Just my two cents worth.

Here is a little bit of information that most hobbyists do not know. If you have a 24" (61cm) Koi, that Koi is now equal to over 8, 12" (30.5cm) Koi. Most people think that it would be a two to one proportional rate but the weight of a Koi change so dramatically from smaller to larger. It would take more than 66, 6" (15.25cm) Koi to equal that one big 24" (61cm) Koi.

Think about it for a second! If you stocked a small pond with 132 small 6" (15.25cm) Koi that would look ridiculously overcrowded. It would look like you where trying to sell Koi out of your home pond. However, that is exactly what hobbyist do when they have just 2 large 24" (61cm) Koi in the same size pond.

Hobbyist really don’t give it a second thought of what the filter now has to contend with in the form of waste, oxygen requirements, bacteria population and last but not least, the degradation of the entire ecosystem as a whole and not just one entity of that system.

So the next time you build a filtration system for your pond, think just how big that little Koi is going to get and the burden it will place on water quality parameters. If you think this never happens, think again, it happens all the time, more than you know.

This constant game of changing filters and adding onto already existing filters is never ending for some hobbyist. As long as the money holds out, then they will keep poring more of it into their existing system if they can. The worst part of this entire scenario is: Once they do reach a happy medium between Koi, filter and ponds water mass, they start adding more fish once again.

I see this all the time with over crowded ponds and inadequate filtration for fish to water mass. When I try and explain to them they just have too many Koi for their ponds volume, they don’t want to hear it! Well, they can’t get rid of any of their Koi; they love each and every one of them…do they? If there were such a law as animal cruelty for fish, pond owners would be on top of that list as the number one offenders of that law. After all, what kind of shame would we place on a person that had 24 cats living in their house? Wouldn’t we all say that is a little excessive and that this individual needs some kind of help mentally? The smell and filth would overwhelm anyone stepping into that home. So why is it we except Koi ponds to become the exception to the rule? Just my two cents worth.