Read Part I
Choose High-Quality Pond Liners
This is the most important thing to consider when building your new fish pond. If you need to replace your pond liner, you will need to drain your entire pond and all of its inhabitants in order to resolve the issue. If you select a low-quality liner, you could poison your fish, cause your pond to leach water, or risk punctures from rocks or roots.
Choosing a high-quality pond liner from the getgo ensures that your pond stays healthy and clean. When selecting a liner, you will want to ensure that it has excellent UV protection, high puncture resistance, strong HDPE weaving, and an NSF-61 certification. You will also want to purchase a liner that is both pliable and exceptionally tough. BTL Liners fabricates AquaArmor liners specifically for this purpose that meets the aforementioned requirements for your fish pond.
Stocking Your Fish Efficiently
Fish can vary greatly in price, even if you are only looking at one species. Take koi, for instance. Pond-quality koi are generally healthy fish, but they do not have remarkable color characteristics. While many can be colorful and lively, they would not catch the attention of someone who is familiar with these colorful varieties of Amur carp. Pond-quality koi generally cost anywhere from $10 to $100, depending on age, size, and variety.
Show-quality koi are significantly more expensive, easily costing $10,000 per fish or more. These fish are breeder-certified with stable bloodlines and genetics that provide certainty of passing on their vivid color characteristics. This makes for a more visually appealing pond. However, a good breeding koi pair can cost up to ten times this amount.
Unless you are a seasoned pond pro, it is most cost-effective to choose fish that are healthy and hardy over fish that are flamboyant or pedigreed.
