Pond fish growth rate.

[dieselplower]

I have had my 1600 gallon pond for about a year now. Before that I had my goldies in a 250 gallon preformed pond. The growth rate the first and second year was pretty good. This year I am very disappointed. The fish dont seem to be getting any bigger. I have been feeding them until they stop eating once a day. The food is nothing special, a mix of bags of pond fish food from Meijer (like Walmart kinda). Are these fish past their fast growing stage. Is the "generic" food possibly limiting their growth? Should I feed twice a day and plan to clean the filters more often? I dont need the biggest fish ever but they dont seem to get over that 6" hump. Oh by the way, these are all fish out of the feeder tank except 2 Shubunkins and 2 Koi. About 30 fish total.

 

[Carolyn22]

Diesel -

30 fish in a 1600 gallon pond seems like a lot to me. The larger the fish grow the more waste they are going to put out and thus, the more water filtration you will need....

I don't know about goldfish - I had them so many years ago. I do know the koi will grow at a faster rate in the first couple of years and after that, the rate of growth slows down.

 

[dieselplower]

I agree it is a lot. They have gone and multiplied on me the little devils. It seems like 20 gallons per goldfish in a tank is the norm and my pond fish have about 50 Gallo s each so I hope I am ok. I do plan to make the pond "bigger" by increasing the depth of the more shallow areas. Once I get that done it will be close to 2000. Thanks for the comments

 

[shakaho]

Goldfish typically reach half their ultimate length at about 18 months. Growth after the first two years is typically slow, and by five years, extremely slow.

 

[dieselplower]

Goldfish typically reach half their ultimate length at about 18 months. Growth after the first two years is typically slow, and by five years, extremely slow.

Well, that's disappointing! I want some beefcakes in my pond! Thank you for the info.

 

[Carolyn22]

Goldfish typically reach half their ultimate length at about 18 months. Growth after the first two years is typically slow, and by five years, extremely slow.

I didn't know this -

Diesel, how big are your goldies? I know you mentioned 6 inches - is that for your goldies or koi? Sounds about right for the koi. I know the goldfish don't get as large as koi - perhaps 10-12"

 

[dieselplower]

The biggest goldfish are about 6". The older of my 2 Koi is about 5" and the younger is about 7". The younger one was kept inside all Winter though. Both Koi are younger than the goldfish and rapidly outgrowing them, which would be expected.

 

[Jason]

My goldies have grow a lot in the last year since I got them out of the 10 for $1.00 1" tank at petsmart lol, They hardly grew over last winter but they are about 5-6" right now.

 

[GreatDanesDad]

It is so different in the cold vs the heat. I put one month old butterfly koi fingerlings in my pond on May 5th and as of Aug 5th they are between 8-10 inches long. I have 1800gallons, a 3000gph pump and there were 8 fingerlings and two 26+ inch koi for a total of 10 fish. I feed three times a day as much as they can eat in 7 min. My water temperature is 90 degrees. I tried to attach pics to show the big 26in fish that I first got. All the other fish in the pond were just 2in fingerlings as of early may, now look how big they are compaired to my adults.

 

[Legend]

I agree it is a lot. They have gone and multiplied on me the little devils. It seems like 20 gallons per goldfish in a tank is the norm and my pond fish have about 50 Gallo s each so I hope I am ok. I do plan to make the pond "bigger" by increasing the depth of the more shallow areas. Once I get that done it will be close to 2000. Thanks for the comments

Be careful about shallow areas. Raccoons will eat your fish. I had some shallow areas in my pond. A Raccoon ate them all. I eliminated the shallow areas. Good luck

 

[Mmathis]

@Legend This is a very old thread.