Originally Posted by
Nightstorm
Here's my situtation - no koi pond. Having lurked on this board for a very long time (long before registering), I know what I want to have: 10,000g pond "done right". I know where I want to put it in the back yard, know what I want it to look like (I'm picturing Marie's beautiful pond in my backyard).
I just don't have the funds. I've been telling my wife "2009" for awhile, but even that is questionable based on my gut feeling for what this is going to cost. It's hard to justify the huge upfront investment. For Christmas and birthdays, I've received books and magazines. But I can't really get a gift certificate to the local dealer for fish until I have something to put them in! I don't really want to build a smaller pond - especially since it would have to be deep and a minimum of, say, 3000g to survive the winters here anyway. Besides, there's economies of scale at work.
But the koi kichi bug has bitten me hard. I'll drive to the local dealer just to look at the fish, lurk on this board looking at all of your beautiful fish, scroll through "live koi" on ebay just to look at the pictures. A sad existence, I agree.
So last night I'm looking through Koi Nations, particularly the article on building a wood QT. I've seen threads on this before, but last night the thought occurred to me - If I'm going to need to build a QT anyway, with its own filtration system, why not build it now and buy 2 or 3 koi? That would help introduce me to the hands-on aspects of koi keeping, including water quality, feeding, fish care, etc. It might even get my wife hooked (though that's unlikely). The only downside is that I understand that it might be harder to maintain a smaller volume of water.
A 4' x 4' x 8' QT should hold around 900 gallons. Would this be suitable for just 3 koi (initially babies) long term, as in possibly 2 years? If this were in my garage, would the temperature be OK in the winter (and summer, for that matter, since it's all above ground)? I think it fits the criteria of gallons/fish, but I'm not sure of the ethics of having them live in a box...
So, what would you do? Build a long term QT tank for a few fish, invest $$ in a small outdoor pond that you'd want to make bigger before you even began to dig, or just bite your tongue and keep waiting?