My pond is an older plastic liner I have had for probably about 10 years and holds I believe around 125 gallons. I do not have it buried in the ground and it is filled up with about 3-4 inches from the top. Today I deiced I would go out and purchase some koi after setting up the water/filter for the koi a couple of days ago. After purchased one koi from a local dealer I acclimated them into the pond like I do my aquarium fish and everything was well. Later that day I decided to check out another dealer in my town and bought a butterfly koi and a shubunkin gold fish for my pond. When I came back home from the dealer I looked in the pond and did not see my fish. I thought maybe I wasn't seeing it because it likes to hide by the pump/fountain in my pond. Lifted it up and saw nothing... I looked on the ground right in front of the pond and there it was luckily still alive sitting on the ground. I put it back in the pond and it seems to be doing fine with the other fish. As a temporary precaution I decided to put a metal screen over the top of it (Old garden fence) just to be sure they don't jump out again. I guess my question is: is the a common thing with koi to jump out of a pond? and should I remove the metal screen after a while or leave it on permanently?
Also all of these fish are no bigger than 4 or 5 inches in length currently.
Thanks,
Hunter