The koi all enjoyed a day in the sun today. Temps went from 30 at 6am to 58
this afternoon. The whole gang survived the winter!!! A few remember me and the hand feeding...They had a small meal today for the first time in 4 months. Yum!
Spring is almost here!!
Wow, how exciting for you! What zone are you in? Did the air temperatures change that much in a day or the water temperatures? I saw one of my fish watching me around the pond. He was hidden behind a rock and his little eye moved with me anytime I walked past the pond. He/she is such a bright orange color it is easy to see him even if only a very small bit of him. I can't wait til it warms up more.
Linda.. These temps were the air temps today. I am in zone 7a .
(Willamette Valley)
The water temp was 50.. still to cold for me to get in start my clean up..but the fish do not seem to mind. I found a small frog again in the filter basket. He was not ready to come out & sun yet.
Cleaned the debris and let him back to his secret hiding spot.
Saved a drowing lady bug from the pond. Poor little thing was trying to get to "shore" but the current was taking him down towards the filter. Scooped her out and placed her on a leaf in the sun to dry off. She did and then flew away... My good deed for the day!
This is not a great photo..but this guy or gal is going to be one handsome fish. He/She is black & yellow with yellow circles around his eyes, Yellow nose and under belly. He was one I got last fall for $2. He is only about 3 inches long.
Hope your fishes come out of hiding soon and that you have a healthy group this season.
Thanks for the pics! Love that mysterious half black fish;)
We are in a warming trend starting this weekend, no cold dips in sight, so I will be outside working on the pond and getting my QT stock tank going. My bulbs are really pushing up so this might be it!!! Its about time....
Evesta - are you starting up your pond this weekend?
No, I'm working on the skimmer and might start cleaning a bit though. I think I will wait another week or two.
Beahive-love the fish-where in the world do you get fish at that price? autumn close-outs?
Beahive
you have some really beautiful fish. It should be interesting to see how the patterns on your black & yellow develops as he gets grows.
Linda,
I think I mentioned a lady in town that I met last summer who has a natural pond on her property. She let a neighbor release some Koi into her pond (his was leaking) and she now has many...many koi.
She has been selling them for this low price just to keep populations
in check. They are little...but they do grow.
She does not ship, but if you can get to Silverton.. I can give
you her number.
Beahive
I have to ask - how do they catch them? We have an awful time catching the fry.
She catches them at feeding time. She throws in a sprinkling of food and when they come to the surface she scoops up a bunch with a net . She then puts them into a large bucket filled with pond water and you can choose the ones you like and the rest are returned to the pond.
She is funny because she really hadn't planned on raising Koi. She won't even touch them. When I first went there, she was trying to catch the ones I liked with a tiny gold fish net ( made for indoor tank)
It was taking forever...so I asked If I could catch them with my hands...it is alot quicker.
Good luck with yours....
That's a funny story. Take pictures next time you go there. Maybe a movie. That little net makes me really laugh. It sounds like something I might have done had I not purposely gotten into koi.
Even with the large net it's a challenge to catch smart Koi. If you feed them and scoop you better get the ones you want on the first try. Those suckers will run and hide and not come back out for hours. I know I just went fishing for a bunch several times the past two weeks.
I have a friend that just let me come over and get all I wanted. He is kind of like the lady mentioned above. He gives them away to keep them in check or at least in manageable numbers. LOL The ones I got were all over a foot long and we used a huge fishing net to get them. Of course being the greedy person I am when it comes to getting something for free, I was more interested in the bigger fish that they small fry.
Happy Ponding,
Marian
Peek a boo!
Some of my fish around 7 am loooking for breakfast!
Bea, that frog made me LOL!
Thanks for such a great picture!
The pond & garden is coming back to life after a cold and dreary winter.
My pond runs 24/7 all year round and DH cleaned it last weekend. He cleaned all the filters and stirred the buttom and must have cleaned the filters 3 times that day and now it is clear. i used to do all the cleaning but somehow he enjoys doing it now that he is retired. He plays golf 5-6 days a week and I think he feels guilty not helping me. i have all sorts of help and i get calls if I need them and so i do not hesitate to hire and use his check if he does not help!! LOL!!!It 's been so stressful to do everything during spring!!! Bellieg
BH, your pond looks very nice!
Thanks Bonnie. I still need to do some cleaning, but with the frog spawn & tadpoles..I do not wish to disturb them.
Here are a few of my koi today..Hard to make them sit still for a picture...but this one came out pretty good.
These marsh marigolds are so cheeful.
The Koi are pretty active. The little guys are learning to eat out of my hand. This group did pretty good nibbling on my fingers today.
The big guys just push the little ones away. They must learn their manners!
