My pond and Koi

[Neli]

U must remember there are no koi for sale here...that is why I spent 2 month going to Japan to buy my Koi...-
The first Koi I had I bought were from SA...now that the bug bit me...wanted some Japanese Koi.
Just dont expect something too special or too expensive...Just nice pretty Koi, That I found appealing.
First I went To the south visited hiroshima area, Oishi, Takigawa, Oyama, and Uedera.
There I bought this Koi, which unfortunately have not arrived yet...but that is another long story...I am still waiting for them.
Will tell U what happened later.

[Andrew F]

I love Koi, thru aquaculture me and my fiance became friendly with the local breeder and wholesaler, she was always kind enough to let us wander around and she taught us the different varieties and what to look for when buying them.

If only i had the space to dig a pond to devote to these guys.

Look forward to more pics

[nealweb]

They are beautiful!!! I love them. I have just a small pond so I only put tiny fish in it, I couldn't really fit any Koi but they are awesome fish. I hope they all live well for you in Lusaka

[Neli]

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And here are some even cheaper at Y2000.
But U should see their tategoi....expensive, small but out of this world.

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If U tell me what U would like to see it will be easier for me to post. I have too much Koi pictures.

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[Neli]

I am a hard core koi Kitchi...when I say hard core I mean hard hard core...demented individual that lives for his Koi.
So here is what I bought from Oishi koi farm and some others in the south.

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[Neli]

They are beautiful!!! I love them. I have just a small pond so I only put tiny fish in it, I couldn't really fit any Koi but they are awesome fish. I hope they all live well for you in Lusaka

Neal.
Write now they are so stressed...many are sick...one died...I am injecting treating koi every day.
I bought total of 50 Koi from the west Isawa, and north Niigata...half are presents for friends and relatives.
From the south I bought 17 the best...and they have not come yet.

[Andrew F]

They are beautiful!!! I love them. I have just a small pond so I only put tiny fish in it, I couldn't really fit any Koi but they are awesome fish. I hope they all live well for you in Lusaka

Neal.
Write now they are so stressed...many are sick...one died...I am injecting treating koi every day.

The healing properties of natural sea salt, high levels of dissolved oxygen and rest is very much underrated.

[Neli]

They are beautiful!!! I love them. I have just a small pond so I only put tiny fish in it, I couldn't really fit any Koi but they are awesome fish. I hope they all live well for you in Lusaka

Neal.
Write now they are so stressed...many are sick...one died...I am injecting treating koi every day.

The healing properties of natural sea salt, high levels of dissolved oxygen and rest is very much underrated.

Darling,
salt I can never underrate...Best for rebuilding the slime coat and destressing the fish...I put them in salt ).3% the moment they arrived...It is good at 0.6% for some of the parasites.I took samples for parasites and they had costia, white spot, trihodina and flukes...As a result I had to treat for so many different things, that caused also ulcers on the fish...That is why I had to inject...and operate on some of the fish.
I bought the plot next door. It is a new one...I set up my QT there to prevent a possible introduction of KHV to my existing fish...The QT has home made established filtration and lots of oxygen.

[Neli]

Here are the new babies in the QT

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[Neli]

This was my second post here, done last year. Since then the hole you see in the above post has turned into a pond...almost finished, so I am trying to make a Japanese garden in front of it. Thought I should update the progress. I have been a bit slow...since this new hobby of mine has taken most of my time.
My new pond is formal, so I decided to do a very formal garden. Just started planting, some cactae and succulents. If you notice the soil where they are planted it is 30 ton of river sand...so they dont rot during rain season. At the moment they all look the same height, but there is a sense in the madness. The tall ones will grow later and make some sense. Most of the plants were imported from SA.

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Here is the new pond...and everything is in a mess. I just dug out the soil infront of it, and it is not finished yet, but the fish are in since august last year. Filtration is done before the fish went in.

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This is where I dug and want to do a formal Japanese garden if that is possible...but most of all there will be a small sitting area in the center and my bonsai display. I dont know if I made a mistake to put netting on top, but the shade percentage is small.

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On the right the garden will continue, and there will be a step up.
This is a stand for the bonsai I welded at home ( bought my self a home made welding machine). so far there are only 4 prebonsai on it. The rest is in the ground or in too big containers to put on the shelves. Needs to be painted...this a rust coat on it.

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[Neli]

What you see on top of the shelves is soap stone pots home made. I found this mine in the bush, of soap stone and some carvers next to it...they came home and made stone pots for me. I am suoervising them and they are making different types for me. I collected stones with my driver and brought home.
This is the soap stone and the carvers.:

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the first pots they made:

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I have no where anything to buy for bonsai here, so I am improvising. So now I have some pots but no bonsai in them.

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I have been making this pots also for my prebonsai and paint them with sealer for ponds paint on the inside.

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[Neli]

I have also made this stands to put between the flowers using a 4" pipe, cut lengthwise in half as a mold and R6 bar inside. I made them different heights.

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this are the filters behind the pond:

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[Neli]

My latest model welding machine

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and my R6 bending gudget I used to build the pond:

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And this is a old picture of the window in the pond. Now there are toles around.

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And this is how I designed the pond and built it myself.

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Everything is DIY on my pond so if anyone is interested in crazy DIY stuff, I can post.

[Neli]

And this is my old pond, in the old plot...which is next door to the new one.

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[MattA]

I am over your old plot & pond, let alone the new one you are still working on. My mentor has 2 smallish (1,500 & 2,500litre) ponds in his courtyard for koi, he gave me some a few years ago for my main pond.... but .... best we not talk about what happened to them, I will only say one of my dogs was so proud he caught something while swimming I couldnt be mad

I really like working with soapstone, its so nice to carve, almost as easy as sandstone The pots you have made & coated with pond sealer on the inside, what are they soapstone or something else? I am curious as I wouldn't have thought the stone would need sealing....