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Izzy's Koi Pond

31K views 110 replies 16 participants last post by  FishyFishy89 
#1 ·
I have made a few threads and shown a few pictures here and there. I've finally decided to devote a thread entirely to it. Mind you it will probably go dead when the winter comes but for the spring, summer, and early fall I will be posting a lot of pictures here. I am not joking when I say I have thousands of pictures of the pond and the koi. They are my favorite thing to photograph.

So a little bit of background about the pond. It is roughly 3500 gallons (based on the estimate of the builder who installed it) and has been running since spring 2007. The oldest koi is about 7 and the youngest are probably 5. One day I'll have to find a picture with all of the koi and label their names and breeds. I don't know the names of most of the plants that are in the pond aside from the iris. The first couple of years I also had water lettuce and water hyacinth, and I plan to get more again this year.

And now... pictures of opening day 2013!






This is the lower stream leading to the pump and bog. I love how much the moss has grown up here!


This is the view looking up the stream into the main pond. I love this perspective because you feel like a bug!


My mom and I saw a couple of trees blooming in the backyard earlier in the day. Upon investigating we found they were cherry blossom trees! We didn't plants them; they just came naturally. This must be the first year they bloomed, but now that I know they are there I will do my best to make them happy.


Another artsy picture of the moss reflections. I just love my moss!


And the koi. The water was still pretty chilly when I took the net off, so they weren't doing too much. But it's finally warmed up enough that I can feed them! They enjoyed their first meal of cheerios today.

 
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#7 ·
Your post and wonderful pics almost made me cry. I actually said out loud, "Hello Fishies!" at the last pics. What an incredible feeling it must be to have them all come up and greet you each spring. (waaaaa, I want a pond so bad!)
 
#8 ·
I'd totally do that if I had a pond. I do that to my current tanks. Always greeting them." Good Morning fishys!" "Night night fishys". And randomly through out the day; "Hey fishys!" "whatcya doin fishys!?"
 
#9 ·
Thank you so much for your complements, everyone! The koi say thank you, too. In their own, fishy way.

Funny thing about them coming to greet me. They only do it for me and my mom. When a new person comes to the pond, they can be a little coy (hehe sorry for the terrible pun). But, they remember me from last fall when they come back out in the spring. Now if only I could get them to eat from my hands!
 
#12 ·
These guys aren't as used to seeing people as others are. I'm really the only person they see on a regular basis. My backyard is rather isolated. They're a little bit closer to wild carp than to domestic koi in that regard. They have to be wary of big things because they might (and have been in the past) predators.
 
#16 ·
I've been meaning to post this for a few days, but stuff just keeps getting in the way. Here are some shots of the koi eating one of their first meals of the year. Cheerios! I use them as a substitute until their real food comes in (which should be early next week).









I would love to get a light polarizer for my camera. While some reflection is nice, too much just ruins the shot.

I'm looking for good pictures of my koi to give you the background, breed, and names for them.
 
#17 ·
Love the shots! polarizers are very nice to have. I never did get around to replacing mine when I switched cams, miss it. . . looking forward to the details on these amazing animals. I just adore your pond. So happy you started this thread, it's going to be so lovely to follow it through the course of the season. And? Cheerios are DELISH! I can see they agree!
 
#18 ·
*burbles with jealousy* Oh, Izzy, it looks fantastic! So natural, like it's always been a part of the land. Did you do the designing of it? And of course I love the cherry trees. :) (for those who don't know, my name Sakura means cherry blossoms in Japanese).

Your koi are so gorgeous and BIG! I love your tancho. Something about that big tomato spot on their heads that makes me go "Awwwwww."
 
#20 ·
Awwww thanks!! :3 I did design the pond myself. I want it to look as natural as possible. The idea I had in mind was a mountain-side spring. I'm a couple hours away from the mountains, and I love hiking and finding these tiny little springs. So I brought one to my backyard!

I love my little tancho's spot, too! It's even more special because it's lopsided! It's like someone missed the target when throwing the tomato!!

My shots of the fish come out best when there is full sun. Unfortunately we've had cloudy skies now for a couple of days. Tomorrow isn't looking better either. I have some good shots, but not of all. Honestly it's really hard to photograph just ONE at a time. Photobombing is kinda their thing... must be genetic... goldfish do it, too...
 
#22 ·
Visitors to the Pond

It's been really cloudy and rather cool lately, so I haven't been feeding the koi as much and the light isn't good for photos. I promise I'm working on introducing my individual koi to you guys. For now, I'll show you some of the visitors that have popped in and out (literally in some cases) during years passed.





This is a little pickerel frog that I managed to catch on film one day back in 2008. I've seen (and heard) frogs at my pond every year, but this is the only one I've gotten a picture of. I hear them jump when I startle them, so I can only guess they are the same species as this little guy.





Another common visitor to my pond are the dragonflies. They are just too crazy fast to get them in flight, but this one decided to stop and rest for a while one day while I was out there with my camera. That second picture isn't him trying to dance; he is trying to reduce the amount of surface area that the sun light directly hits. It's a cooling technique.



I found this little box turtle one day when I went out to feed the koi. He didn't move much so I had a chance to feed the koi, run back to the house, grab my camera, get back outside, and take a picture of him. I've seen a lot of box turtles in my backyard through the years.





No clue what kind of caterpillar this little guy is, but he sat with me when I fed the koi one day last summer. I had to use the flash because the light was just too dim. That's my knee in the second picture; he was a pretty big little guy.





I have seen larval salamanders in my pond for years, but never the adults until last fall. I was cleaning out the pond and getting ready to put up the net when this little guy popped out from under a rock. He's a southern two-lined salamander.

I also see deer, cats, squirrels, and all kinds of birds out there. This year I've spotted a woodpecker on the trees around the pond. Of course the only times I've seen him are when I don't have my camera, but I will get a shot of him by the end of the summer!
 
#23 ·
Great photos. Thanks for sharing. I've seen the occasional very small snake in my pond from time to time. A couple of leopard frogs have visited over the years. A neighbor brought over a very big bullfrog that he found in his yard and he stayed around for the season but haven't seen him again.
 
#25 ·
Snakes are one thing I've never seen around my pond. I'd love to see some, tho. I love snakes! I did find a worm snake when digging the pond. I accidentally hit him with the shovel :( He was soo cute for the few days I had him! I'd love another one.

Oh man, I was so stoked when I found the larval salamanders. I was cleaning out algae and was like, what's that wriggly thing? It was so hard to contain my excitement and catch one to confirm what I thought. (If you can't tell I like scaly, slimy things.)

I'm surprised you don't get the occasional frog, Meg. A lot of people who have above-ground ponds report them from time to time.
 
#26 ·
It's weird. My next door neighbors have what used to be a very small pond in their backyard from the previous owners. It's pretty much all rocks now but for some reason, any time there is a hint of water in that pond, the frogs congregate there and croak ALL FREAKIN' NIGHT. It's like they are worshipping some frog god. :shock: It's right under my neighbor's bedroom window so how they sleep is beyond me. We can hear it in our house loud and clear.

Worm snake. It looks like a worm. That is a snake. :shock:
 
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