I inherited a pond and some koi that are up to 2 1/2 foot long when I bought my house. I was wondering how long they live for? I've looked it up and some people say that they live up to 75 years plus, I'm guessing these ones are about 20/30+ years old but they could be older. How old have your Koi lived for?

The other thing is do they carry on growing or just stop when the pond is getting too small for them? Due to the size I guess I'm going to find it hard to ever introduce new koi as I'm guessing little ones would get eaten? They seem to be really hungry at the moment too!

hi koi can certainly outlive humans, they do die though like most things and depending on what type of koi they are they can get illnesses. don't think though that because they are big they won't die because they can but this is more uncommon. you can get little fish the big ones won't eat them they will get on quite well. i have big ones and little ones living together and they are get on fine. they will be hungry at the moment because the warmer it is the more they eat.

:shocked: Wow they can live a long time then, every site I visited seemed to have a different age so I was a bit unsure.

I might look into getting a couple of smaller ones to go with the 5 big ones I already have.

Just a thought but what do I do with them if they live that long and I need to replace the liner of the pond? I don't think they would even fit in my bath altogether! :lol:

I've looked up some of the common ailments but they look healthy all fins and scales are in a good condition. They are pretty boring colours. I have 1 black/blue one, 2 white, 2 mixed coloured, one which is very pretty. the other very pot bellied and ugly!

your liner should last for about 30 years in fact some liners are g'teed for 30 years. when you have to replace it it would probably be a case of getting one of those massive black tanks to put them in. i think some fish places may hire them out for that reason.

Can you recommend a good pond store? I'm buying stuff via the net at the moment as it is cheaper, but it would be nice to have a look at what is available.

I've had to repair a leak in the liner last week as I was splitting some of the bull rushes and iris and I managed to tear the liner. Thank goodness it was quite high up on a shelf. It's quite difficult finding out info on the web. In the end I ordered some butyl tape and patched it like a tyre puncture with a new piece of new liner. Fingers crossed it appears to have worked. I'm not sure if that was the correct way to do it but it worked :)

there is a place called pastures at cole aston which are brilliant their not the cheapest place but are really good if you need advice and stuff and have some wonderful looking fish!!!!