A while back I posted because my goldfish were dying in droves (lost 10 over
the space of 3 months). Got loads of great advice from on here, and now with
a decent filter, we no longer have the ammonia problem, and the fish seem
really happy and are feeding twice a day (I only give them what they will
eat)

I was delighted a couple of months ago to see tiny babies, and now they are
big enough that they feed with the adults, and growing like crazy although
they're still brown. I figured that we must be doing something right for
them to breed, but a couple of days ago I read in a pond book that fish only
breed when their survival is threatened (that figures).

So now I have 10 adults and (around) 10 babies in a 3750litre pond. Now we
have healthier water, is it likely that they'll breed next year. I'm
thinking overstocking!

Any comments/advice appreciated.

Tracey

I actually have no problem with my numbers being kept at a health level.
The adult fish will eat the eggs and babies (otherwise you would have
hundreds of babies not just 10). I also have frogs and an occasional
kingfisher. I believe the steep sides of the pond and the plastic crates on
the bottom of the pond that the fish hide in, keep away the raccoons and
herons that were a real problem when I had sloping sides and steps on the
pond. I do not feed my fish twice a day. I only feed them once. My
population seems to go up and down but remains pretty much stable at about 4
large fish, 1 medium and a dozen or so small fish. I have one of my
original feeder fish that I had thrown in to keep out mosquitoes. For years
he/she was dark brown and hardly visible most of the time (which may be why
he/she survived to his/her ripe age). She/he turned bright orange last year
which was a real surprise. I had no idea they would change color that late
in life.

Having a memory that is not in the dimension of time I would say my pond is
about 7-9 years old. I do have what are in effect two veggie filters which
keep the water clear and the ammonia level down. Veggie filters are
extremely easy to make. You can create one by just buying an inexpensive
barrel liner at Home Depot, place it so that the drain lip is hanging over
the edge of the pond, fill with water (let sit a couple of days) then fill
with plants (water hyacinths, mint, watercress, etc), pump in water from the
pond that will overflow from the veggie filter back into the pond (make sure
the tubing from the pump goes down to the bottom of the liner). I don't
bother putting the liner in a barrel. I just stack rocks around it. You
can have as many of these as will fit, that you want to invest in (the pump
is the most costly item - I just set my pump in a bucket that is filled with
lava rock so I don't have to worry about keeping it clean), that meet your
criterion of attractive, etc.

I am not offering expert advice (for that I would rely on Dr Solo, Jan,
K30a, etc.), just passing on my experience.

DK

"Smith" wrote in message
...
A while back I posted because my goldfish were dying in droves (lost 10
over
the space of 3 months). Got loads of great advice from on here, and now
with
a decent filter, we no longer have the ammonia problem, and the fish seem
really happy and are feeding twice a day (I only give them what they will
eat)

I was delighted a couple of months ago to see tiny babies, and now they
are
big enough that they feed with the adults, and growing like crazy although
they're still brown. I figured that we must be doing something right for
them to breed, but a couple of days ago I read in a pond book that fish
only
breed when their survival is threatened (that figures).

So now I have 10 adults and (around) 10 babies in a 3750litre pond. Now we
have healthier water, is it likely that they'll breed next year. I'm
thinking overstocking!

Any comments/advice appreciated.

Tracey

Advice below sounds good to me. In fact, I'd completely spaced on barrel
filters with the lip, that would work on my lily pond till the guys get
around to putting in the "real" filter that will connect to the bottom
drain & skimmer. ;o) ~ jan

On Tue, 02 Sep 2003 17:23:55 GMT, "dkat" wrote:

I actually have no problem with my numbers being kept at a health level.
The adult fish will eat the eggs and babies (otherwise you would have
hundreds of babies not just 10). I also have frogs and an occasional
kingfisher. I believe the steep sides of the pond and the plastic crates on
the bottom of the pond that the fish hide in, keep away the raccoons and
herons that were a real problem when I had sloping sides and steps on the
pond. I do not feed my fish twice a day. I only feed them once. My
population seems to go up and down but remains pretty much stable at about 4
large fish, 1 medium and a dozen or so small fish. I have one of my
original feeder fish that I had thrown in to keep out mosquitoes. For years
he/she was dark brown and hardly visible most of the time (which may be why
he/she survived to his/her ripe age). She/he turned bright orange last year
which was a real surprise. I had no idea they would change color that late
in life.

Having a memory that is not in the dimension of time I would say my pond is
about 7-9 years old. I do have what are in effect two veggie filters which
keep the water clear and the ammonia level down. Veggie filters are
extremely easy to make. You can create one by just buying an inexpensive
barrel liner at Home Depot, place it so that the drain lip is hanging over
the edge of the pond, fill with water (let sit a couple of days) then fill
with plants (water hyacinths, mint, watercress, etc), pump in water from the
pond that will overflow from the veggie filter back into the pond (make sure
the tubing from the pump goes down to the bottom of the liner). I don't
bother putting the liner in a barrel. I just stack rocks around it. You
can have as many of these as will fit, that you want to invest in (the pump
is the most costly item - I just set my pump in a bucket that is filled with
lava rock so I don't have to worry about keeping it clean), that meet your
criterion of attractive, etc.

I am not offering expert advice (for that I would rely on Dr Solo, Jan,
K30a, etc.), just passing on my experience.

DK

"Smith" wrote in message
...
A while back I posted because my goldfish were dying in droves (lost 10
over
the space of 3 months). Got loads of great advice from on here, and now
with
a decent filter, we no longer have the ammonia problem, and the fish seem
really happy and are feeding twice a day (I only give them what they will
eat)

I was delighted a couple of months ago to see tiny babies, and now they
are
big enough that they feed with the adults, and growing like crazy although
they're still brown. I figured that we must be doing something right for
them to breed, but a couple of days ago I read in a pond book that fish
only
breed when their survival is threatened (that figures).

So now I have 10 adults and (around) 10 babies in a 3750litre pond. Now we
have healthier water, is it likely that they'll breed next year. I'm
thinking overstocking!

Any comments/advice appreciated.

Tracey





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Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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