The Real McKoi - Choosing fish

Choosing your Koi Carp or Goldfish

Before any fish or plants are added to your pond you should switch on your pump and circulate water for several days.This allows time for the Chlorine & Chloramine (which is harmful to both FISH AND PLANTS) to be safely removed from the tap water.

Another way to remove chlorine & chloramine is to purchase a cold water dechlorinator and add this to the pond water.

Assuming you have adhered to the guidelines,you should soon end up with pond water,that is not only crystal clear,but a safe pond that is ready for stocking with goldfish or koi carp.
No matter how big your garden pond is,it will only accommodate a certain number of fish safely . To play safe you should follow a basic stocking rule.

Allow 24 square inches of pond surface for every 1 inch of fish,excluding the tail.
Example A fish pond measuring 10ft x 5ft would have a surface area of 50sq ft. This works out at 7200sq inches. Given the 24sq in stocking rule, a pond this size can take7200in divided by 24in = 300in of fish. How you split this up is entirely up to you. You could have 30 x 10in or 300 x 1in or any other permutatoin in between.
This calculation is based on water temperature being 70f or lower, at 80f the quantity of fish should be halved.

When purchasing your goldfish or koi carp, there are a few signs you should look for. If for example you are viewing a fish tank full of fish and some look decidedly unhealthy,you should ignore this batch no matter how healthy other fish may look in the same tank.It,s just not worth the risk of infecting your own pond.

On the other hand, you look into the fish tank and all appears to be well.
Attempt to select gold fish or koi carp using these pointers.

No injuries, however small.
Intact Fins ( no tears )
Balanced swimming
No missing scales
Good appetite.

Abide by the above and hopefully you will have bought a healthy fish. You can never really be 100% sure, as some internal diseases are not detectable in the early stages.

Japanese Koi are undoubtedly the finest fish in the world.This is also reflected in the price.If you want fish at one third the price, look no further than Israeli Koi.

Introducing your newly acquired fish into your pond involves much more than just ripping open the plastic bag which they were transported home in, and pouring the fish into the pond. If this is done you are soon likely to regret it.
Fish should NOT be carried home in an unwrapped plastic bag.This will add to the level of stress already induced by the fish being netted and placed into the plastic bag. You should cover the plastic bag with newspaper, paper bag or an insulated polystyrene box. This will help enormously in settling the fish down.

When you arrive home you should follow the steps indicated below.

Acclimatising and releasing fish to your pond


Float sealed bag for about 20 minutes	Open bag and add some pond water to bag	Refloat opened bag for another 20 minutes	Release fish

When releasing fish to your pond for the first time you should do so, as above.This allows the water in the bag to
increase or decrease in temperature gradually and match that of your pond water.This reduces the risk of the fish
encountering more stress.

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