koi are messier, they get much larger, and are not as hardy. They come in prettier colors and lots of varieties though. Koi need at least 250 gallons each, preferably 500 gallons. Koi can grow to over 36" in length. Their ponds should be a minumum of 36" deep, with 5' deep preferred. There is nothing quite as beautiful as a well deaigned koi pond stocked with a selection of koi. It is like looking into a living painting.

Goldfish come in lots of varieties too. Fancies (ryukins, orandas, lionheads, etc) are not has hardy but are very cute. The hardy ones, like comets and shubunkins are inexpensive, hardier than koi and very colorful. Goldies can do well in shallower ponds. They need 50 gallons each.

Thank you ccoombs1,that is just the kind of info I was wondering about.Now,is either one more friendly or are they both egually trainable to come up to you to get their food?I have had goldfish for sometime now in my ponds but they never seem to be really friendly.

You might try adding one or two small koi in with your goldfish if you have the room. My goldfish would never come up close to our hands to feed until I added the koi; now they are almost as aggressive as the koi at feeding time. In fact, I have one small sarasa that will let me scoop her up and put her back in the water and she comes right back up to my hands. We know that if a heron ever shows up, she will sadly be the first victim as she is so tame. Koi are definitely the more aggressive feeders of the two.

Koi are usually much friendlier and more sociable than goldies. There is one variety of goldfish that get very tame though. Look into a variety of goldfish called Wakin. They are not as common in this country yet, although there is a good seller on Ebay (goldfishworld2006). Also some mail-order places sell them.

I have fancy goldies, black and Panda Moors, Orandas, Comets, Shubunkins and 1 Wakin and they will nibble on my fingers, follow me all around the pond and when I sit beside the pond in my usual feeding place, they push each other out of the water to get the first morsel. I can pick them up when they swim into my hands. My pond is covered and the Heron would have a hard time getting to them anymore.

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Some of my fish B4 the water turned to pea soup. Glenda

I only have goldfish varieties: shubunkins, sarassa comets, comets and wakins. They all come to the edge for feeding and follow me around the pond when I'm out in the yard. The wakins will eat from my fingers but so will my comets--they are just used to me I guess. As I have to house my fish indoors for winter I can't imagine netting a 2 ft long koi and my 300 gal indoor pond would not hold very many koi for the winter. My biggest goldfish is only about 8" long (5 years old), I have 25 in a 2500 gal pond and that's plenty.

I would love to have koi's, but I don't have the time and energy or space to properly maintain them. I think they're very beautiful, particularly the butterfly varieties. But I need fishes that can thrive on their own with little care, and won't muck up the landscaping.
Plus, my pond is only 3' at it's deepest, which is fine for overwintering commets, but not at all for kois. With 3 kids, another on the way, fish in aquariums, a cat and a snake, I just need something that can get on well enough without me lol.

Thanks everyone for all of your time!I have recieved some good info and pikecoe, your fish are beautiful!!