Like living in a koi bowl

Nick Rifkin and his wife built their Trinity home and the fish, handpicked in Japan, moved in with them and in view of them.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF, Times Correspondent
Published November 19, 2007

Nick Rifkin and his wife, Judith, keep watch Wednesday over three of the nearly two dozen koi fish in a spectacular 16,000-gallon custom pond behind his home in Trinity. Rifkin enjoys collecting his fish so much, he is even planning an underwater "koi cam."
	[Stephen J. Coddington | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Stephen J. Coddington | Times] Behind Nick Rifkin's five-bedroom, 5,200-square-foot home in Trinity is his pride and joy: a 6-foot-deep koi fish pond. [Stephen J. Coddington | Times] Nick Rifkin hand feeds a few of the nearly two dozen koi fish in the 16,000-gallon pond on Wednesday afternoon. [Stephen J. Coddington | Times] Smaller fish glide beneath the surface of a secondary pond, complete with lily pads and flowers.

TRINITY - Nick Rifkin loves koi the way some people love gardening. Walk in the front door of his house and the view is all pond, lake and sky. Peer beneath the pond's surface and you can see the colors of his fish blooming like flowers: deep orange, yellow, white and red.

When a slant of late afternoon sunlight glances off the water, their colors turn even more brilliant, almost as if they were created at the hand of an artist.

The view of the pond is so breathtaking, it inspires: Think Monet's Giverny in Pasco County.

"I spend an inordinate amount of time watching my fish - it's a peaceful, calming, tranquil experience," explains Rifkin, who keeps a pocket guide on hand listing the names of his prized fish: Hikari Moyo, Kawarigoi, Goshiki, Showa, Koromo.

The 6-foot-deep, 16,000-gallon pond designed by Pondscapes - a South Tampa store that specializes in custom ponds - is Rifkin's dream.

The beautiful fish are his passion.

He owns nearly two dozen koi, all personally handpicked on trips to Japan with Pondscapes owner Michael Jones.

His pond features a waterfall, a quarantine pond and a biological filtering system. The fish have grown so big that Rifkin's wife, Judith, whips out a measuring tape.

The biggest fish, she notes, is 24 inches. Some weigh as much as 16 pounds.

These are no ordinary goldfish, mind you.

Rifkin jokes that they sold their home in Heritage Springs and built their custom 5,200-square-foot home in Trinity's Mirasol community just to accommodate their screened-in dream pond.

"I guess you could say the pond is at least the size of a swimming pool," says Rifkin, who began raising fish as a child in Chattanooga, Tenn., when his father gave him an aquarium.

Rifkin, 62, is affable, Southern and retired as a builder of luxury second homes in a Vermont ski town. The Rifkins first started coming to Pasco as winter residents and eventually moved to the area after Rifkin retired.

"You should have seen our last pond," Judith explains. "It was really cool. Very Indiana Jones. It had an archaeological look with relics and artifacts."

Before that, the couple had a 3-acre trout pond in Vermont. Rifkin had to scuba dive to see his fish.

He has gone diving just once in the current pond, to build an island for a bonsai plant. But he has plans to install a "koi cam" so he and Judith can watch the fish on closed-circuit TV anytime they want.

Though they really won't need it.

Two-thirds of the house faces the pond, through the kitchen windows, from the second-floor balcony, from the living room.

The five-bedroom house, although comfortably spacious, is just right for two people. It's filled with books Judith is a prolific reader, artifacts the pair has brought back from their Asian journeys, and lots of art, including a large wooden sculpture of a fish, and a Japanese koi painting that hangs by the front door.

"My friend jokes that the house is already well-lived in," says Judith, who converted two upstairs rooms into a crafting area and exercise room. The Rifkins converted the main room upstairs into an airy, light-filled art gallery for original paintings and sculpture.

Judith discovered the lot in Trinity in 2005 after playing golf at Fox Hollow Country Club with a Realtor friend and taking a drive around Trinity. The lot, which overlooks a small spring-fed lake as well as the 15th, 16th and 17th holes of the Fox Hollow course, features blissful postcard views.

From certain angles you see nothing but natural grasses, water and sky - no other houses.

"I just stood here and said, 'This is it!'" she recalls.

They installed natural looking Berber rugs and hardwood floors throughout.

The large kitchen and great room - which features high-backed wicker and bamboo sofas as well as a life-size portrait of Gandhi, is ideal for Judith, who loves to cook and entertain.

Though the house is patterned after a Costanza model home, it's so customized it has become the Rifkins' own particular model.

You might call it the koi house.

Still, Rifkin jokes, he's not going to get too comfortable: His dream for the pond? To get it finished and move on to building another pond.

"That means we'll have to build another house," he says, smiling.

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

[Last modified November 18, 2007, 21:52:53]