Dues are Due

Meeting Date	Thu, May 8, 2003 7:00 PM - Thu, May 8, 2003 9:00 PM

is the second meeting of the year. Suzy Oligmueller will talk about why plant plants here and why not locations. Some plants need sun and others shade to do well. Come with your plant names and find out where they should be located in your pond.

The Pikes Peak Water Garden Society meetings are held every 2nd Thursday from April to September.  Most meetings start at 7:00 PM and wrap up around 9:00 to 9:30 PM.

This year our meetings will once again be held at the Mountain View Church of Christ located at 1080 East La Salle Street.  This is at the west end of Constitution Avenue on the southwest corner.

Enter through the east door on the north side of the church.

To see a map for the meeting location, click on the Link Below

Mountain View Church of Christ

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Meeting Minutes

Pikes Peak Water Garden Society
General Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2004

Meeting called to order at 7:45 PM by Bob Pollock, President, at the Holy Cross Church. A scheduling conflict caused a slight delay in the start of the meeting but members understood and helped with the logistics of set up. Attendance was 86.

Dick presented the treasurers report, currently the club has $3,423.84 total club funds. This includes 1 Honorary membership, 59 Family and 37 Single paid memberships.

Bob discussed some general club information and presented Bob Winkler as our guest speaker. Bob has been a national Koi judge for the past five years.

Bob has made many trips to Japan to purchase Koi. He presented a slide show made up of pictures he had taken. He pointed out that Koi are very important in Japan and had a picture of a street manhole cover with Koi on it. He said that these covers were located all over town.

To expand their pond sizes, many Japanese homeowners have put their backyard decks over the water surface. This allows for more room to raise Koi and gives them some shade. The ponds take up the entire back yards, leaving just enough room to walk around the edge. Bridges and stepping stones allow visitors to get a full view of the Koi.

Koi breeders keep their Koi in greenhouses for six months each year. The remaining time the Koi spend in mud bottom ponds. Automatic feeders keep them well fed and growing.

When Koi are judged they are put into classes based upon colors and patterns. Judges look for distinct colors and definite lines where colors change. It takes many training sessions to get qualified to judge. There are a lot of rules and qualifications required and judges keep working to follow established standards.

Bob has a pond that is 16 feet long by 10 feet wide that is 8 feet deep. He keeps the water above 55 degrees and below 75 degrees. This allows his Koi to grow and live in an ideal environment. Homemade snacks are made using catfish flays along with bell peppers, wheat germ, baby vitamins and other stuff all held together by gelatin. He hand feeds this mixture to his Koi making sure each one get it’s fair share.

New fish arrive from Japan after a 28 hour trip. Bob quarantines these new arrivals in a tank with 65 degree water. He does not recommend moving fish when the water is below 55 degrees. His quarantine tank contains a .3% salt content which is 3 pounds of salt for each 100 gallons of water. Fish stay here for a minimum of four weeks and six weeks is a better minimum time. Some times fish are quarantined for six months to a year, depending on how the fish are doing and where they came from.

After Bob’s presentation he fielded questions from several in attendance.

Door prizes were given to the following:
3 gallon pot to Pat Orban
Baseball cap to Jim Schwengler
Lily Tabs to Leslie Fry
Visor to Tim Evans
T-shirt to Sarah Jensen

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted
Steve Carson
Secretary