Need advice, please. I am building an above ground pond (wood frame/flexible rubber liner) which will hold about 180 gallons and will be about 21 - 24 inches deep. I'm also building a biological filtration system of about 20 gallons capacity.
I'm really not sure about which fish would be best for a novice pondkeeper. I live on Long Island, NY (zone 7) and I would rather not have to take the fish
in for the winter (limited space indoors). I already have a 20 gallon indoor tank of about eight white cloud mountain minnows, and they are a dream to take care of. I was tempted to try a few small goldfish (three at the most), but I have no experience with them at all. I did some reading about them and they sound terribly messy...especially if they decide to spawn! I don't want them to make a big mess of the pond, which will be heavily planted. I really want a low maintenance fish, for visual interest and to help with the biological balance.
Can you give some suggestions as to a good, low maintenance fish to start with, that will probably survive a Long Island winter if I use a pond de-icer?
Will a pond a few inches short of 2 feet deep freeze solid in zone 7?
I'm thinking either a school of white clouds, or a few goldfish, or maybe
those rosy red minnows if I can find them. Thanks for any help!
I don't think white clouds will survive. The goldfish may do ok but grow large and if the spawn, they may over fill the pond in a few years. When spawning, they do make a mess (mine do). The rosy red minnows sound like a good option.
I'm in MD, Zone 6/7 so you're not that much colder there. If you have a de-icer, your pond should not freeze more than a few inches. The reason that's less than you think is that your pond isn't that big so the de-icer will actually heat it a lot more than a de-icer in a big pond. If you add in an air stone like I do in my 153 gallon pond, it will really keep the pond open a lot.
Check out these pages:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosies.htm http://www.fishpondinfo.com/winter.htm Thanks very much for your reply, Robyn. Your site is the BEST!
I don't think a small pond like mine could handle more than one or two goldfish full size, so I'm definitely leaning towards the rosey reds. I've seen them in my local fish store, being sold as feeders. Should I put them directly in the 180 gallon pond or since they were probably raised in less than ideal conditions, should I quarantine them first in a 20 gallon medicated tank or tub? I don't have to worry about them infecting other fish with anything, since they will be the first fish in the pond, but I'd rather not have to medicate the entire 180 gallon system. Anyway, if I do decide to get fish, I'm going to wait until the weather warms up because I think a large water temperature change will be too stressful (the outside water temperature here is still only about 55 degrees).
In your page on the rosey reds, you say they only live two years or so.
If they start breeding, there will be a mix of ages. What happens to the bodies of the old ones when they die? :unsure: Will I be constantly fishing out Gramps and Granny and having little fishy funerals? :( I'm figuring max stocking level of no more than a dozen mature 1 - 2" rosey reds at a time, what happens if they are so happy in their new home, they start to breed and there are hundreds of babies? I will have nowhere to put the extras, and I wouldn't want all the rest to suffer because of overcrowded conditions. You see my dilemma?
Aw, heck, maybe I should take the super-safe way out, and get just ONE goldfish (no chance breeding, so no danger of overstocking!). I'm just worried it would be terribly lonely. Thanks again, Robyn, for all your help.
It is likely that feeder fish will not be in good health so you can quarantine/treat them. Since you don't have other fish, it wouldn't hurt to just put them in the pond but due to the poor treatment of feeders, I'd probably treat them with medications for a week or two first.
From my rosy red page:
In October 2002, I bought 15 rosy red minnows and overwintered them in my indoor 20 gallon tub pond and treated them heavily for illnesses and parasites with Aquari-Sol (for ick and parasites), salt, MelaFix by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Maracyn by Mardel (erythromycin), etc.
I had a female fathead live 4 years. In a natural pond setting, many will be eaten by predators. Any that die of old age will be quickly eaten by the other fish and predators. I almost never find dead minnows in my pond. For example, when I cleaned it this spring, I counted out 63 live rosy reds and no dead ones. Yet, some must have died (and been consumed). I don't worry about overcrowding because I've got so many natural predators (frogs, raccoons, herons, etc.) that things always seem to work themselves out. It is almost guaranteed that the rosy reds will breed in your pond. You can do what I do and let nature take care of it or net out some each year and find another home for them. I don't do that because it's too hard for me to part with any of my "grandkids." My 153 gallon pond has 63 minnows and is perfectly fine. Some are still small (born last summer and fall) though.
You could certainly get goldfish instead, your pond is large enough for a few. One would be lonely. So, I suggest trying to get two or three adults so that they can be sexed so you know they are two girls or two boys to prevent babies. My local fish store often sells larger comets for example where males are obvious from their tubercles (white bumps on their gills). You'll pay a lot more for big goldfish though. Plus, as I've found, larger fish signal the heron to come eat them.