The nice thing about being a member of a local koi club is that there are always a lot of nice people who are willing to dispense some expert advice. Thank you Cheng, Michael, Matt and Michelle – everyone had some good suggestions. Of course the major suggestion was to get the yamabuki to a warmer clime (but then you’re stuck with an indoor koi for another four months, not my idea of fun). Instead we crossed our fingers, left Buttercup in a 23 gallon show bowl and went to sleep. Yesterday morning I expected to see Buttercup doing the sidestroke but she was upright and paddling around.

 

 

Cheng had asked if we had any aquarium heaters (which we did not) so we stopped off at the local Petco and purchased two heaters. Since they can heat up 90 gallons to 80+ degrees, I figured they could be set on the lowest temperature of 68 degrees and create a warm spot for the koi in the 300 gallon tubs. Buttercup was looking pretty chipper after 48 hours in the show bowl so we returned her back into the tub with Tarzan and Irene. In the pond, Tarzan and Buttercup almost always swim together…the koi seem happy to be back together.

This weekend we are finally getting a break from the incredibly cold weather with a high of 19 on Saturday. The real warm up is next week when we start getting up to the low 30s. Then we’ll find out what’s been going on in the winter pond…