Enjoy Koi

Many people around Roseburg have a love for koi fish. Today, you can take a tour of local koi ponds presented by: Oregon Koi and Water Garden Society.

Tickets for the tour are $5 for adults and free for children. The tour will be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you missed your opportunity to buy a ticket at yesterday’s expo, you can go to 174 or 472 W. Berdine Street to purchase tickets. There will be nine ponds included in the tour.

Jim Daniel, Past President and current Vice President of the Oregon Koi & Watergarden Society shared his story, saying, “In 2015, we purchased a house in Roseburg that had a pond with 5 large Koi in it. The sellers found out it cost too much to have them shipped to Tucson, so they gave them to us. Some of our members have had Koi for a lifetime, others are even newer than we are.”

Melton Hefner, a member of the society, said, “I have always liked fish and aquariums but koi allows us to incorporate our love for fish into our landscape with a koi pond with the sound of moving water through waterfalls, the bright colors of the koi and all the other wildlife a pond attracts like frogs and dragonflies and birds.”

He added, “We have owned koi for over 20 years and have been members of the Koi & Water Garden Society off and on for that 20 years.” He has 12 koi in a 7,000 gallon pond.

Although koi are social animals, koi don’t like to be crowded.

Both Daniel and Hefner really enjoy their koi.

Hefner said, “My favorite thing about koi is their beauty and gracefulness as they move through the water.”

Daniel said his favorite part of having koi is, “Sitting and having my morning coffee watching my fish.”

Hefner said, “Koi can live a long time, in Japan koi are passed on from one generation to another. It is rumored that koi can live to be a hundred, but my oldest fish is 20 years old. Some people think they have koi but in fact, have goldfish instead. You can tell the difference between goldfish and koi by their whiskers, koi have whiskers and goldfish don’t.”

Daniel is excited about the tour, “I hope people will ask questions, take a free club membership, and purchase an inexpensive ticket to visit the nine ponds on the Sunday tour. That’s a self-guided tour where folks can drive from pond to pond, relax and visit with the owners.”

There is lots of variety involved with the tour. Hefner said, “The tour will give you a large variety of ponds from several thousand gallons to a couple of gallons. From Asian inspired themed ponds to just basic ponds, but they are all loved by their owners. 20 years ago I attended my first pond tour, I went home and started digging and haven’t stopped yet.”

If you are interested in putting in your own koi pond, the Society is happy to help.

Daniel said, “Take your time, find help designing and building the pond, always build larger and deeper than you think you need. Cutting costs initially will sentence you to a lot more problems and maintenance in the future.”