Are the Koi and Other Fish in my Austin, TX Central Texas Backyard Pond Happy or Bored?

  I was talking to our crew leader Mando recently about the fish in our ponds. I had noticed that unless they think they're about to get fed, they spend quite a bit of their time mouthing away at the rocks and gravel in the pond. They're constantly searching around for little bits of algae, insect larvae, tiny fish, worms and other edible organic material that make up their diet. They're perfectly content doing in our Central Texas backyard ponds what they would do in a natural pond which is forage, pretty much. And they're receiving a similar diet, along with some Koi Pellets a couple of times a week. They seem happy to be constantly interacting with their environment in a way that is natural to them.

Those little 'whiskers' or barbels near the mouth of a Koi or a catfish are sensory organs that help them detect edible material on the bottom in murky water. In nature, these are responsible for making sure these fish get enough to eat. Foraging at the bottom is the natural instinct of these types of fish. It's the behavior nature equipped them for. In backyard ponds with gravel, they get a more healthy balanced diet AND they help keep the pond clean. The gravel at the bottom promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria that break down the fish waste and convert it into useable nutrients for the plants to take up. A clean-out every year or two helps to remove sediments and things that the system can't 'digest'.

Watch a one-minute video showing some happy fish!

Now contrast that with a pond that has a bare black liner or a concrete 'dedicated' Koi pond with smooth sides and bottom. In systems like that without a bottom drain, the fish waste and sediments begin to build up in a layer on the bottom. The Koi don't want to root around it in. So they just swim around aimlessly. Even in ponds with a bottom drain in which the waste doesn't build up on the bottom, the fish have nothing to do except swim around and wait to be fed. Their natural instincts to forage are frustrated because of their environment. They become prisoners in their own ponds with nothing to do but pace their cell. If you stick a lily in there in its pot, you'll soon see their natural instincts take over as they will root through the soil searching for edible materials, turning over and destroying the lilies. In our ponds, the lilies grow out of the gravel substrate and the fish don't mess with them, except to eat the spent pads and blossoms.

I am not a licensed fish psychiatrist and I don't play one on TV. However, I would assume that an environment that most closely replicates a natural one for these fish would lead to happier healthier fish. The balanced ecosystem in nature that provides them food and something to do with their time will do the same in your backyard pond in Austin Texas.