Question
Pond
We had a pond professionally installed and added four koi fish about three weeks ago. The pond has a "hiding place" where the fish can go. The pond has three waterfalls, and approximately 1,000 gallon water capacity in the pond itself. I will attempt to attach a picture for your reference. The koi initially explored the pond extensively when first introduced, found the hiding place fun and swam in and out of it, then disappeared into it. They do come out after the sun goes down and swim around quite freely when its dark outside and the LED lights are on in the pond, however we never see them during the day. We have been told to be patient and wait another few weeks. It is still relatively cool where we live, the pond receives late afternoon and evening sun. We were provided with a few plants and we plan on adding more within the next few days. We were told the fish are not "trained," but cannot understand why they are so shy during the day yet completely comfortable around us at night. I'm thinking about adding a few common goldfish to swim around during the day and perhaps coax them out. Should we just wait until the water and the weather warms up a bit? Chould we introduce maybe one more koi which is trained? Thank you for your consideration. Let me know if I need to send more information.
AnswerDear Debpeg,
Thank you for your email.
Koi tend to be shy in the first weeks.
They come out at night as they think when it is more dark they will not be seen as much and predators are nor around that common at night.
So it is there basic instinct.
Maybe you can not fee for some days/weeks and then feed a little when standing still at the pond.
This you tend to do for some days.
Then you can add food and stick your hand in the water an keep still.
By doing this, you are probably ably to make the koi more trained.
Also when there is to much walking around at the pond the also tend to get more scared and hide for some longer time.
I don't advice to add goldfish, as they tend to get koi even more stressed sometimes.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Raf
