Suggestions needed for my inherited pond

Hi all
I moved to house with a 1500 gallons koi pond and a lot of quirky outside space. I don't have any experience of gardening as well as pond keeping and moreover I have 2.5yrs twins.
I have some pictures and questions any suggestion would be appericiated!

 

The pond has a layer of micro clover leaves, i felt the fish like it bcoz it provides them with shade in these hot days but not sure whether its good for pond health or not and do koi eat or like micro clover?

 

First thing is make the pond safe for the two year olds!!!!!!!! Some kind of mesh over the pond. My opinion is forget about the koi and make a wildlife pond.....much better for a whole load of reasons.

 

@Silver surfer I have some beautiful plants in other parts of the house which I like to move on the edges of the pond, can I move them in this season? Or whats the best time or season for moving them. And how much I dig down to get there rootball safely out of the ground? Plants are:



I don't know there names also.

 

Thnx for the suggestions yeah i was about to post a msg for how to create safety there. Could you please upload a few images as a guide? As far as any type of pond is concerned right now financially im not in a position to make major alterations thats why im trying to use the plant resources i already have in house by simply moving them...

 

Google images, lots of pictures here:
mesh over ponds for safety - Google Search

 

I like ponds, fish and wildlife, but in your situation, given you are not a fishkeeper and to put a proper metal guard fence and mesh over it would be very expensive, would suggest you drain the pond and fill it with sharp sand or soil.( so it can be easily removed should anyone want to reinstate it )

Your local Koi dealer would probably revome the fish for free if you cannot do a private sale, some big Koi can be worth a lot of money.

Its way too deep to be safe as a wildlife pond etc and think you can find a better use of your garden, unless you are intent on koi keeping.

Don't mean to be alarmist, but at the age of your little ones, I would not want to risk things in any way and thats one big attractive pond with unsafe edges to them and any of their little friends.

 

I may be a bad mother, but I installed a pond when my son was little - teaching them safety and learning to swim were key anyway. He fell in once but was fine... Did same with daughter in another later house. They were always fascinated by watching the wildlife eg pond skaters, diving beetles, frogs, newts and it gave plenty of lessons in basic science.
However a koi pond is rather specialist, and often can dominate gardens anyway. I'd follow the suggestions re bog garden - though normally you need to poke holes in the liner to ensure that the water drains out - just more slowly. If you don't it just becomes a 3 foot deep mud pie.

 

Thanks a lot for your suggestions they mean a lot, actually we bought this house unplanned just bcoz of the outdoor space we wanted to give our kids and due to the pond we merely let them play outside and never left them there unsupervised! In these hot summer days they r enjoying front garden which i self enclosed so they can't get to the back yard (win win ).
Now the thing is that after 4 months I have developed love for these kois and they also got settled with me I refer myself to them as "mama is here!" And to the pigeons also, which I also inherited lolz. Can't let them go unless its bad for them or im causing harm due to my neglegence to them. @Redwing sent me google pics and I really liked one of them i'm posting it. It seems to be not so expensive, I dont know about the installation price which might raise the prices higher.
Now the question is: Is that enough of a safety?

 

@Elina your koi are lovely - and you look to have done a good job with the protection for your youngsters. Eventually you will be able to let them feed the fish and watch the wildlife...

 

Hi @Elina , i was in the same position 10 months ago. I'm nodding off now (been a long day) but will post you some advice on the koi pond keeping in the morning

 

Thats not mine thats from web

 

Looking fw for ur responce

 

Ooops! Thought the koi in picture were yours because pond was rectangular as shown earlier. Anyway, such a mesh looks pretty good (though probably expensive). How would you attach it?