New fish to old pond

[Murray]

Thanks so much addy1. So there are a lot of different gold fish in the store, must I make sure they are for outside pond use or can I put any gold fish in the pond ? And should I put Algy eaters into the pond as I don't have filtration ?

 

[Big Red Comet]

Hi Murray, yes nice pond and glad to hear you are bonding with your fishies! I myself was surprised to learn how aware and interactive they are - they will recognize who feeds them and Ive heard of people who actually can reach in and pet their fish!

Koi are large and rambunctious fish, that can grow almost a meter long.... so right there you can see they wont work for a 2 meter wide pond. Its a myth that fish grow only as large to fit the container. The recommendation for koi is minimum 500-1000 gal per fish and a minimum of 4 feet - they need to be able to dive and move freely for good exercise and health. Plus, its just simply more pleasant to watch fish if they can move around in a school. For goldfish its 50-100 gals per fish. A lot depends on your set up and filtration capacity though ( you don't have mechanical filtration but your plants are essentially serving the same function as a filter would. )

Comets and shubunkins are good hardy fish that are good for ponds - looks like that's what you have. They can have different unusual colors and long fins, and closely resemble a koi - except theyll only get 10-12 inches, not 36!

 

[Gemma]

I have two Shubunkins in my koi pond, they have red and blue and are just as beautiful as my koi.

 

[Gemma]

These are my Shubunkins! Most people think they're koi because they are huge!

 

[Big Red Comet]

Beautiful fishies! Do you name yours Gemma?

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks so much addy1. So there are a lot of different gold fish in the store, must I make sure they are for outside pond use or can I put any gold fish in the pond ? And should I put Algy eaters into the pond as I don't have filtration ?

Hi Murray. welcome to GPF. I lot of people think it's fun to have a lot of fish and watch them really grow, but actually it is an awful experience when the pond is too small for them. You spend all your time on the disease part of this blog trying to figure out how to save them because your water quality is bad and there is nothing you can do at that point. It's always much better to start out slow with as few and small fish as possible until you really learn about ponding and understand what bio-load your pond can handle. I would suggest to get rid of the Koi immediately and not to buy an more fish! Good luck!