Hi! I'm new and have questions.

[sylvia4]

We finally took out a 20 yr. old 1 foot deep puddle with a waterfall, mosquito fish, a water lily and tons of algae. Replaced it 1 yr. ago with a 6' x 9' x 3.5' deep garden pond with a waterfall, filters, and no shallow areas. Have 5 goldfish that are about 8" long and 6 goldfish that are about 3" long. We don't intend to get koi because there are a number of great blue herons and lots of raccoons in our area and I'm not going to supply them with gourmet food.

1.) Grandson wants to have a turtle and frogs. Where is a good place to get those? What kind should we get for him?
2.) He also wants to put bluegills in with the goldfish--will that work?
3.) Do we still need to get mosquito fish in the Spring?
4.) My husband won't let me feed the fish but once a week because he says they'll poop too much and make the water cloudy. If they finish the food in 5 minutes, is once a week enough for them?

We're in Silicon Valley, so weather is pretty mild year around. Thanx for any answers you can give me!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our forum!

The goldfish will eat the mosquitoes, if you have enough plants in your pond the gf can live without extra food, I seldom feed mine, big pond lots of plants.

Our frogs just showed up.

If feeding the fish makes the water cloudy it is a) too much food b) poor filtration. You can feed once a day without clouding up the water just don't over feed, small amounts

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome! Here's how I would answer these:

1. Turtles will not stay in a garden pond without modification - they are escape artists. If you want turtles, you need to create a fence - either the whole yard or just the pond - that they cannot dig under nor climb over. And even then - they may still escape. By their nature they move around. The turtles in our subdivision will travel several miles, from one natural pond to another, crossing through yards and over streets, especially during breeding seasons. Same with frogs - they will find your pond naturally, but they probably won't stay.
2. Bluegills may eat other fish - but really, why have them in a garden pond? Pond fish are popular because they are pretty viewed from the top down and they're social. Bluegills will likely just find places to hide in a pond and stay out of sight. They'd much rather be in their natural environment.
3. Nope.
4. Goldfish can survive without being fed at all, so that's really between you and your husband. But as @addy1 said if feeding them on a regular basis clouds the water, something isn't right.

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[j.w]

@sylvia4

Frogs will come on their own.
Not sure on having Bluegills.
Goldfish eat skeeters.............I have never seen any skeeter larvae or any adults near or in my pond.
I didn't feed my goldfish at all for the 1st few years. They did fine eating whatever they could find. Now I feed them once in awhile as I like them to come running to greet me.

 

[sylvia4]

Thanks, Everyone!

Welcome!

JRS-what kind of turtles are those? Do they stay in the water or do they wander around? Hakone Gardens has many turtles in their pond and was thinking those don't seem to wander.

 

[JRS]

The bottom is a red eared slider the top one is a peninsula cooter; both I took in after the previous owners tired of them. When outside they were in a 300 gal Rubbermaid tub with an island in the middle and a water level below the top. Too slippery for them to climb out the sides with the lowered water level. They now have to have their own enclosures since after 15 years of harmony, the slider won't tolerate the cooter anymore.

 

[Pamela Mack]

Hello everyone I'm new to the forum . Everyone I know calls me fishmom. I got a handful of feeder goldfish for my Axolotl and she became friends with just one of the feeders so when my axolotl passed away she got as big or bigger then the tank. Now she is 15in. or more and so we put her in a stock tank. She had a hard time adjusting and she has company a huge calico fantail and along with stress and getting the water right and a bout of Ick and treated her and she is on the mend and is back to eating. Its heated and I have 2 sponge filters and so far were good. I got a lot of good info here thats why I joined.Thank you for GREAT Info and kind words.

 

[Lisak1]

Hello everyone I'm new to the forum . Everyone I know calls me fishmom. I got a handful of feeder goldfish for my Axolotl and she became friends with just one of the feeders so when my axolotl passed away she got as big or bigger then the tank. Now she is 15in. or more and so we put her in a stock tank. She had a hard time adjusting and she has company a huge calico fantail and along with stress and getting the water right and a bout of Ick and treated her and she is on the mend and is back to eating. Its heated and I have 2 sponge filters and so far were good. I got a lot of good info here thats why I joined.Thank you for GREAT Info and kind words.

Welcome @Pamela Mack - your post may get overlooked here. Head over to the Introductions forum and make a new post for a proper welcome!