Goldfish or minnows?

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Hello everyone! My new pond is getting closer to being done. I need to fish the rock work and hide the excess liner. I have a question about fish. Since my pond is so small I’m not sure if I should just get minnows. It’s about 7 ft long by 5 ft wide and 19-20 inches deep because of all the rock and gravel. I live in NM where is not too cold. Could I put 2 goldfish in there? I’m not sure how many gallons it holds. This is a great forum by the way :)
 

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Hello everyone! My new pond is getting closer to being done. I need to fish the rock work and hide the excess liner. I have a question about fish. Since my pond is so small I’m not sure if I should just get minnows. It’s about 7 ft long by 5 ft wide and 19-20 inches deep because of all the rock and gravel. I live in NM where is not too cold. Could I put 2 goldfish in there? I’m not sure how many gallons it holds. This is a great forum by the way :)
Hiya and welcome. Pretty pond - dontcha just love flagstone? If it were me I'd get some shubunkin goldfish - they're not going to over grow the pond, they can tolerate your weather and they're gorgeous :) And if they have children they should be easy to share with friends. I have a mix of shubunkins and fantails here but had some in AZ also. Oh be sure they have a place to hide as the herons WILL find you!

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Thank you for the suggestions. I plan to add a cave and a water lily for some shade. I didn’t even think about herons. We do have road runners that visit occasionally, should I worry about them? Your fish are so cute by the way!
 
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Hello everyone! My new pond is getting closer to being done. I need to fish the rock work and hide the excess liner. I have a question about fish. Since my pond is so small I’m not sure if I should just get minnows. It’s about 7 ft long by 5 ft wide and 19-20 inches deep because of all the rock and gravel. I live in NM where is not too cold. Could I put 2 goldfish in there? I’m not sure how many gallons it holds. This is a great forum by the way :)
Thank you, thank you, thank you. for not thinking koi, your chances of success have just skyrocketed. A couple gold fish with some minnows works for me start slow as the pond matures your fish population will increase on there own
 
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I've 3 koi in around 1200g, with about 7-8 goldfish. They aren't big yet though they've grown a lot this year, when they do get big I'm probably just gonna give them away or expand the pond. I would definitely go for Goldfish only if I were you, they are extremely hardy, but if you have predators adding things like caves for them to hide in is useful.

You can put a lot more than 2 Goldfish there, I'd suggest the shubunkin varieties, they have a lot of color, but just orange ones are very nice in the sun too.
 
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Thank you for the suggestions. I plan to add a cave and a water lily for some shade. I didn’t even think about herons. We do have road runners that visit occasionally, should I worry about them? Your fish are so cute by the way!
Roadrunners do eat about anything but I think your fish will be safe :) Ospreys and eagles eat fish too, but if they have a cave they'll be okay. Oh and you can grow so many cool plants in the water there!
 

j.w

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@Sage23 I love the look of the Shubunkin goldfish. So many colors and patterns, kinda like small koi. If I had it to do over I would only have them in my pond and maybe a few white goldfish and some fancy fat fantails that come in some neat patterns also. They will survive in a cold pond as members here in cold climates have them. If you have heron or other critters that will visit your pond make sure to take steps to create a safe place for your fish, otherwise fish will become sushi fastlike.
Had to put a net and short fence around my pond o_O
 
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I have goldfish, and rosie red minnows, and white cloud mountain minnows. I am also in NM!

The goldfish are the most interactive and come in so many colors I find them more interesting to watch and look for personality differences.

The white cloud minnows are pretty and I see them much more than the rosie red minnows. But it is just seeing them swimming by or grabbing food. They rarely hold still. Mine are the original colors, they also come in a white color that would stand out even more.

The rosie reds mostly hide, then they come out and dart around to get food then disappear again. So those would be lowest on my list of fish that are interesting to watch.

My original pond was close to the size of yours. It was about 4 feet by 7 feet, 18 inches at it's deepest. I thought it was 2-3 feet til I measured. I only had goldfish in this little pond. But it was 26 of them before I made a bigger pond. Now I just have 5 goldfish and 10 rosie red minnows in it. I do have a 2x3 foot by 12 inch deep bog filter and had 2 of them for a while. So that really let me have a bigger fish load. You might decide to add one. Plants will also help water quality and give fish places to hide.

I would probably start with a reasonable number for your pond like 5 and see where that goes and how many babies they make that survive. 2 sounds like too few to me. But...........I may err on the side of too many.

Be sure you have some placed for them to hide in case raccoons come fishing. That was my biggest fish loss, and I even put a fence over my pond for awhile to be sure they did not return.

An advantage to the minnows is that they do look alike so you will not be able to tell if any are taken by predators other than by counting them.
 

addy1

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Welcome to the forum!

I have a 300 gallon stock tank pond on a patio. Put fan tails only in it. Shubunkin colored. They multiple slowly, are neat to watch and get to a decent size.

They come up and eat out of my fingers.
 

j.w

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Welcome to the forum!

I have a 300 gallon stock tank pond on a patio. Put fan tails only in it. Shubunkin colored. They multiple slowly, are neat to watch and get to a decent size.

They come up and eat out of my fingers.
Love those little butt wigglers

fanny's.gif
 

Mmathis

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Totally personal preference, but I would get a couple of (or a few) goldfish. Shubunkins are very nice, and if I was starting from scratch, that would be all I would have. Minnows aren’t very interactive (Goldie’s are), and when I had them, they multiplied like crazy!
 
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Totally personal preference, but I would get a couple of (or a few) goldfish. Shubunkins are very nice, and if I was starting from scratch, that would be all I would have. Minnows aren’t very interactive (Goldie’s are), and when I had them, they multiplied like crazy!
That's why I have gone with the glow Danios they will not survive the winter population control
 
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Thanks everyone. I think I’m going with shubunkin. I will be adding water plants soon. Should I wait until next season to get fish. I would hate to add them to a new pond so late. I figure I can monitor the temperatures this fall and winter to make sure they are ok. Any thoughts? Do I need to cycle the pond like an aquarium?
 
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You can add them now, and they will help cycle your pond. I would put two in and monitor the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. Feed sparingly. The cold won’t bother them. Just don’t feed if the water temp is below 60F.
 
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Rosy red minnows are endearing, and they are perfect for someone who wants a carefree pond and doesn't want to worry about predators every hour of every day. They are inexpensive, but what's more is that predators will probably never be able to wipe them out, regardless of how badly predator-proofed any pond that houses them is. They can also survive harsh heat, cold, and low oxygen conditions.

Shubunkins? I'd advise against those and other long-finned ornamentals. They cannot cope with predation very well, and are somewhat less hardy than "common" goldfish.

Two goldfish could certainly live in a pond of that size. That isn't a small pond at all.
But I would personally recommend comets instead. They are fast, tough, and cheap enough to replace if predators finally catch up to them.

Goldfish and rosy red minnows can easily coexist, but remember that if you want a crystal clear pond, it is better to consider rosy red minnows and plants only. Minnows will munch on mosquito larvae and muck on the bottom without destroying plants, as a goldfish might.

Plants can keep the water clear of algae, so a pond isn't complete without plants of some sort, at least in my personal opinion.
 
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