Dan Schimel grew up with fish. His father's basement was filled with fish tanks, and his first job was at a pet store. All this hands-on education meant the Plainfield resident was destined to have fish in his home as an adult.
And, as with his father Anthony's home, the pet fish were not contained inside the house.
Schimel's Koi pond is on the larger side, 52 inches at the deepest end, and holds about 3,000 gallons of water. Schimel wanted a large pond for a reason.
"The health of the fish does have a direct correlation to the volume of water," he said.
Although his pond has been established for only 17 months, the fish living in his pond are fourth-, fifth- and sixth-generation fish from his father's pond, which has been around 15 years.
His pond currently has 34 adult-sized Koi and 30 juveniles, which are comparatively small.
"They're only about an inch long at this point," Schimel said.
Although the pond is above the ideal population at this point, he is not going to take the fish out before the spring.
Koi survive the winter outside in the pond, despite the cold weather.
"Once the water temperature goes below 50 degrees, they go to the deep end of the pond, and they go dormant, just as a plant would," he said. "They won't actually grow over the winter."
To encourage the Koi to go dormant, pond owners need to stop feeding the fish when the water temperature hits 50 degrees. They cannot be fed again until the water reaches above 50 degrees again. This year, Schimel stopped feeding the fish in early November.
"It has nothing to do with air temperature; it has to do with water temperature," he said.
Koi are relatively easy to maintain, with the right filtration system and ultraviolet sterilizer. There are a couple of rules of thumb, however, to keep the fish healthy. There is a minimum depth for any Koi pond in our climate.
"A lot of people say 24, but we like to see 30 inches, minimum," said Jeff Bell, manager of Kane Brothers Water Features in Burr Ridge.
Like Schimel, Bell said a larger pond is better.
Although Koi go dormant during the winter and live below the frozen surface of the pond, that surface cannot completely freeze. If it does, the gases that are trapped below the surface of the water would kill the fish. So Koi pond owners have come up with their own systems to keep a hole on the surface of the water.
Most owners, Schimel said, install an electrical de-icer. De-icers are about 10 inches wide, about the size of an average dinner plate, Bell said.
"You don't need to create a large hole. Just a hole about 10 inches in diameter is enough," Bell said.
The drawback to that system, though, is that it requires electricity to be fed to the pond all winter long.
"They have come a long way in making them more efficient," Bell said.
Schimel came up with his own system that, in a way, harnesses the sun. Schimel bought two plastic foam wreaths. One rests on the surface of the water. The second he cut in half and rested on the top of the first, forming a dome. He put an air stone in the pond before covering the dome with a black garbage bag.
"It oxygenates the water as well as creates some turbulence that keeps the water moving, making it more difficult to freeze," he said.
The black garbage bag attracts sunlight, keeping the dome warm. Schimel pokes small holes in the plastic bag, allowing the gases to escape, and leaves the pond until the spring.
Even if a Koi pond's surface does freeze over, it is best not to panic, Bell said.
The first instinct is to break the ice, but that is not a good idea, because the sound waves in the water could damage the fish. A better idea, Bell said, is steadily heating a spot in the surface.
Koi ponds are becoming more popular, Bell said.
"It's becoming very popular," he said. "That is all we do year round, and it keeps us busy."
Although Kane Brothers is in Burr Ridge, the showroom is at Rizzi's Flower Garden and Aquatic Center in Plainfield.
Starting in March, Rizzi's offers classes on Koi ponds -- how to build and maintain them. For more information, call (815) 439-3342.