Stock

[Mikey56]

Hi thank you for letting me join I'm new to ponds I have just finished a 12ft x 6ft x 2 ft pond and would like to know how many small goldfish I can have

 

[sissy]

WElcome and remember goldfish breed like crazy .You are better with fat fantails ,they do not breed much and come in lots of pretty colors and that butt wiggle swim they do is so cute

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Hi thank you for letting me join I'm new to ponds I have just finished a 12ft x 6ft x 2 ft pond and would like to know how many small goldfish I can have

What level of biofiltration is in place? What size (gph) pump does this pond use?

 

[Mikey56]

What level of biofiltration is in place? What size (gph) pump does this pond use?

I have a 6000 litre presure filter with a 5000 pump which I'm told by my local garden that I have 4000 litres in the pond

 

[Mikey56]

WElcome and remember goldfish breed like crazy .You are better with fat fantails ,they do not breed much and come in lots of pretty colors and that butt wiggle swim they do is so cute

Thanks I will look out for the wiggle

 

[IPA]

Welcome. Do you have some pictures? I like shubunkin, comets, and sarasa comets. I think a common guideline is 1 inch of fish per 10 gallons for their adult potential which is between 6 to 10 inches (larger possible); 8 is a good bet.

If the sides are straight down you'd have about 1,000 gallons so 8x1 would be 80 gallons per fish so no more than 12. I'd start with half of that and see if they spawn. If the sides are sloping then less water so less fish.

If you do go with the wiggles don't mix comet body fish as the single tails will outcompete the fancies for food.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group! I have mainly shubunkins, love their colors.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I have a 6000 litre presure filter with a 5000 pump which I'm told by my local garden that I have 4000 litres in the pond

What type of filter media is used in the biofilter?

 

[Spartamets]

My fantail is one popular lady. They definitely breed, too. A lot.

 

[sissy]

My fantails have never had babies .Been in the pond since 2005

 

[CometKeith]

Hi and welcome! Another way you can look at your pond is surface area. I know Meyer Jordan is going to hate this ...... but with average filtration you can have 1 inch of medium size fish (3-5 inches) for every sq foot of surface area. So if you have 72 square feet of pond area you could have a max of 72 inches of fish. So divide that by 4 inches would be a max of 18 fish each 4 inches. The only thing is fish grow so you can't start out at that level. Starting with around 6 fish would probably make sense, but in a few years with them growing and having babies you might need to dig a larger pond! Also if it is a new pond don't add more than a couple fish in the beginning until the pond cycles. You will see the algae clear up when it cycles and the good bacteria will be able to breakdown the fish wastes into less harmful components. Good luck!

 

[sissy]

Always save your pond water if you build a new pond or if you add a new pond try and add some of your pond water to it and some of your filter material .Each time I rebuilt I saved as much water as possible

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Meyer Jordan is going to hate this ...... but with average filtration you can have 1 inch of medium size fish (3-5 inches) for every sq foot of surface area.

Nope, don't hate it, just disappointed
What @CometKeith has posted is just another variation of the old' inches per square foot' rule of thumb, only he does delineate a fish size range. Even so, this 'rule of thumb' is riddle with problems.
First of all the unit of square foot means absolutely nothing unless a depth measurement is also included. Big difference in volume of water as depth increases.
Secondly, even with this 3 - 5 inch fish size delineation, the rule of thumb falls apart. A 5 inch fish has nearly five (5) times the weight/mass of a 3 inch fish which means that the 5 inch fish will produce 5 times the Ammonia daily.
Thirdly, what is average filtration?
It has been shown that, without question, the only true means of determining stocking levels of a pond is total fish mass/total SSA. There must be sufficient biofilm (nitrifying bacteria) present to oxidize the Ammonia (and NItrite) produced by the extant fish mass. Square footage alone will not address this.

 

[sissy]

plus you add in babies .I feel it is better always to be under stocked because we know what will happen they will grow and make babies .At least if you are under stocked you can enjoy the first couple of years of watching the babies grow ,after that not so much