Hi Friend,

In today's Pond Q&A, we have a question all the way from Trinidad.

Question>

Dear Mr Fogle,

Nice to hear from you ,but i must tell you I welcome all the information i am getting from you on this web site it's just that i live in the Caribbean - Trinidad to be precise, and i am in the process of excavating my pond, but i have a few questions for you and i hope you can put my mind at ease...

[1] Where i am putting my pond it occured to me it will be getting sunlight from 7am to 1.30.2pm and it is my belief that I will have a problem with algae , now i am aware of the uv filter but it costs a great deal here and unfortunately i can't afford it can you give me a more reasonable solution that I may use to eleminate that problem when it arrise?

[2] Is it true that kois cannot really live with goldfish?

Someone told me they had some oranders and calicose with some red cap big scale kois and the kois were sucking the eyes from the goldfishes and then they would find the fish debowelled can you put some light on this for me, because i have also a mix collection but 5 & 6inches that i am allowing to grow together from small do you think this may be in my favor?

And last as i live where it is relatively hot in the 32's 35's how often should i feed my fish and what other than the koi sticks grower and colorr enhancer mix, would you recommend i give to them,like i also raise discus and i have my own home made feed of beefheart shrimp vitamin and tetramin colourbits blended together frozen in ice strays and i could use a block for one week,I really want my fishes to be beautifull and healthy and happy please help me.

Greatest regards,

LESTER

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Answer>

Hi Lester,

Thanks for your email, it's great to hear from our international subscribers! I actually had a call all the way from Russia just last week, which really surprised me - but was nice to know our messages are making it so far around the world...

To answer your questions, I understand that UV's can be a bit of an investment, but they are really the only effective long-term solution that we've found over the years, so you may want to still consider one for your pond. Tetra Pond makes some inexpensive units that act more as a clarifier, than a true UV sterilizer, but work great just the same for clearing green water.

For more information about Tetra Pond UV's, have a look here:
https://www.macarthurwatergardens.com/Tetra_Pond/tetrapondUV.htm

For smaller ponds however (under 500 gallons), you can usually get away with lots of submerged plants and nutrient eating floating plants like water lettuce or water hyacinths. But be careful with these, as they will quickly take over your pond as they multiply like rabbits. Anachris is an excellent submerged plant, that will also act as a natural filter brush, with it's leaves trapping much of the floating sediment in the pond water, while it absorbs much of the algae causing nutrients in the pond and thus clearing the water.

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POND MYTH: Kissing a Frog Will Not Turn it Into a Prince!
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"[2] Is it true that kois cannot really live with goldfish?"

Well that's just a myth, I'm afraid. Many people successfully keep pond goldfish with their KOI.. I myself have never seen or even heard of any goldfish having their eyeballs 'sucked out' or 'deboweled' by another fish.. Maybe a racoon or other predator, but there's no such thing as a 'Cannibal KOI' ;-)

"[3]I live where it is relatively hot in the 32's 35's how often should i feed my fish and what other than the koi sticks grower and colorr enhancer mix, would you recommend i give to them,"

During hot weather, and assuming you have proper biological filtration to break down the fish waste, it's not uncommon for koi owners to feed their koi 6-8 times per day, although not necessary. Fish will survive just fine on 1-2 feedings per day, but if you really want them to grow - then more is better. Just make sure to monitor your Ammonia levels to make sure the koi are not polluting the pond to toxic levels.

For bringing out the color of your koi, a good color enhancing food like Hai Feng, or Hikari is a good idea (We'll be bringing them both on soon!) or you can also try giving them Spirilina sticks, Krill (shrimp), tubo-flex worms, and anything else that will enhance their diet...

Koi will even eat Fruit! I've seen koi eat watermelon, oranges and grapefruit before, and some koi owners will treat their fish to these on a regular basis. My fish however, just like pellets.. But your homemade fish cubes sound yummy for most fish, I would definately try that as well.

Hope this helps,

Brett Fogle

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