Koi Pond
 

My wife and I are moving to The Villages this summer, I know perfect time to be moving to central Florida right.

Well we bought a Gardenia model and I would like to convert the front planter into a Koi pond.

Any way I'd like to talk with other residents who have Koi fish/pond at their house. Have anyone done something similar, what did you find successful, what didn't work? Vendors/contractors to use/avoid.

Yes I understand this has to go through the architectural review committee.

Thank you
Eric

We have a Gardenia with a pond at our entrance with a waterfall. No more Koi because they were eaten by birds and raccoons.

JSR, any problems with snakes or mosquitoes?

Gold Fish are cheap and I thought I could engineer a pleasant looking mesh cover for when we are not sitting around the pond.

One last question, in the heat of the summer because of the limited quantity of water did you have any trouble with the water heating up and cooking the fish? Thanks for the assist.

Snakes a few times. Even if you cover them the birds still come back and leave "marks" on the entry way. I was really sad with the loss of the koi. Some were a foot long. There is an over hang so the pond never got direct sun.

Thanks, JSR. Not only sad but expensive to lose.

My big mistake was I named them!

That's just plain sad.

When I was a little girl maybe 5 or 6 years old, someone gave me a goldfish. I named it Annabelle, after my then alive grandmother who I dearly loved. When the goldfish passed, I told everyone that "Annabelle" died. Created a lot of confusion on the part of those who didn't know I was talking about my fish.

Our neighbors have a good sized one in their backyard. Beautiful.

I have a koi pond that is about four feet deep wth a pump with a 3000 GPH capacity operating two waterfalls. I have a large pressurized filter with a UV light. The water circulates through a bottom drain into a “leaf trap” also known as a priming pot before returning to the main filter. Both waterfalls have filter media. I have an automatic fill and an overfill drain (for summer rains). I had large koi (12 to 15 inches) but sold them after my husband died. We taught them to come at the sound of a bell and eat treats (Cheerios) out of our hands. I do my own maintenance but the pond is inside the lanai and the main plumbing is outside, so debris from trees and bird attacks (when we had koi) are prevented.
I order most of my supplies on line. We used to go to the large koi shows in Orlando. Many of our fish were bred by “Blackwater Creek” a large koi operation in Florida. Without koi, I can be more liberal on chemicals so my pond is usually algae free.

The orientation of the house would put the Koi pond on the north side, therefore hopefully reducing excessive sun exposure. I've been kind of wondering about raccoons/egrets eating the fish. I'm planning on adding a railing more as a safety factor but that will also limit pest invasions.
Now as far as snakes, are we talking your run of the mill water snake or are we talking about water moccasins.

Aquatic Design & Development Ponds and Waterfalls built our koi pond and waterfall. They did a great job at a fair price. Our pond is located inside our birdcage, i.e., screened room; so predators are not an issue. However, if you contact Tom Bowles, the owner of Aquatic Design, he can give you solid advice on options for your pond and he does not charge for estimates. The phone number is 352-629-1011.
If you would like to see our pond, you are welcome to message me and we can make arrangements for you and your wife to take a look.
Good luck.
Michelle Gentry

Thank you, we look forward to meeting with you

We looked at a house here in TV with a koi pond. I found it kind of freaky. The fish kept looking up at me and moving their mouth like they were saying "feed me, feed me".

You sure they weren't saying "eat me, eat me, I taste like chicken!!! " :a040::a040::clap2::MOJE_whot::popcorn: