Koi fish and bee carcasses

We have a large Koi pond and the bees use it for a water source, honestly I have never seen a koi go after a bee dead or alive. Thd bees fall in the water swim to the water lilies get out and dry off and the fish dont seem to be the least intrested

Thanks,

I got 2 koi and 4 goldfish about 2 weeks ago but both koi died. I think the alge bloom that went on in my tank got the koi, but the goldfish are still going ok. I may just get more goldfish since they are cheaper, atleast until I figure out how to keep the fish alive and keep the algae under control

elmer_fud said:

Thanks,

I got 2 koi and 4 goldfish about 2 weeks ago but both koi died. I think the alge bloom that went on in my tank got the koi, but the goldfish are still going ok. I may just get more goldfish since they are cheaper, atleast until I figure out how to keep the fish alive and keep the algae under control

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Koi are much harder to keep than Comets and other goldfish varieties...Koi have some specific environmental needs and the pond has to be deeper, too, if there is any kind of winter where one lives. The comets/shebunkins/etc., are very hardy fish and will grow quite large, too. The size of the pond determines how big they get. Ours tend to stop at about 10" during the 6-8 years they seem to sometimes individually live. They also reproduce and can self-sustain the "school"...we add a few new ones every couple of years to keep genetic diversity. Most of ours at this point are clearly combinations of comets and shebunkins since they interbreed and pass color and physical attributes.

Our bees enjoy drinking off the moss and other areas in and around our pond. I've never seen a fish go after them. The frogs haven't leaped to the occasion, either...

I was watching the bees and fish today and saw one of the goldfish nibble at a bee carcass and then ignore it. I had fed them a minute or two before so they were eating the food, and I think they thought the bee was the food. The goldfish are less than 2" long so I suspect it could not have eaten he bee anyways based on the size of the fish mouth vs the bee.

off topic - The black/dark goldfish blend in with the black inside of the pot really well and I did not see them until they came up for the food.

elmer_fud said:

off topic - The black/dark goldfish blend in with the black inside of the pot really well and I did not see them until they came up for the food.

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They are often very dark when young and "generally" they lose most of the black in favor of the orange within a year or so. We do have one, however, who has decided to be a "black" fish into adulthood. That one is hard to see most of the time!

About 7 years ago we built a large koi pond, which now has lots of large koi. I've found that koi on occasion will take a bee (dead or alive) into their mouth, but they always seem to spit it back out. Don't know why, but they have very little interest in bees. Maybe the same reason my dog has no interest

One of the reasons we put in the koi pond was to keep bees out of my wife's swimming pool. It works very well too.

My Labrador eats bees on a regular basis and no longer swells up. I have Koi up to 8 pounds and he has never eaten a bee in front of me. But in the pond the bees usually get water on the margins and off lily pads. I once killed my wifes prized red albino Oscar by feeding it a yellow jacket I had hit with a flyswatter. I dropped it in the tank and it was the Oscars last meal. It never was able to eat again and starved slowly and I caught hell for years. This was 25 years ago and I would not want to remind my wife even now. I think carp are sterner stuff than the Oscar though. Small fishbait minnows are probably the best debris and mosquito larvae cleaners. Though I can buy feeder goldfish cheaper and they serve also.

Feeder goldfish are the best! 27 cents each, and they grow big and gaudy no matter how neglected.

shinbone said:

Feeder goldfish are the best! 27 cents each, and they grow big and gaudy no matter how neglected.

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Agree....they are basically Comets and will grow to the size that your pond can support as I noted above. We started with the feeder fish in 2005 and their descendants are still going strong! They are hardy, require little feedings...it's more of a "treat" for them and they will actually beg for it...and don't require as deep of a pond as Koi do for overwintering.