[samhass]

Bare, that is sheer sacrilege. These are koi. They are special. The baby koi I have now are alive because of me. Their Mom came in from Japan. I had a good idea of when she would spawn so I built a small rock walled pool in the pond. When she spawned and I saw a big male cover the eggs, I swooped in and gathered (some of) the eggs before they became fish food. I fed them boiled egg yolk after they hatched. We bonded. Koi are very social fish. They will eat from your hand. When they see you approach they come swimming up. They know a handout is at hand!
My pond is in Pa. I won't have one here. I don't wish to spend that much time on upkeep anymore.