| People who choose to put ponds in their gardens | | | | began to be exported domestically in the early 20th |
| often choose to keep some type of fish in them. Most | | | | century to Europe and eventually the United States. |
| of the time, the fish of choice is the koi gold fish. The | | | | The koi gold fish is not a small fish. It can grow quite |
| koi is chosen for these ponds for a variety of reasons. | | | | large. It's length has been known to reach two to three |
| Some people really like the bright colors of the koi. | | | | feet and it can grow to weight upwards of 35 pounds. |
| Others use the fish to control insects such as | | | | Because of their large size, koi should not be kept in a |
| mosquitos that will tend to breed on the surface of the | | | | pond that is any less than 1000 gallons in size. Never |
| pond water. There are always those select few, | | | | keep koi in a gold fish aquarium; there simply is not |
| however, who will treat their koi like pets and will name | | | | enough room. The koi also requires an environment |
| them. | | | | that is very, very clean. |
| No matter what reason you might have, an excellent | | | | The filtration system must be very good to maintain a |
| choice is the koi gold fish. | | | | stable and healthy environment for the koi. When |
| Also known as Nishikigoi, the scientific name for koi | | | | taken care of properly, the lifespan of the koi gold fish |
| gold fish is Cyprinus Carpio. As you can imagine from | | | | can be unusually long. 50-70 years is not unheard of, |
| the scientific name, the koi descends from the | | | | while the current record is over 200 years old. |
| common carp. The carp is brown in color, but the | | | | If you have a large garden, a pond with koi gold fish |
| Japanese bred the carp in many ways and eventually | | | | are a wonderful addition. The most important thing to |
| developed the multicolored fish that we now know as | | | | remember is to choose the right size pond and the |
| the koi. The koi is most often a combination of orange, | | | | right cleaning equipment for the pond. |
| black and white. Originally native to Japan, the koi | | | | |