the Big White ?

he's certainly big enough to eat Brian! What a lovely sight in your pond...all those lovely fish! Not even the biggest of Herons would take him on!

Loved your blog.I have some koi carp in my pond.They are fascinating to watch.:0)

What a whopper Brian! How big is your pond?

Wow, lovely to see your fish Brian. 12 plus years is a long time. Do they have an average life span?
I did notice you don't give it a name - does he/she have one?

It's got to be JAWS Angie!!!!

Wow,he is huge! He looks so healthy..I guess nothing would tackle him..I thought we were going to see pics of white flowers at first :o).lovely pond and other fishies too,thanks for sharing..:o) ..

Anella
The pond is at its largest points 9ftx5ft and barely 2ft deep in theory it is much too small for them, but of course he/she was only a few inches long when it arrived.
I have to get into the pond once a year to trim back the maples and other plants growing around the perimeter otherwise they would have no light.
There are only basic filters operating and the pond has never been emptied in all the 40 + years it has been there.
The bronzy brown one in the first picture was bought at the same time as the white one and is only a few inches shorter.

amazing fishes, it is a beauty, great to see him/her surviving for such a long time. I only have little gold fish in my pond but they breed successfully so it is all good. Had to add some water to the pond this morning, much too hot for them and they were gasping for air. Thanks for a lovely blog, I too was expecting white flowers, but that was lovely. :O)

what a beauty. you are right monastries always had fish ponds, native carp in particular. carp taste earthy / muddy in my opinion.

Just Googled Koi average life span 60/70 years but wait for it have been recorded at 200 years old.
Not sure who stayed alive that long to record it, possibly handed down from one generation to the next.

He's brilliant!, we have ghost koi and when the duck landed on the pond two of the koi chased him off by nibbling his feet......gosh he skedaddled!

you can count the growth rings on the otoliths[inner ear bone structures] and rings on the scales like tree rings.

Done it out of curiosity with a 14ft Ling that OH caught of the boats at Bridlington. It was 19yrs old. tasted great too.

He's a big bugger!!! I'm surprised the small fish get so close to him! Is he a bully or just ignores the little ones?

Paul he is not really aggressive but if any smaller one are in his way he swims under them and then surfaces usually lifting them out of the water on his back,
Thinking about it he does spend quite a lot of time with his back and dorsal fin up out of the water, wonder if it is anything to do with lack of depth in the pond.
I know that he should have at least another foot of water below him but not much I can do about it.

Having seen your pond and those smashing fish it is a sin to even talk about chips in the same breath. Lol He really is Jaws in miniature.

Is it true that fish have no ears? I hope so or the great white carp may be looking for another pond, fancy talking about eating him! Oh well, I don't suppose that he comes on GOY much:-))

He's a beauty Bj's and obviously healthy or he wouldn't still be with you, my motto is " If it ain't broke then don't try and fix it" your other fish are a lovely colour, thats a sign of a healthy fish as well...I know what you mean about the cost....

Homebird I think he probably would But I am not able to reach him there are railings about 30in high all around put there when Jamie was a pup to stop him jumping in, there is a gate but even that is not very convenient.

When Jamie was young and jumped in two good size golden Orfe jumped out, I only ever found one.
Knowing Jamie he probably swallowed the other

and so after Japanese morning glories , Japanese fish