I read about you organization in the Daily Herald, pond walks. I have a small backyard pond 100 (+/-) gallons. This is our 3rd year.

My question is that my koi are very skittish, they won't come out to feed. We winter them over in a 90 gallon aquarium, in the house. They were beginning to come to my hand to nibble, then about 4 months ago they would run and hide when I came to feed them. I had 2 that always nibbled, and I want them to come to my hand.

So when we transferred them to the pond they hide and never come out. I know they eat, because the food is gone. What is my problem, and what do I do to help them become friendly to me and my hands???? We really like the koi, and are happy with the ones we buy from Petsmart. Oh yes, they are about 3 - 4 inches. Thank you very much - Libby

Altered behaviour in all your fish suggests either predation or water quality issues. Small ponds are particularly vulnerable to backyard predators, likely raccoons in your case. Not much you can do there, I'm afraid, except dig a new pond with minimum four foot depth and nowhere for the raccoons to wade. Water spray devices such as the ScareCrow, are occasionally helpful. They are sprinklers triggered by IR sensors. When we tried one, it proved far more effective in nailing and annoying our teenaged son. The raccoons merely snickered.

The thing that worries me the most is multiple koi in a very cramped environment with no mention of biofiltration or water testing. If you have none of the former and have not been doing the latter, you probably have significant water quality issues. I urge you to go to our website (wwww.mpks.org), engage our Google Search Engine on "filtration" and "water testing", and read everything you find there. Koi are *not* goldfish! They generate more ammonia per ounce of fish than almost any other species. If you have multiple fish of questionable health (most pet store koi are heavily infested with various parasites) in a crowded pond with no way of getting rid of their waste products, I'd expect them to be irritable. If you were living in a sewage farm, you'd be pretty cranky, too. Get a test kit if you do not have one. Test your water. correct the problems.

Remember that the recommended volume of a pond for koi less than 8 inches is 50 gallons water *per inch of fish*! I suspect that you are overstocked.

Bob