Minimum Pond Size For A Single Koi.

I am wondering what the minimum size the pond would have to be. I was also thinking it would be best if I started a barrel pond before I decided on going for koi. Does anyone have any experience with these?

 

Koi can get 3' long and the general rule for wintering fish in a pond is to have it at least 3' deep. You'd want the fish to have plenty of room to move around so I'd say it should be at least 7' x 7' x 3' which would be close to 1100 gallons. But goldfish & koi are actually pretty social and I think you'd see a lot more active/natural behavior if you kept at least 4 or 5. In that case you'd be needing closer to a 2000 - 3000 gallon pond.

If you really like the look/shape of koi, but don't care to have a fish that large, I suggest shubunkin goldfish. They look like miniature koi and only get about 8" - 10" long so you can keep several in a much smaller pond (I'd allot about 50 - 75 gallons each).

If they're properly set up, ponds really aren't that difficult to maintain. If you pick the right plants for your zone (you'll be limited because you're so far north), you can leave them in the pond for the winter. As long as you under stock the pond and have lots of plants, you don't have to do hardly any water changes (I completely drain & clean my pond twice a year and rinse out the filter media every couple of weeks during the spring/summer).

I'd actually recommend starting out with about a 500 gallon pond with shubunkins or common/comet goldfish. You can either use a pre-formed liner (although those generally aren't more than 2' deep) or you can use a flexible liner and make it any shape/dimensions you want.

-Chelle

 

I read in a koi magazine that you only need 250 gallons for one koi.