Well, I kinda sorta killed my koi : (? I’m still a bit in shock, as they’ve been around forever and I’ve kind of gotten used to the little buggers.? But the aerator wasn’t aerating, and we’ve had a wicked Cleveland winter, and well… that’s about all it takes in koi-land.? Some of you know that I wasn’t a huge pond freak to begin with — truthfully, it was a “crazy ex-boyfriend” kind of thing that only grew on me once the “crazy” part was gone.? When the stress of the relationship was over, and frankly the stress of having such a massive project left on the shoulders of someone with zero knowledge whatsoever (me), it really did end up turning into quite a tranquil little bit of zen heaven.? And part of that zen were three gorgeous koi: bright yellow and white, blue with silver, and olive with gold.
They weren’t the only fish in the pond <insert your own euphemism here>, they were just the biggest and the brightest, at over 12″ each.? I don’t know how long koi typically last, just that at seven years old these lasted at least six years, 350 days longer than any fish I’d ever had as a kid.? And they were actually more like pets.? They would eat from your hand and let you pet their backs (which were kind of soft, like an underwater flannel).
A friend asked if I would replace them — probably not, as they’ve had plenty of baby fish over the years, and the pond was getting pretty full.? Unfortunately none of the little guys are full koi, though there are some koi-goldfish mixed.? (Not hard to tell when you see a goldfish with an olive mohawk on it’s back.)? I’m assuming/ hoping the little guys all survived okay, but time will tell — will be looking very hard in spring to see little buggers down near the bottom.
…………………………………………….. C.