Dear Bob
Thank you very much for getting back to me so quickly! I've been thinking about this for over a year, and I really didn't know where to start, so I really appreciate your feedback.

So the pond is surrounding by 60 foot cliffs on 3 sides (one of which our house is on) so the viewing from above is really quite good. The water is definitely not "gin clear", but its quite easy to see almost anything from above, just because of the height from above. We've always thought of it as our private aquarium. The pond is reasonably shallow, and allows a remarkably good view of 80% of the pond from the deck. This is one of the reasons I'm really interested in seeing if we can put something in there. I'm actually a 23 year old medical student, and this is my parent's house, but I grew up playing in the pond, and as a biology major and a self proclaimed "fish nerd" and fisherman I think I have a pretty good idea of the ecosystem down there.

I know the predominant species is grass carp, and while there are a few small bass, they're population is probably 1/80th of the grasscarp. There are no panfish as I have seen, and if there are any other species they are very reclusive. I just know that because the pond is well suited for grass carp, they definitely have the run of the place, and its always fun to watch them. In regards to predators, we occasionally have a great blue heron that comes by (which I know could have a field day), and every once in a while have raccoons, but most of the terrestrial predators are minimized because the quarry cliffs come down the water on 3 sides, affording almost no standing room. There is no outlet to an above ground waterway, and the only reason we know there's a spring feeding in is because one end never freezes in the winter. Last night I ordered a water testing kit, just to make sure that the water quality was within reasonable parameters for koi. Again, I really want to thank you for getting back to me, and I just have a few more questions.

A) If I got some sort of koi, is it possible to get some kind of pond quality koi. I'm not looking for any grand champions here, but I'm just trying to get something pretty to look at from above. And because its such a big pond, and predation could be a problem, I feel like I'd need to put in a high quantity of fish (any ideas for where to buy, cost, numbers to introduce?).

B) Would I still need to feed these fish pellets in this natural environment, or would it be possible for them to feed off the natural ecosystem. Ideally I don't want to have to feed the fish, because I think its unlikely that I could feed the Koi selectively over the grasscarp, and I get the feeling that could get expensive. Also I don't really want to make the koi targets from avian predators.

If you could help me with these questions, I would really appreciate it. My father is from Japan, and I know it would make his day to see koi in his backyard.

Thanks again, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Shawn Sato