What temperatures can koi tolerate?

  Koi are a four season fish.  They actually prefer to have a winter slumber where the water cools down and they stop eating.  They are biologically programmed for this to happen.  In fact, if a pond is deep enough, they can do just fine under the ice of a frozen pond.  Just make sure you keep a hole in the ice for gas exchange. 


Surprisingly more people run into problems in the summer then in the winter.  Warm water holds less oxygen then cool water.  Everything in the pond is highly oxygen dependent and it is a good idea to add additional oxygen to the water during the hottest months of the year, especially if the water might get into the upper 80's or even the 90's.  The additional oxygen will cool the water and make sure everything in the pond is happy and healthy.

One last note, if you live in a region where you get extreme temps either hot or cold of both, then make the koi pond deeper.  This will help stabilize the temps and insulate the koi from extreme weather.  

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