Koi are generally tough fish and tolerant of a wide variety of conditions. They are not agressive and can get along with other fish. I wouldn't put them in with bass, but that goes for most any fish.

I have the about the same situation as the OP. My neighbors elderly friend just lost her husband, who used to walk back daily to their pond to feed the fish.

The widow can not walk that far to take care of them, so my neighbor asked if I wanted some for my 3/4 acre farm pond. I already have large-mouth bass, bluegil and some 6-7" goldfish from my sister's ornamenatl pond.

Why should you not put Koi in with bass? My goldfish have survived and are bigger than the bass.

Thanks,
Pam

I have both in my pond and they seem to get along well, however we have never had babies in 6 years probably because of the bass. Last year somehow 2 babies came out with some plants I was mailing to someone and wound up in a muck bucket they are now in a 50gal. fish tank so I know they breed. We dug a new pond does anyone know why it is still muddy after 10 months? Kathy

I was just walking around my three acre pond and for the first time noticed two large Koi. One was over 18" and the other not much smaller. This was a huge surprise to find them in a pond I dug for Bass and Brim about 18 years ago.
is there any problem with them cohabitating? will one species hurt the other? How about diet of these big guys? Help!

Phil

In many cases the koi and goldfish will outcompete the bass.
For one, both fish will eat either fry early on, while the bass will continue to eat them as they grow larger. All sounds fine, but carp are omnivores and will eat just about anything, so under average conditions they will outgrow their predators. This can create a situation where more carp fry are surviving than bass. And carp hands down can survive adversity better than most any fish. They can destroy most artificial enviornments which will kill off all less hardy species long before they are at risk.

Smaller Koi, because of their color, are more prone to getting eaten by Herons and Kingfishers in my area than Bass.

I did it once only thing it did was help herons see them better to eat them.

Koi will survive quite nicely in a farm pond. There will be some competition between the species....but as long as the little koi stay away from the bass, they will do fine. One thing to keep in mind.....koi are VERY hard on mud ponds. Koi love to root around in the mud and will keep the water stirred up. They can also damage earthen dams beause of their destructive rooting. If you keep the stocking levels light, the problem won't be as noticable, but after generations of koi have bred in there, the stocking levels won't remain light forever. Just some thoughts to keep in mind.

All the koi I put in my pond disappeared because of heron.