Questions about Koi...

[Herby Canopy]

I heard that you need about 1000 gallons for a Koi, does that mean that if you have 10 Koi you would need about 10,000 gallons of space?

Can you tell the age of Koi by the side that they are? If so is there some type of age/size chart that you can link me, please.

[TheOldSalt]

Yeah, that's what that means. Adult koi are very large, massive fish with heavy requirements. You can keep more than that if they're much smaller, but they'll grow.

You can age koi by counting the rings in their scales. Their size is useless as an age indicator.

[Herby Canopy]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

Yeah, that's what that means. Adult koi are very large, massive fish with heavy requirements. You can keep more than that if they're much smaller, but they'll grow.

You can age koi by counting the rings in their scales. Their size is useless as an age indicator.

Does that work for most fish too?

[TheOldSalt]

It depends on what kind of scales a fish has, since there are 4 main types. 3 types aren't much help, but the cycloid scales of a koi are round and have the rings. Placoid, ganoid, and ctenoid scales are the other main types, but they're no good for this. ( well, ctenoids have rings, but the weird shape makes then hard to use. )
Anyway, don't even think about ripping off some scales just to see how old the fish is unless you have a VERY good reason for absolutely having to know. Curiosity is not a good enough reason to risk that kind of damage and infection.

[Herby Canopy]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

It depends on what kind of scales a fish has, since there are 4 main types. 3 types aren't much help, but the cycloid scales of a koi are round and have the rings. Placoid, ganoid, and ctenoid scales are the other main types, but they're no good for this. ( well, ctenoids have rings, but the weird shape makes then hard to use. )
Anyway, don't even think about ripping off some scales just to see how old the fish is unless you have a VERY good reason for absolutely having to know. Curiosity is not a good enough reason to risk that kind of damage and infection.

lol...I would not have even though of that and I do not plan of ever having Koi. I would love to but they just take up so much room...ok if I win the lotto I might, but some one told me you have to buy a lotto ticket to win, maybe that is why I have not won yet.

EDIT: I am confused about the amount of room that Koi need...If you really need 1000 gallons per Koi for them to thrive then how come I see photos all over the internet where the fish do not have even close to that room but are still very large? Is there more to thriving then growing large and living long?

Here is a good example photo....this is a 5000 gallon pond is all and from only the fish we can see there are 20 koi, making that a minimum of 250 gallons per fish (still alot of room in my ignorant thinking.)

Is it the fact that this are kept in a 5000 gallon pond that makes the difference. I can see how if you where to try to keep 1 koi in a 250 gallon tank that the fish would not have that much room to swim around but in a pond this size with 20 fish one would thing that they would have more "space to stretch their legs".

I am not trying to be difficult, I am just trying to understand how all these Koi farms can morally and ethically raise so many koi in smaller space. I found a site where you can buy 50 3-4" koi for $180 or 5 10-12" for $200, they would need thousands of gallons of space....maybe it is just my perception of how much space ponds take up....

EDIT of the edit: It was my perception...I looked up information on an Olympic size pool to get some measurements that could help me visualize things a bit more...

In English units:

50m = 164.042 ft

25m = 82.02 ft

2.0m = 6.56 ft

Surface area = 13,454.72 sq ft

Volume ~= 88,263 cu ft

~= 660,253.09 gallons of water

That's about 5,511,556 lbs (2755.8 tons) of water.


source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_t..._swimming_pool

Dig it and they will bread...from the movie "Pond of Dreams"

[TheOldSalt]

3-4 inches are very young, not like the 20" adults.
In the picture, look at the size of that filter. It's huge. That's what you need if you wish to overstuff your pond.
The problem, though, is that filters break down sometimes. You want to keep you stocking level, in ALL tanks and ponds, in a range that would be safe even despite a very longterm loss of your lifesupport equipment.
Also look at how clear that water is. That's not normal. The owner of this pond is doing something else to help his fish make it in this pool. UV radiation and many frequent large waterchanges are my guess, and these can certainly help keep koi happy in crowded conditions. ( at least until something goes wrong, of course )