An Extensive Guide to Designing a Koi Fish Pond for Your Backyard

Why do koi fish get so much attention these days?

Backyard koi fish ponds with speckled, brightly-colored koi seem to be all the rage.

Is there some secret element koi fish bring to your backyard—or are koi fish ponds just a fad?

As pond and aquascapes experts, here’s our opinion on backyard koi fish ponds. (And why you should add one to your landscape).

Backyard Koi Pond Ideas

From our experience, there are few things as relaxing as an aquascape—and a koi fish pond is no exception.

Stepping outdoors into an environment where fish and pond plants thrive is a homeowner’s dream.

Plus, a backyard koi fish pond design can come in many shapes and sizes.

Your koi pond layout depends on a few things, including:

• Where you place a koi pond in your backyard
• What types of plants and fish you want in your backyard pond
• How big you want your koi pond to be
• How deep you want your koi pond to be
• Adding a waterfall to your koi pond

Similar steps are taken for all our Natural Ponds and Recreation Ponds, but our koi add a splash of color to our Ecosystem Ponds—while helping clean and balance the water.

Where to Place a Koi Pond in Your Backyard

Where you place your pond is a significant part of enjoying your backyard koi fish pond.

If there’s an area of your yard that is typically soggy or wet, then installing a pond in that area is a great investment.

No more mowing around marshy ground or stressing about flooding when a koi fish pond is in place.

And with a koi pond in place, you can cool down in or beside your pond, watching the gleam of koi fish as you swim or relax.

Installing koi fish pond is more than an aesthetic choice. These beautiful fish bring a unique touch to your landscape that motivate you to step outside even more!

Choosing Fish for a Backyard Pond: Koi Fish or Shubunkin Goldfish?

You can install a generic pond—or you can build a fish pond that transforms your backyard.

But what types of fish should you choose for your pond?

We sell shubunkin goldfish, red comet goldfish, and koi fish at our pond supplies store, and each species can be a good fit for your pond.

Shubunkin are often mistaken for koi fish, but here’s the difference between these species.

Koi Fish vs. Shubunkin Goldfish

Shubunkin goldfish and koi fish look similar at a glance. But koi fish have barbells beside their mouth and more dorsal fins than shubunkin. Shubunkin, on the other hand, have no barbells.

Additionally, our koi fish have distinct colorful or dark markings on their backs that set them aside from our solid-colored goldfish.

Goldfish can be close to the same size as koi and have similar markings, so the easiest distinction is checking for barbells or “whiskers,” which are unique to koi fish.

Standard Koi Fish vs. Butterfly Koi Fish

We also raise butterfly fin koi fish, which have longer dorsal fins than standard koi fish.

Elongated dorsal fins give butterfly koi fish a graceful fluttering “butterfly” appearance underwater.

Our standard koi fish and butterfly koi fish range from 4-12 inches in length, and the quality of these fish depends on their colorful markings.

Garden variety koi fish aren’t as colorful or as distinctly marked, while premium koi fish have better markings.

How Big to Make a Koi Pond

When it comes to designing your backyard koi pond, how many fish you want affects the size, depth, and layout.

Your koi pond shouldn’t overwhelm your back yard, but it should be a statement piece.

So what size should you make your koi pond?

Here’s something to keep in mind: fish outgrow their initial environment.

Just like plants, fish keep growing—and it’s important to make sure your fish can adapt to the size of your pond.

For example, koi fish living in a two-acre pond grow one inch every year.

If you’re wondering how many fish you can have in your pond, we recommend 80 inches of fish for every 100 gallons of water.

Small Fish Ponds vs Big Fish Ponds

In our experience, small ponds are better suited for goldfish and big ponds suit koi fish better.

Keep in mind that lily pads, lotus, water lettuce, and other pond plants will also take up space in your backyard koi pond.

There’s really no standard size for a koi pond, since everyone’s backyard is different.

But the size of your koi pond will determine how many healthy koi fish you can have at one time.

If you find that you only have room for a smaller pond, then opt for goldfish over koi fish to keep your pond and fish thriving.

Backyard Koi Pond Designs

Koi pond designs are just as flexible as the layout of your backyard—they can take on any shape!

If the spacing in your backyard is limited, make sure your pond has enough space around the edges, where you can relax and unwind.

If your backyard is open and spacious, make sure your pond is still within walking distance and isn’t too far away from your home.

Some ideas you can consider for your backyard koi pond are a waterfall, decorative boulders, and floating or underwater plants.

How Deep to Make Your Koi Pond

As a rule of thumb, koi fish need a gravel bottom pond and at least two feet of water to thrive.

This means your pond can be shallow on one side and deep on the other, or just a standard depth across the entire length.

Another factor is that although koi fish feed on the roots of floating plants, they need to be fed daily.

With this in mind, you’ll want your koi pond to be close enough where feeding your fish isn’t a burden. Otherwise, the shape and style of your pond is up to you!

Your koi fish pond doesn’t have to be oval—it can have sharp or rounded corners—or be as abstract as you like.

Just remember, the length, width, and depth of your pond determines how many koi fish (or goldfish) you can have.

How Much Does a Backyard Koi Pond Cost?

Our Pond Packages come in three different sizes and prices.

The Harmony Pond costs $9,845 and is up to 7’x10′ with an 18″ high natural waterfall.

The Harmony Select costs $12,895 and includes everything in the Harmony Package (plus the option to upgrade to a 10′ x 14′ pond with a natural waterfall).

The Harmony Superior is $14,995, including everything in the Harmony and Harmony Select Package (plus an 8′ stream pond enhancement).

Both the Harmony Superior and the Harmony Select are 24” deep, but the Harmony is only 20” deep, meaning it’s not suited for koi fish.

However, the Harmony can still house our shubunkin or comet goldfish for fish lovers. Once installed, these ecosystem goldfish and koi ponds promise a lifetime of beauty and draw other wildlife to your backyard.

How to Care for Your Koi Pond in Winter

Caring for your koi pond is more than a winter necessity.

Your pond plants and koi fish need year-round care, but if your pond is properly balanced, then the workload is fairly light.

Goldfish are dirtier than standard or butterfly koi, but all fish need clean water to prevent fish ulcers, sores, and diseases.

In short, bad water quality = bad fish health.

Keeping your koi pond balanced throughout the year will help keep your koi fish healthy in winter too.

Keeping Your Koi Pond Clean

So how do you keep your koi pond water clean? Well…it depends.

Keeping your pond clean depends on the size, depth, and wildlife included in your pond.

We recommend reading our article on floating and underwater pond plants to get a deeper understanding of how aquatic plants keep your pond balanced.

Water plants naturally absorb nutrients and help oxidize pond water—but a pond pump is a must to keep your water from getting stagnant

Your pond pump should run non-stop, supplying oxygen to your koi fish and keeping them healthy.

In the winter, installing a water heater will help create a hole in the ice, where toxic gases can escape without harming the koi fish.

How to Protect Your Koi Fish

Koi fish are hardy, but did you know they need protection? They do!

Just like other animals, koi fish need safety from Herons, raccoons, owls and other predators.

This is an overlooked yet important part of building a koi pond.

When considering the layout of your backyard, take note of where wildlife tend to congregate. You don’t want raccoons to attack your beautiful butterfly koi fish!

If close proximity to wildlife is a concern, hiding places in the pond such as caves, a drain pipe or large rocks are perfect for the koi fish to go into when predators are around.

When you protect your koi fish from bad water quality and predators this resilient species will add grace and color to your pond for many years.

How to Build a Backyard Koi Fish Pond

In this article, you learned that designing a backyard koi pond looks different for everyone.

From practical to whimsical, a koi fish pond can take on many shapes (plus take care of marshy or overgrown landscaping).

If you’re ready to transform your back yard into something much better than acres of empty lawn, a koi pond will undoubtedly exceed your expectations.

Koi ponds are more than just a trend, they truly do add a magic touch to any area.

To get started on yours, call us today at 574-202-1636 or stop by our store to see our goldfish and koi fish in person!