KOI CLUB OF SAN DIEGONEWSLETTERDecember 2025 |
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The start of the new year is just around the corner, and the San Diego Koi Club needs your help!
We rely on our amazing members to host our monthly club meetings, and we’re currently looking for volunteers.
Hosting is a great opportunity to showcase your koi pond, share how you built it, and talk about your passion for the hobby. It also gives fellow members a chance to network, gather ideas, and see the many creative ways ponds can be designed. Plus, we often have subject-matter experts join us to discuss various aspects of koi keeping — always a member favorite!
We especially need a host for our January meeting (held on the second Sunday of each month). If you’re interested or have questions, please contact Tony Martinez at 619-733-6085.
Thank you for supporting the club, and we look forward to another great year together! |
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NOTICE Being a member of the Koi Club of San Diego does NOT permit free admittance to the Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum. The volunteers from our club are only allowed free entry while they do their volunteer work. So far that includes Lenore Wade on free Tuesdays, Jack Chapman, Rick Leach, Matt Rhoades and Linda Pluth (and anyone else on the filter cleaning crew). Any questions or problems with this, please contact Linda Pluth, Japanese Friendship Garden Liaison, lpluth@cox.net, 619-200-4146 (leave a message) or at a meeting. Thank you for your attention and cooperation. Submitted by Linda Pluth.
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36TH ANNUAL KOI SHOW MARCH 7&8 2026 Del Mar Fairgrounds Bing Crosby Hall 2260 Jimmy Durante Boulevard Del Mar, CA |
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Koi Club of San Diego Meeting
December 14th, 2025
Social hour - 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Meeting begins at 1 pm
Potluck, bring your own chair
We will be doing a Secret Santa gift exchange, please bring a gift under $25 if you would like to participate. CLICK HERE FOR THE SIGN UP SHEET
OUR HOSTS WILL BE
Jill and Matt Rhoades 3130 Elliott Street San Diego, CA 92106
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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
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Wednesday, December 10th at 7:00 pm (earlier if you are ordering food) ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME!
Dennys
2691 Navajo Road El Cajon, CA 92020
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Koi Club of San Diego Ponder Profile
by John Svelan, photography by Bill Newell | Matt and Jill Rhoades |
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Matt, Jill, Cole and their two dogs reside in the San Diego community of Loma Portal; part of the Point Loma community. The quaint home in a quiet neighborhood was built in 1926 by an early San Diegan doctor/businessman. Matt is a retired fourth-grade teacher who taught at Crown Point Junior Music Academy, Jill is a retired accountant and an admirer of koi. She determined, when she started dating such a koi-kichi guy, that it would be beneficial for her to take an interest in koi.
Matt attended his first Koi Club of San Diego meeting in 2003 at the home of Norm Meck and immediately caught the koi bug. Since then, he has been extremely active in the club by serving as Club President, Vice President of both Program and Venue and now holds the record as a sixth time Koi Show Chairman! Matt was also Koi Person of the Year in 2010! Growing up in Mission Beach, when he wasn’t rescuing people from the surf as a lifeguard, he spent lots of time in the water surfing, sailing, and now competes in open ocean outrigger canoe racing. Matt started out on his fish venture with a 15-gallon aquarium, a few early koi pond attempts and as you can see from Bill Newell’s beautiful photographs, he now has a beautiful and high-tech Dream Pond! |
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The 15,614 gallon (about 60566.56 L), 8’ deep concrete dream pond was designed and built by Steve “Buck” Buckles with help from Matt and a few sub-contractors. The pond is equipped with the latest technology that includes a Profi Rotary Drum Eco 65/60 mechanical filter, two four-tray large Bakki showers loaded with ceramic media serve as the biological filter, two ½ hp Sequence pumps, an Aqua UV Viper 400-watt UV, large air pump, automatic feeder and the list goes on!
The pond is home to around 25 gorgeous fish who have patiently waited in a plastic
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swimming pool for three years while building permits were processed and the pond was being finished. Funny… fish don't
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really understand all the permitting process stuff. The majority of the fish are from our good friends Ken Liu Barstow Koi and Ben Plonski of Laguna Koi. Matt’s favorite variety is Shiro Utsuri and some are from Omosako Koi Farm in
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Japan. Matt loves showing his fish and has showed and won lots of awards in San Diego as well as Gardena, Bakersfield and Fresno. In closing, Matt has one of the best Sense of Humor and always keeps us smiling. “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right”
Thanks for sharing your Ponder Profile! |
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From the President's Pond
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The last meeting of the year.
I hope this message finds you and your ponds doing well! I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our last Koi Club of San Diego meeting and share a few important updates as we head into the final month of the year.
November Meeting
Thank you to everyone who attended. It was a fantastic turnout, and the discussion was on point with some hints and tricks for keeping your koi happy and healthy. Several members shared excellent tips, and it was great to have active participation.
Volunteers Needed for the March 2026 Koi Show
As we gear up for our annual Koi Show on March 7 & 8, we are officially seeking volunteers. This event is the highlight of our club’s calendar, but it takes a lot of hands to make it run smoothly—from setup and registration to hospitality and teardown. If you can spare a few hours, please consider signing up. Every bit of help makes a big difference, and volunteering is a wonderful way to get more involved and meet fellow koi enthusiasts.
December Christmas Potluck Meeting
Our December meeting will be a festive potluck gathering! To help us stay organized, please sign up online when you receive the club’s e-blast and list the dish you plan on bringing. We really want to try your favorite Family recipe, whether it’s an appetizer, main dish, dessert, or something completely unique, we’re looking forward to a delicious spread.
Additionally, we will once again be doing our holiday gift exchange. Please bring a wrapped gift (typically around $25 value). This year we will be doing the exchange a little differently to keep it full of laughs and friendly fun, so don’t miss out.
Thank you all for your continued support and participation. Our club thrives because of members like you. I look forward to seeing everyone in December and working together as we prepare for an exciting koi show season.
Until next time, keep your ponds clear, your koi happy, and your butt in a chair enjoying both!
Warm regards,
Cory Burke President, Koi Club of San Diego |
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NOVEMBER MEETING PHOTOS
Joy Arnswald
by Bill Newell
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!
Claudia and Dave Martin
Angela Schuetz Alan and Molly Hanna
WELCOME BACK RENEWING MEMBERS!
Zhi Hu and Monica Ma
Colin and Linda Patterson
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KHA KORNERby "Koi Jack" Chapman |
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So what’s the plan for your koi and pond in the coming year(s)???
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I was reviewing the koi part of my annual hobbyist plan - developed each year about this time and thought I might update an 8 year old article on this same subject(LOL). As a koi hobbyist, I think you owe it to yourself, your koi and your pond to at least once a year review what’s happened around your pond in the past year and what you want to accomplish in the coming year. With that in mind the following is not necessarily in order of priority but just to help you get started.
1. Are you happy with your pond? – Make a list of the good things, okay things and the not happy with things.
2. What kinds of things could you consider to improve the items on the okay or not happy with list? If you’re anal like me, you even think about making the good list even better – this is where I get myself in trouble LOL.
3. How are your pond parts working? Pond design, drains, prefilter, biochamber, returns –waterfalls and TRPs, UV, pumps (age and backup), power supply, shade and anything you want to change or add/subtract.
4. What, if anything, do you want to do about your water quality? So think about things like pond clarity, temp, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, oxygen, ORP, alkalinity, algae control and pond volume turnover rate to get you started. Any issues with these things in the past? How old are your water test kits? I recommend you replace the basic kit items annually.
5. What’s your total system water volume, and with existing filtration system, how many koi would it support? Better question is how much koi weight will it support? If you have too many koi – what are you going to do? Don’t forget the club koi auction is usually in September.
6. Are you happy with your koi? If you are going to add koi – what about quarantine? and can your current pond system handle the additional fish load? And, yes what colors do I need to add or increase to improve the pond’s total looks. Red (hi) is considered the base color for most koi pond collections.
7. What changes would you like to see in your koi and what nutritional items would assist in those changes? Feeding schedule? It is just great to observe an improvement to the shiro (white), hi (red) and sumi (black) of the koi swimming in your pond – and what and how often you feed your koi plays a major role in this respect.
8. What, when and how (the plan) to do what you want to do around and in your koi pond over the next 12 months. What maintenance schedule do you want to try and maintain?
9. What do you want to do that I forgot to put on my list?
10. A written plan in your pond journal will more likely be accomplished and evaluate your changes by recording them in your pond journal as the year unfolds and schedule the general date you would like to do this again in 2026/27.
Yes, this could go on forever, but I wanted to keep it to just 10 items before you lose interest while touching on the main areas for your hopefully annual consideration on this subject.
r/koi jack |
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PLEASE VISIT OUR APPAREL SHOP!THANK YOU JAMIE KANES FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS! |
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Koi Person of The Year 2025 Jill Rhoades
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Newsletter editor/ Webmaster: Julia Schriber |
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Membership Chairman: Jill Leach |
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Koi Health Advisor/
Librarian: Jack Chapman |
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Club Historian: Dr. Galen Hansen |
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Correspondence Secretary: Shirley Elswick |
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Japanese Friendship Garden Liaison: Linda Pluth |
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Koi Health Advisor/
Water Quality: Jack Chapman |
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To Host a Meeting: Tony Martinez |
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To Submit an Article: Linda Pluth |
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Program/Activities Suggestions: Matt Rhoades |
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