The koi are miffed.

Which is antithetical to the inherently good-natured, friendly fish. But as Phil Goulding perches on the cold stones by the side of his backyard koi pond, his beloved shimmering beauties aren’t swimming up to nab their fish food like they usually do. He decides to try a different tactic: shrimp.

“I can go get a container of the treat, and they may stop being mad at us,” he says.

Their standoffishness is understandable. Earlier that morning, the school of 28 watched in horror as Goulding and his fellow koi and water garden lover, Bob Oatman, netted and caught one of their brethren. And if fish have any capacity to worry, they’re likely concerned they’re the next to be plucked from their cool, watery home. But it had to be done, the men say.

47 years in the making, retired dentist's home continues to evolve

“We wanted to look and see if it had any bugs and it did not,” said Goulding, treasurer of the Pikes Peak Koi & Water Garden Society. “But we discovered a sore on it. But by netting the fish they freak out.”

After anesthetizing the fish with drops of clove oil in a bucket of water, he cleaned the sore with betadine, applied Neosporin and another antibiotic cream, and returned the koi to the pond.

He anticipates the rest of the clan will return to their love and light nature by the afternoon, just in time for Goulding and his wife to take their evening meal by the large pond that measures 5 feet deep, holds 6,200 to 6,500 gallons of water and boasts an undulating bouquet of orange, silver, black, red, white and dark gray fish.

“I’m an Aquarian,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve loved fish since I was a little kid. I grew up on the water and had an aquarium when I was young. I’m a fisherman, but I do catch and release. I just love watching fish. I find it relaxing and peaceful.”

It’s much the same for Oatman, who has 15 of his own koi in his cascading masterpiece of four ponds in his Falcon Estates backyard.

“I’m retired now but I used to have a stressful job,” said Oatman, president of the Koi & Water Garden Society. “In the evenings I’d come home, sit on the edge, dangle my feet in the water and relax. The fish would come up and nibble on the hairs on my legs, thinking they were little worms.”

Beginner gardener brings his own flair to backyard escape in Colorado Springs

Like dogs, koi have breeds. Goulding’s largest koi, Thing 2, punching in at 20 to 30 pounds, is one of the friendliest breeds. Only not right now, what with the morning’s trauma. But she’ll come around. And she is a girl, Goulding is fairly certain, due to the roundness of her body, whereas males are more torpedo-shaped. On calmer days she loves to swim up for pets from Goulding, gliding back and forth as he strokes her scales.

“Some of the fish really love that attention,” Oatman said. “You get to know them. They have different personalities. They will get to know people. I’ll walk out to my pond and they’ll come up but if I have you standing next to me they’ll stand back. They’re smart creatures and so docile.”

Goulding’s koi pond will be one of at least seven ponds featured in this year’s Pikes Peak Koi & Water Garden Society’s Pond Tour. The free tour is July 26-27. Tour maps can be downloaded online at ppwgs.org.

The group has more than 260 members, who represent more than 150 ponds throughout the Pikes Peak region, almost all of which have koi. It’s a meshing of two separate groups: Pikes Peak Water Garden Society, which was founded in 1989, and the Southern Colorado Koi Club, founded in 2009. They merged this year with a mission to promote, develop and expand water gardening and ensure the proper care, admiration and ownership of koi.

A tail of two goldfish past, present | Life Happens

The society meets monthly and holds workshops and events throughout the month, such as koi auctions and the Pond Tour. Yearly fees are $10-$15.

“We had a person show up at a meeting who had just built a pond, filled it with rocks, and everything he did in terms of koi keeping was wrong,” Goulding said. “It makes for pretty water gardens but there really is a difference between water gardens and koi ponds.”

That’s why they hope people join the club before attempting to build a koi oasis.

“People do it wrong the first time and then they’re upset with the results,” Oatman said. “They’re having green water or their koi aren’t doing well and they have to redo what they did. It’s better to do it right the first time.”

By learning from those in the know, first timers can avoid making the big mistakes, like losing fish to raccoons, great blue herons and bears, which Goulding and Oatman have entertained at their ponds. Many years ago, Goulding woke up to see a heron with a fish in its beak. He ran out screaming and the bird dropped the fish and flew off. Fortunately, the koi survived.

“It lived for years,” he said. “We renamed it Lucky.”

Goulding also has contended with the rascally raccoon nation over the years. They don’t like to get in the water, thus the recommended 3 feet deep minimum. And why it’s good to have steep edges with overhanging rock around the water, so fish have a place to hide if a raccoon is waiting at the surface.

Longtime herbalist near Colorado Springs teaches classes, makes old remedies in greenhouse | Live Well

“One of the biggest things people do is have a beach coming down into their pond where raccoons can just walk down into the water, stand there and wait for a fish to come by,” Oatman said. “There are multiple ways to design a pond for different kinds of predators to keep them out.”

Another big no-no: lots of rocks in the water. Goulding learned that lesson the hard way.

“Water gardens usually have rock shelves and rocks on the bottom and everywhere,” he said. “And the problem is the koi scrape themselves, especially if they’re spawning. They can really hurt themselves. We dug the pond deeper and took the rocks out. I don’t have nearly as much problem with fish getting sores anymore.”