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OK here is my question.my dad is building
me a pretty small fish pond in our back yard. it is only going
to be like 200 gallons. It will be filtered. i just need to
know how many golfish i can put in there, and what kind or
golfish should they be? Oh! and also what kind of plants and
how many of them!
Thank you so much!
kat
Goldfish are pretty easy on the environment. You can
get away with 7 or 8 fish, remembering that they'll
spawn and you'll have to deal with the sprats. Make
sure you've got a competent filter, and give it plenty
of time to get up to speed. Introduce fish slowly, one
or two at a time, so their excretions will allow the
filter to keep up.
Any aquatic plants will be fine. One or
two water
lilies, miniature cattails, reeds and marginals like
water mint, pennywort and watercress will soften your
pond's edges and make it pretty.
Watch out for predators. Try not to give
raccoons and
herons any place to sit and wade. No shallows. Go
straight down from the edge.
Bob Passovoy
President
MPKS
Hi, Kat,
What a nice Dad you have!
I thought I would answer the "what
kind" part of your question.
Most of the long-bodied goldfish are tough
as nails. Comets and shibunkins can stand up to our climate
quite well as long as the pond doesn't freeze solid. The round-bodied
or "fancy" goldfish are much more
susceptible to infections and cold. The weirder the conformation,the
more delicate the fish.
Some club members keep roundbodies outside
in winter
successfully. My own goldfish area is somewhat
protected, but I bring my fancies inside in the fall.
The comets and 'bunkins stay out all year round. See
what works for you.
Wherever possible, feed sinking food. It
not only
helps avoid air-bladder problems with the roundbodies,
but it teaches the fish to dive when they detect
something hitting the water. Like raccoon paws. This
is good.
In the bottom of the pond, you might want
to put a
hunk of wide PVC pipe or construct a rock shelter for
the fish to use if the sun is too hot or the mammalian
wildlife is trolling for lunch.
Fancy golds often have trouble competing
with the
longbodies for food. Try feeding two places at once
if you have both kinds. Don't overfeed - a hungry fish
is a healthy fish. And when the water is below 50
degrees, don't feed at all. It's a cold-blooded
metabolism. They will make do on algae just fine if
they need to.
I wish you years and years of enjoyment!
Anne Passovoy
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