Question
Hello,

My name is April Callies. We have 10,000 gallon pond with 8 full grown coi fish. My husband loves these koi, but none of us are experts. We have had these koi for 4 years. Recently, we find out that we have little baby koi fish. We found 6 littles ones ranging from 1.5 inches to 2 inches long. These little ones do not eat the koi food that we give. They seem to be eating some algae from the bottom of the pond.

We live in Olympia Washington. We did not think that these koi fish could breed since we did not provide them with any bond plants. We would like to find out what are the chances that these little ones would survive through winter. If there is a chance, what do we need to do to keep them alive. Since the pond is so big, it is not really possible to catch these little fish, and they seem to hang out in deeper area. The deepest area is about 4 feet deep. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge with us.

April Callies

Answer
They should be just fine, as long as you do a few things.  Firstly, check your area's freezing table.  If your pond is at least 3-6" deeper than this figure (which at 4', I believe it is), you just need to make sure to punch a hole in the ice if it covers the entire surface.  This allows oxygen to get into the pond.  Some fish just won't eat their food sometimes.  Try using a smaller pellet size if you think that might help.