It worked amazingly well and didn't force me to add anything harmful to the system. Salting is a standard cure for koi illness.

Comment by Averan on May 30, 2013 at 9:24am

The ph of my koi systems has run at 7 for years. My fish are happy but I have seen the occasional iron/calcium deficiency in my plants. Supplement with some chelated iron and a little oyster shell from time to time and all is well.

Comment by Averan on May 30, 2013 at 9:21am

Re: stocking density

Those koi books don't realize that you have more than twice the volume of your pond present in your growing modules so you can ignore those silly numbers. 8 koi in a 6x9 pond? Ha! I successfully kept 8 koi in a 55g aquarium! I would aim for one big (10") fish per 5 gallons, but realize that your fish will grow at different rates and you'll have a bunch of different sizes. Their growth is also (unlike some of those fish we eat) limited by the size of the container they're in.

Another thing to consider is that you probably want to be able to see your koi, so stock more lightly than you would tilapia. I have a 6'x6'x2' pond with 6x12", 20x8", 20x6"and 10x4" koi, fed four times a day, powering 4 4'x4'x1' media beds and my water is crystal clear and my plants are growing very well!

Comment by Wendell Ford on February 25, 2013 at 4:02pm

I have a 8800 gallon Koi pond I just am converting my bio filters into grow beds. My PH has always been around 7.5 to 8. That is a little high for plants. When I asked my local Koi dealer about lowering the PH he said the fish do much better at 8 than at 7. Does anyone have any knowledge about what is a good PH compromise to ave happy Koi and plenty of food.

Comment by Ray Absher on April 22, 2012 at 10:57am

Hello!
Any advice and information on breeding? I have a 500 gallon pond, with an Atlantic waterfall and skimmer filter pumping at 2000 gph (I will be adding another "flow" pump soon). The pond dimensions are 5'x7'x2' (35' surface area). I am overstocked I believe, but am unwilling to downsize. I have 3 Koi (24",18",15"). I think the largest is female, the middle male and am unsure of the smallest. I also have 2 Plecos (both 15") and a 3" African Chiclid. I will be connecting this to my garden soon, which I hope will increase the bioload capacity.

Comment by Burton on March 17, 2011 at 12:24pm

OK, So just had a thought on how you could measure the weight of a fish, or several fish at once without disturbing them too much (ie not taking them out of water for more than a second, or the amount of time it would take you to transfer them to another container with water which is floating in your main tank)

 

Here is what you will need

• Scale
• A container to hold fish and water (could be any size but I will use a 5gal bucket as an example)
• Net

SETUP

1. Mark about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the container. If you know the average weight of the fish you will be measuring at once is going to be more than 1/4 times the 8.35lbs/gallon of your container then measure farther into your container.
   
   

   You could have multiple marks but you will have to repeat step 2 for each additional mark

2. Fill container to the line you have chosen and weigh on scale marking this weight down somewhere.

 

Steps to measure the weight of the fish

1. Fill the container up to the fill point from the system.
   
   
2. Coax some fish into the net under water while the container floats in the main tank.
   
   
3. Once all fish you wish to weigh are in the net quickly lift them from the water into the container and remove net.
   
   
4. The water level in the smaller container will raise above the line you marked earlier as your fill line, this is fine and desirable as it will account for the displacement weight of the fish.
   
   
5. Weigh the full weight of the container with water and fish inside and subtract the weight from step 2 (if using multiple fill lines remember which line you filled to and subtract the amount)
6. The number you come up with will be the weight of the fish in the container.
   
   
7. Return fish by submerging container in system.

 

Some notes:

Yes I know it still involves a net but at least you don't have to handle them too long and if you do it right it would be just like moving them into a temporary tank. Something you have to do time to time anyway.

 

If you wanted to you could do the "setup" phase each time and not worry about a fill line. Having a digital scale you can equalize the 0 point on will speed up the process. I suppose some none digital scales could do this too.

 

You must equalize your scale to your pre-fill line before measuring the weight of the fish or you will not account for the water displaced by the fish and your measurement of their weight will be off.

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on October 23, 2010 at 1:08pm

For tilapia it is about 1 1/2 lbs for a 12" fish, but I don't know if this is directly applicable to koi

Comment by Shawn on October 23, 2010 at 12:08pm

Christian- I have Koi and Tilapia together and they seem quite happy with each other. Neither out competes the other for food and they all school together. I have comets and guppies in my pond too but they each keep to themselves more, just because they are smaller. Most of the koi and tilapia are around two to three pounds each.

Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on October 23, 2010 at 10:01am

Great stuff, Sahib. I was considering getting some koi for one of my tanks today and this is exactly the info I needed. Thanks!

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