Well, a few years back (around 10) my dad made my mom a fish pond up in her flower garden, we put Koi, goldfish, and comets in there. Well, about three years ago the pond got over run with water hyacinths and killed all of our Koi (probably over $500 worth) and a really cute Golden Orf. The majority of our goldfish and comets lived until last year when the pond had problems again. It got a leak and drained all the water, along with evaporation. So now we're redoing the pond(s). We now have two pre-formed ponds that I'm going to get up and running here soon. We just got three new Koi yesterday, one is gold and black, and one is black and white, and the other is a brown color and really funky looking...
Along with them we have three Koi in one of the horses ponds. One is Orange and Black and about 16-19" long, it's name is Big O, then we have another gold and black Koi around 12-14", and a white/blue/gray Koi also around 12-14". Also there is three Comets in there also. I'm more into Bettas than Koi, but I really like Koi too. Especially those with funky colors. :D

I'll get pictures of the pond setup sometime today (providing it don't rain).. It's going to be a work in progress. Once it's finished I'll be sure to show more pictures of it. :D

My mother and my boyfriend's mother, both have ponds that are over 10K gallons.
My mother's is currently in a revamp, but should be up in the summer. Next time I'm in atlanta I'll take pics for ya'll.

Wow... I'm sure they're awesome ponds.. I'd love to see pictures of them.
Well, there won't be any before pictures as the replacement pond is already in the ground. I have a little bit more to do with it like filling in around it, but I filled it up a bit with water so it can settle there. I hope to have it up and running by the end of the weekend. I'd like to put light colored gravel in the bottom of it so the brownish Koi will be able to be seen better.

Sandy,
I've been told you can paint plastic pre-formed ponds with Krylon Fusion Paint. I'm gonna try it with my betta spawn... that way I might actually be able to see them in there.
Just thought to mention that... might save you from the gravel.
Problem I've found with gravel in ponds is that it is a beast to gravel vac in a pond. Most pond people are going to bare-bottoms in anything bigger than a "puddle" preform.
Just a thought.
:D

Ah, now that is a good idea... I reckon it's a little too late to paint it now though. :lolo: It's pretty much filled up as far as it's going to be filled for now. together the ponds equal out to be around 1000 gallons. I want to have a betta pond out there somewhere. I do have a 25gal. barrel out there for my bettas, but I'd really like a pond or something for them. Sooner or later I will get one. :D ^_^

I'm on a 3/4 acre lot and I really want to install a nice sized pond with fountain. I have this pie shaped area that is inside the horseshoe drive and against the two roads. I want to put it there with a Gazebo and a nice garden of flowers around. I have my plans all drawn up. I'll copy them and post a photo of them here. I plan on having many Koi in my pond.

I haven't kept them before so I'll enjoy hearing everyone else's experiences with them.
:D

Just to give you a heads up - koi get to be 3' long and produce a very heavy bio load. They need a lot of room, filtration, and they will also jump when they get startled. Not sure how much room there is in the horseshoe, but noisy vehicles are something to think about, as well as electricity. Sounds like it would be very nice though. My suggestion would be to consider down sizing to a smaller fish. There are some incredible goldfish varieties that will share many of the same personality characteristics. Orandas will need good filtration as well and are slow. Your cats would probably be able to pluck them from the water. IMO orandas don't share the intelligence factor. I think the brains got inbred out, making them more likely to become lunch.

I do believe Bettaqueen belongs to a goldfish forum. You should check it out.

Thanks for the suggestions Andi. First I have to wait for this incessant rain to finally let up or my entire yard may be a part of the lake before long. We needed the rain, we had two years of heat and drought, our lake was down 20 feet below normal. In 4 months we have gotten all that back and then some, flooding and so forth. It's crazy crazy weather. I'm happy it's not hot but I know we've lost a lot of lives from the rain storms. My road is about to be washed away by the creek too.

Anyway, Suchin did give me that link so I'll check some things out first.
Thanks again.

Your plans sound very nice WML. I'd love to see them.

Thanks Sandy. I'll post a photo of my plans as soon as I figure out this architect software I got.
:D