Genesee Valley Pond

Koi Club Newsletter

Volume 4 Issue 10                                                                   October 2000

Nau Hear This!

Many of us experienced a killing frost last Thursday night!  Some of our 8 inch pots outside the pond actually had ice in them!  So much for a moderate fall to extend our water gardening season.  The lotus leaves are "toasted".  The cattails are wilted and the water hyacinths are blackened.  I reluctantly admit, our water gardening season for 2000 came to an abrupt halt on September 28'h.

This past weekend Sherry, Nathan and I made a quick trip down to Allentown to the Mid Atlantic Koi Club's Fall Show.  We saw some incredible koi!  I am still amazed some koi keepers are willing to transport a 26+" koi to a show.  These fish are huge yet not a mark on them.  I will admit seeing these beautiful fish has renewed my energies to restocking our pond.  It has been a rather quiet year at our pond without our school of fish.  These show fish underscore what we are lacking in our pond!

I would like to thank Cathy and Cathy from the Braddock's Bay Raptor Center for a wonderful program at our September meeting. We were treated to personal introductions with a broad wing hawk, a screech owl and a turkey vulture.  All these magnificent birds are part of their traveling education program.  A special thank you goes to member Linda Reed for organizing this program.  We enjoyed it very much!

For our October meeting we will do an informal meeting on closing your pond.  Members who have been through a number of winters will share their experiences and techniques with the members present. If no one will talk we will sit around and eat!  Seriously, October is one of our best attended meetings. Hopefully a lot of the mysteries about what to do with your fish and plants will be answered at this meeting.

Please save the date of November 3 for our November meeting.  Matt Johnson will be our guest speaker.  He will share his adventures from the Amazon River earlier this year.  Matt's special interest is growing and hybridizing the giant Victoria Lily from the Amazon.  I'm sure you will enjoy Matt's presentation.

October also brings a need to solicit a slate of candidates for the November elections.  Larry Hursh has indicted he will place his name in nomination for President.  Joe Leichtner will step down from his role as Treasurer after 2 years of service.  Thank you Joe for all your help.  This means we need some help!  If you are willing to take on the role of Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer please call Larry H. at 473-6276 or Larry N. at 293-1639.  Yes, this means you'll need to give up a few hours a month to help this club.  GVPAKC has a lot of potential.  I can also say there is a strong need in the community for pond information and advice.  This hobby will continue to grow and GVPAKC can help to lead the way.  Please give this request some thought and consideration!

It's Tuesday morning and I am trying to get this newsletter out.  Sherry battled with our scanner for 3 hours on Sunday, with no progress.  We have not lost the war just a few battles.  We just need more time to conduct the offensive but some how we always seem to have less and less free time.  We will need more ponds to feature on our first page when we get back on track.  Please review your pond pictures from this year and drop us a note.  We hope to see many of you at Friciay's meeting!  Anyone have a good recipe for frosted water hyacinth?  If so, bring it to the meeting.  We have 5 bushels of hyacinth to contribute.

Fall Feeding

Here are some guidelines to feeding your fish in the fall.  Remember you should look at the same temperature over several days when considering "THE temperature " of the pond.

55 to 60 degrees: Feed once a day using 50% wheat germ pellets.

50 - 55 degrees: Feed once every 2 days using all wheat germ pellets or a few Cheerios

45 to 50 degrees: Feed once a week possibly boiled spaghetti which will sink.  Feed sparingly!

Below 45 degrees: NO FOOD!  Food can not be digested and may cause an intestinal blockage

Extra Meeting

The Genesee Valley Pond and Koi Club has been invited the join the Oriental Garden Club at the Seneca Park Zoo on Wednesday October I 1. The meeting will be held in the Rocky Coasts Gallery at 7:00 PM.  A computer generated program about the new zoo will be presented.  The new Asian Exhibit will have a Oriental theme.  The zoo has just completed a new koi pond with a bridge over it.  GVPAKC's John Nuccitelli has donated some koi to stock this pond.  Please join us at this exciting presentation.

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