Finding a new home for koi

[mshaffer]

Hi, I have 12 koi that I've been taking care of for 17 years now. I really need to find them a new home for them. I'd be fine with giving them away to a good home. I'm in Northern Virginia. Does anyone have any tips on how to find a new owner?

[aquaholic]

I'm not in the US so I can't take them but I suggest you advertise them as KVH free since they have been isolated and healthy for so long.

I would not give them away if you want good homes for them. Charge a modest of say $10 each but the new owner has to take them all. Only to weed out the unscrupulous.

Best of luck. It must be heart breaking.

[fly4koi]

Perhaps contact your local park department to see if there are park ponds that are suitable to have koi rehomed

[kdh]

See if maybe there is a koi club somewhere in your area. Contact them.

[mshaffer]

I decided to keep the koi. The reason I was going to get rid of them is that the liner was starting to leak. I've just built a new pond and am filling it up now. Do you think it's too late in the season to transfer the koi to the new pond? They've been in there since 2007 so I don't know if it would be too big of an adjustment for them right before winter.

[richtoybox]

I would go ahead and move them and at the same time move as much of the bio filter as possible. The new liner will not have the bio bacteria of the old liner, so you will likely go through some stages of the cycle. Keep a test on the system, and get an ammonia alert card to know when to add Prime of Safe to protect the fish.

[mshaffer]

I would go ahead and move them and at the same time move as much of the bio filter as possible. The new liner will not have the bio bacteria of the old liner, so you will likely go through some stages of the cycle. Keep a test on the system, and get an ammonia alert card to know when to add Prime of Safe to protect the fish.

Ok, thanks for the advice. Here's a picture of the two ponds. I already have a pipe going to the top pond from a stream I used to have. So I guess I'll run the two ponds in series for awhile to help transfer the algae etc from the other pond. A tree branch fell into the old pond and punctured the liner. So I've been adding water every day for a long time. It will be nice to not have to do that anymore.

[lomaponder]

Like Richtoybox$ look at your pond being new and treat it like that. Top thing don’t feed your fish ( or no more once day if still warm). Start your winter hiber if conditions are right ( that means no feeding for a month- 6 weeks. Koi can do well for many months without koi food (they eat the rahe algae off roe pond walls - opps new pond,)
Good luck you van do it.

[mshaffer]

Ok, I got the fish transferred to the new pond. I bought a large fishing net from Walmart (Ozark Trail Premium Telescopic Adustable Conservation Landing Net) and also used a large rectangular plastic tub. I trapped them in the net, then sunk the plastic tub underneath them. I then took the net out and removed as much water as I could to make it liftable.

The fish seem to be doing pretty well now in the new pond.

[KingstonKoi]

Very smart way to do the transfer. You didn’t lift the fish out of the water, which is really hard on them, especially when they are large fish like that. I’ve often wondered if that approach could work so appreciate your sharing it.