Inherited a fish with property

[Saviouronthreelegs]

Hello!
We bought a house in November and moved straight in. Previous owner had been here some 20years, and has built a big fishpond at the bottom of the garden. We hadn't realised he was leaving his fish behind until right at the end of the proceedings and we didn't think to ask any questions.
There's only one fish in there, he had a second which died just before completion apparently. He left us a bucket full of food for it. I've never had fish before, and when it passes on we will be emptying the pond and turning it into my vegetable patch. However I am a massive animal lover and so want to do right by it whilst we have it.
Mostly it's been down in the depths whilst it's been cold but it's been up and sunbathing a bit in the shallows in the spring sunshine.
I'm going to hopefully attach a picture... Could anyone tell me if this is a koi, or some other kind of fish? What should it be fed apart from those little brown pellets and how often should I be feeding it? Also any idea how old it might be (does size tell you?) and how long they live for....

Thank you for any wisdom you can impart!
(Dog is to help provide scale, she's greyhound sized so not a small dog...and not a small fish!)

[gamerchick]

You could sell it or donate it to a museum who have fish.

Life is how long is a piece of string, they can live a long time in the right conditions.

[reefedsail]

Blimey, that is beautiful. I'm not sure they are happy on their own, so it might be better to find somewhere that will take it. I think they can live for eons too, so veggie patch might be off for a very long time.

There will be some koi group on the internet you can email to look into re-homing if you don't fall in love with him before then.

[DogsSausages]

It will be lonely on it's own, can you contact the council recreation dept and relocate it to a local pond site

[williowrosenburg]

We had similar when we moved to our property.
There could be a lot more fish in there you just might not be able to see them.

We offered ours on gumtree and a guy came and fished them all out for his own pond. We thought we had 8.... we counted 56!!!!! By time we were done.
They were only gold type fish though so smaller then what you have. The guy who took them was so happy with his haul!

[SendMeHome]

Seconding that it will want friends. It’s probably quite a valuable fish - an aquatics place may be happy to take it?

[Bargebill19]

He/she are beautiful.
It’s a koi (ghost koi?) I think.

What about googling your local aquatic shop - I suspect they would be more than happy to help with advice and a potential new home with a fish enthusiast. As pp pointed out, they can live many years, so regiment might be the best option. Unless you fancy fish keeping??!!

[Saviouronthreelegs]

Ah thank you, I hate the thought of him being lonely. I've got quite fond of him already but not dedicated enough to add in more fish so rehoming might be the best option. The fish that died previously was enormous too (we had seen him, brighter in colour, when we looked around) and the owner said he was down to his last two, so pretty sure he is the last one left.

[WaterLilyFree]

Based on koi prices at our local fish shop a fish that size is probably worth a several hundred pounds!

[Canitbemagic]

Probably worth a few hundred - place an advert someone will come and get him

[RubyandPearl]

Your dog is beautiful! Your post isnt in anyway connected with the one that's showing below it I hope ("What to have with Salmon")....

[MotherofPoodles]

Oh my goodness he is beautiful, you're so lucky! They live for years or 20 minutes in my experience. Couldn't you think about a friend for him?

[Saviouronthreelegs]

@RubyandPearl no, but if my dog could type...

Thank you everyone, I'm not too worried about making money from him, but also know with pets it's generally better not to advertise them for free so will do some more research as to a suitable home.

[bunnygeek]

Definitely a lovely Koi - they have whiskers around their mouths while Goldfish do not.

Those Koi that are worth a few hundred tend to have very specific markings or quality to them to be worth that much, may even have been shipped all the way from Japan. All big Koi are not made equal though.

Have a look on local message boards like Next Door and there's bound to be other keen pond keepers in the vicinity.

[Twizbe]

We inherited 4 koi with our house. First thing we did was name them lol, Big Boss died quite quickly and we think was the oldest. Blondie, Chomp and Simon were with us for years. We have no idea how old they were.

We fed once a day in summer, and not at all in winter (I think) and we got the food from the pet shop. In the winter they tended to be at the bottom of the pond.

We gave them away eventually as we really wanted to get rid of the pond. They went to a local person who kept loads of them.

[nancywhitehead]

Bit rubbish of the people who moved out to just leave it there for you to deal with! But it does need rehoming as they prefer company. As others have said, try your local aquatics centre, they will have the expert knowledge - please don't just sell it to some rando for their garden.

[PersonaNonGarter]

How exciting!

I have nothing to add but your dog is beautiful. As is your fish.

[KitKat1985]

Definitely a Koi, and a beautiful one at that. I'd second what PP said in that fish like company, so probably kinder to re-home. Koi of that size are quite valuable so am sure you could find him / her a lovely home.