Keeping Koi Carp. Owen Jones

is feeding. Fishes' metabolism increases during the summer. They also have to build up fat, because they will not eat much during the winter. You can ensure that your fish get plenty of insects to eat by fitting a light by the water side. You can either take a feed off the pond pump or you could place a solar powered light there in stead.

      The insects will be attracted to the light and fall into the water. The fish will soon find out about the insects. Insects are fishes' natural food, so this is the best way to fatten them up without running the risk of putting too much food into the water which could rot and adversely affect the properties of the water. Lighting up your pond in the evening is also a fantastic way of getting more pleasure from your pond.

      This is the last chore that you have to carry out in order to care for your fish pond during the summer - keeping the water pristine. There will be a build up of algae, which has to be cleaned out, but basically, you are now set to get pleasure from your pond during the summer months.

      1 How to Keep the Water in Your Koi Fish Pond in Good Condition

      When individuals who keep fish talk of how to keep your pond in good condition, they take it for granted that everyone realizes that it is synonymous with how to maintain the water in your fish pond in decent condition, because the water to fish is like air is to us and everything depends upon it. We cannot remain healthy if we are breathing smut, smog and pollution and nor can fish.

      So, if you keep the water decontaminated, the fish will be happy and probably breed and the plants will be happy and almost certainly propagate and healthy plants will do their own bit to help keep the water clean. However, you have to get the ball rolling, before others can help keep it rolling and your biggest job here is to get the pond's water filtration system correct from the beginning.

      You have to set up two types of filtration. The first is an easy mechanical filter that blocks algae, dead plants, leaves and faeces as the water is pumped through it and the second filter is a biological filter that mutates unseen waste from your pond.

      This produces a nitrogen cycle and the risk here is that the nitrogen will change into ammonia which will kill your fish very quickly. A simple test is the clarity of the water. It should be clear enough for you to see the bottom easily and there should be no floating debris in there. No lumps of sticky weed or clumps of bubbling vegetation.

      Overfeeding is a trap that lots of novice pond-owners fall into. You have to feed your fish high quality food, depending on what they are, but do not forget that they will find some wild, fresh meat too. Insects will fall in and mosquitoes will endeavour to breed in there and all will get eaten by your fish, so do not become alarmed if they do not appear to be eating much.

      A surplus of shop-bought fish food will cause the water to go cloudy and algae to grow. If you want to raise the proportion of wild game in their diet, put a small night light at the edge of the pool and see how many hundred insects fall into the water to become fish food.

      Keep an eye on your plants too, as on your fish. If your plants are dying or rotting, take them out and enquire of an expert the probable cause. It might simply be that they are the wrong sort of plants for your pond or it perhaps more serious like the pH value of the water. These are concerns that are easily fixed, once you are aware of them.

      The last thing to be sure of is aeration. Your pond water should contain oxygen the same as our air must contain oxygen as well. This is also easily achieved. Get a decent pond pump with a filtered intake and two outlets: one for the mechanical filter and one for a fountain. The water falling back to the pond will be rich in oxygen and you should not have any worries about the quality of the water in your fish pond.