My first game with yellowcheeks is over.
The hurricane Irma killed my last cheek in the koi pond Sept 10-11, 2017. No pumps and a ton of debris blown in resulted in oxygen deficiency that was too much for the cheek to handle.
One more koi couldn't handle it either. Of course a big one. Likely had eggs. That places an unusually high demand on oxygen supply.
Everyone else made it, although I saw some intense surface breathing in the morning until I hooked up my pumps to generator, one one day, the other the next. There are 1-2 hundred of koi in there and likely equally many native intruders and free loaders - walking catfish, cichlids, bluegills, bass, etc. The pond is ~20,000-40,000 gal.
Anyhow, back to the cheeks. My conclusions are that:
-- they are poorly suited to thrive or even survive in sub-tropical climates in the hot half a year;
-- they are very poorly suited to cohab with ATF and perhaps some others, like dorado, mahseer
-- they are not built to handle soft water and/or water with an unstable pH and hardness.
Final measure is 27".
The hurricane Irma killed my last cheek in the koi pond Sept 10-11, 2017. No pumps and a ton of debris blown in resulted in oxygen deficiency that was too much for the cheek to handle.
One more koi couldn't handle it either. Of course a big one. Likely had eggs. That places an unusually high demand on oxygen supply.
Everyone else made it, although I saw some intense surface breathing in the morning until I hooked up my pumps to generator, one one day, the other the next. There are 1-2 hundred of koi in there and likely equally many native intruders and free loaders - walking catfish, cichlids, bluegills, bass, etc. The pond is ~20,000-40,000 gal.
Anyhow, back to the cheeks. My conclusions are that:
-- they are poorly suited to thrive or even survive in sub-tropical climates in the hot half a year;
-- they are very poorly suited to cohab with ATF and perhaps some others, like dorado, mahseer
-- they are not built to handle soft water and/or water with an unstable pH and hardness.
Final measure is 27".
to see if I can be more successful this time and apply the knowledge I gained, which has been paid by the lives of five cheeks. One killed by hurricane 27", one by bullying 23", and three, I assume, by soft and unstable water, ~4"-8".