Free/inexpensive koi pond books

I've came across some books on pond building. As these are some of the most important steps to do correctly before you can buy your koi. The bulk of the work actually comes before you even buy koi. You have to figure out what size pond, where to locate the pond, amounts of shade, how to build a filtration system...much more

Thanks to the awesomeness of the internet. Some of the books I've actually use can be found online and are either free or very inexpensive if you buy them from Amazon for your kindle or book reader device. If I had discovered this source to get my books, I would have saved a lot of money. Here are just three of the ones I've used:

Water Clarity Secrets for Ponds and Water Gardens: The Quick and Easy Way to Crystal Clear Water
A Practical Guide to Building & Maintaining Your Pond 
How To Perfect Your Water Garden with Pumps, Filters and Water Features

If you've subscribed to Amazon's Amazon Prime service, there three books I've shown here are FREE!
You can sign up for a 30 day free trial of the Amazon Prime service here to get these books for free:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/signup/videos?tag=nishkoi-20

If you do have Amazon Prime, the electronic versions of these books don't cost more than $4.

Koi Books!

There are some koi books that I recommend finding and having a look at. When I started keeping koi, I didn't just rely on forums to get the information I needed. I went out and got a few books that I found very useful in the end. These books were my resources where most of the general information I need to know to get started was all in one place. That saved me a lot of frustration!

I was lucky enough to be able to pick some of these up from a couple local bookstores. I had not realized that I can so easily buy them online back then XD. Here they are with the links at the bottom:

It you only relied on books to give you a basic general overview about koi keeping, then these books I've shown would be more than enough.

You would be able to find these books at the following links:

Koi: Living Jewels of the Orient 

Koi: A Handbook on Keeping Nishikigoi 

Koi (Complete Pet Owner's Manual) 

The Essential Book of Koi: A Complete Guide to Keeping and Care

Manual of Koi Health 

Nippon koi garden- www.koikenner.nl/blog

So beautiful!

Cheryl Ellison's DIY Sand/Gravel filter

Got my S/G filter finished and up and running.  I built this for my indoor Koi Stock tank, which will eventually serve as my quarantine tank when the big pond gets finished.  Right now it has my 3 Koi and one goldfish in there.  My old filter was failing and leaking really bad, I had used it for over 10 years, it use to be on my old outdoor pond and it was really undersized for my fast growing Koi.  I was able to use the bio media that was in it for a new shower water return as you will see in the video.  So far, no leaks and the water is sparkling clear after only 2 days in operation.  I will be building 2 more of these for my outdoor pond, so this was a good practice one.  I make a video of how to clean it next weekend!  Stay tuned!

Cheryl

Check out her blog! http://www.cherylshtuff.blogspot.ca/

Video tutorial resource for every koi hobbyist

One of the best ways I learn is when I can watch something being done first.

Besides all the books that I've bought to read about keeping koi, I was also very glad to have found a fairly collected video resource instructing on different aspects of the topic. 

Mr. Rodney Forest has put together a series of beautiful video tutorials called "DIY Koi: Training Series for Beginners" which shows you the full range of topics ---> bit.ly/1fAM5ei

-Details on how to construct an outdoor pond. (picking the right location, laying down the pond lining, sealing)

-Detailed descriptions of pond filtration (what is necessary for a sufficient filter size, connecting the pond pump

-Fish care, and maintaining fish health

With the videos, Rodney also offers a few instantly downloadable ebooks that detail some basic but important koi fish health facts, all the terminology that "koi people" use in the industry and the forums, and many tips on koi and pond care.  

These books are "DIY Koi Pond: Healthy Koi for Beginners", "Koi Glossary", and "Koi Training Course", respectively.

This set of resources, especially the videos, I would highly recommend for koi keepers of any levels. I learned a lot of little tips and tricks that would have taken me some time to figure out on my own. I want to thank Rodney here for providing such a knowledgeable resource.

Here's a link to Rodney's tutorials ---> bit.ly/1fAM5ei

Great resource for beginner Koi hobbyists

When I started keeping koi again after so many years. One of the most important resources I had was asking experts on forums.

That being said, it takes a lot of effort for one to ask scattered questions about this and that, how to build your pond, filtration system, how to choose koi, what to feed them...etc

I find that the best way is to borrow and buy books that are about koi, and learn all the basics first. Keeping koi is not a tough business, but it takes some time to research your options and learn the fundamental in how to keep both you and your fish happy.

Here's one of the fairly good resources that I've used----> bit.ly/KkMseu

It shares some basic but important information, for example:

What are koi and what are the varieties?
How do you plan and set up a pond or tank for your fish?
Tips on how to pick and buy healthy koi?
More importantly, how to pick baby koi that have higher potentials of show quality.
How to build an appropriate filtration system for your pond or tank?
HOW to identify and treat different diseases that can occur with koi fish?

It is very important to have a background of these topics before you post your questions on any koi forum. Trust me it will save you so much time and frustration.

Check out the Nishikigoi Koi Facebook page!

Check out the Nishikigoi Koi Facebook page. You will find some interesting posts and links there on top of the contents of my blog! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nishikigoi-koi/1434262566808219

New Koi! After a long time.

In the past 7-8 years now, I've kept my new pond of 9 koi outside in the backyard. At first, I was very nervous because I've never kept koi fish outside. As there will be seasonal changes, I got worried that the fish would face some challenges in the winters when the water was frozen over.

But hey, what do you know. Koi are very hardy carp fish, and they will put up with just about whatever crazy temperatures nature has to throw at them. They made it just fine year after year, they would wake up when spring comes.

Nishikigoi Koi: Back to keeping koi!

The way I seriously go back into keeping koi fish was thanks to one of my dad's friends. He had offered to give my dad a free fiberglass pond tank. I was very excited that after all these years, I finally get to have koi fish again! I quickly did a lot of book researching as a refresher, and joined koi forums to learn and share among other koi hobbyists.

I was fairly active on one of the koi forums, and that was this one:

http://www.koi.com.my/cgi-bin/koiforum/gforum.cgi 

I learned a lot there. Sadly though, it seems like this forum is no longer running. It was really a place where experienced hobbyists could share their expertise and inspire people who are newly interested in koi to do their research, ask questions, get their ponds and aquariums set up, and most importantly, buy the koi that they will enjoy.

Nishikigoi Koi: Started keeping koi as a kid.

   When I was a young child, my family has always kept koi fish as a hobby. As far back as I can remember, we had a 260 gallon aquarium on one side of our living room. We had nine koi fish in total.
   After dinner every night, either my mom or dad would help me up onto a stool to throw the koi food over the top of the tank to feed them. Sometimes I would water my parents clean out the algae that's grown on the sides of the glass walls. It was all very unique and intriguing to me.
   We kept those fish for about 7-8 years. My parents had to give them away to friends because we were moving, and it was no longer convenient for us to keep fish at the new home. Since then, it's been 10 years that we haven't kept one single koi...