Don’t you love the look of a Koi pond in the garden? So peaceful and serene. But many people who want to keep Koi, never build a pond simply because they don’t know how to go about it. Here are some tips that will help you get a great garden pond where your Koi can live long and healthy lives.

The first thing you need to do is be sure that you start your pond off right. You want it to look good, but there are also some practical and functional aspects you need to keep in mind in order to properly sustain your Koi fish. Where you put the pond, it’s size and it’s type are all critical to it’s success.

You want to choose the largest pond you can. Koi can actually grow rather large and you want them to have plenty of room, plus the bigger the pond the less likely any one contaminant will become problematic. You want to make sure that the pond is set up properly - that means it needs a good liner, a filter and even a cover so be sure to research this. You can probably get a lot of information right down at your local garden center and you might even consider hiring a professional to build to pond for you in order to insure that it is done correctly.

Once you have the Koi pond setup, you’ll want to go right out and buy some fish, but first it’s a good idea if you become familiar with some of the aspects of keeping Koi. Learn as much as you can about the fish - what they eat and how to protect them from predators that might think they are a tasty meal.

Now that you know how to keep your Koi, it’s time to go to the store and pick them out. You don’t want to put too many in the pond because, if it is overcrowded, the water will become polluted so find out how many fish is ideal for your size of pond and stick to that many. You might want to introduce one fish first, and then add a few more after a couple of weeks.

Just like any other fish, Koi can have diseases like Koi Herpes Virus and you don’t want to introduce a new fish with an illness that will make your other fish sick so be sure to buy from a reputable store. You also might want to consider quarantining the new fish in a tank before you put him in the pond.

Proper pond maintenance is critical since you must have good water quality to keep your fish healthy. That is why you need to test your water every week and make the appropriate adjustments if you see that there is too much nitrate, nitrite or ammonia. This will help keep your fish happy and healthy.

You want to be sure to feed your Koi the proper foods so they get all the nutrition they need. Your local pet store should be able to supply you with a good flake or pellet food and you might also want to supplement that with a bit of fruit or vegetables. You can train the Koi to eat right out of your hand if you have a little patience and persistence.

Having a great Koi pond is easy if you take the care to set it up properly and do the proper maintenance, a few hours a week can insure you have a pond that is peaceful and relaxing for both you and your finned friends.