Before Fish are Added to a New Garden Pond

A word of caution to the proud brand new garden pond  owner  I realize your eager to get your garden pond fully finished by adding fishy inhabitants to it, eager for it to become the wonderful colorful  garden focal point and the key feature of your garden decor palate , but please wait a while .Plain tap water and the new materials used in the construction of the garden pond create a hyper clean and therefore very unnatural environment for pond  fish. If you add them now at least some are likely to die through shock. Ideally before adding pond fish  the garden pond should be allowed to mature . It should of been running ,and planted with what ever pond  plants you decided upon, and the pump and filter running for at least a couple of weeks, preferably a month, before fish are added.

One way of speeding up this aging process is if you have a friend or neighbor who has an already established garden pond you might request that you swap or exchange some of your brand new filter media from your filter for some of his used media that will contain beneficial pond bacteria that will start your pond on its way to being balanced. It is also possible to purchase on the net or from many garden centers beneficial bacteria to add to your garden pond filter system ,that will start  your new garden pond well on its way to being the fully balanced mini ecosystem that it should be to be a healthy home for your pond  fish.

First Fish for A Garden Pond.

For  a new garden pond it is always my personal  practice to start off with a dozen feeder fish or half a dozen of the cheapest pond  fish  I can find, as a means of testing the pond water. Be aware if going the feeder fish route that feeder fish are not the healthiest of fish in the first place so expect to lose some, as they are bred for food purposes for larger predator fish and other creatures and you are in general bound to lose between 20% to 50% even if your garden pond is perfectly balanced . But because they are often not the healthiest of fish ,and also sold at a more juvenile stage than other goldfish ,they are more  likely to sec-come to any abnormalities  in the water quality of your garden pond and therefore act as a great barometer for the health of your  pond water. Just like as in days gone by, it was common practice for miners to take canary’s down the pits with them, as the birds were susceptible to even the smallest quantities of lethal mine  gases. Feeder fish will act as your  pond canaries, it is not advisable to add expensive large goldfish or koi to a new pond before it has been tested with less expensive pond fish. If the pond is not correctly balanced for fishy life you will find all the feeder fish  floating within the first couple of days, if you have any left at the end of a two week period you may consider your pond ready for the addition of more expensive pond fish.

Pond Fish Should Be Added a Few at a Time to a New Garden Pond.

When the time is right to add fish to your garden pond add them gradually over a period of weeks, monitoring the water quality at every stage. water test kits can be bought from most garden centers a pond water test kit should definitely be part of your garden pond keepers tool kit.  A garden pond is a living ecosystem where the poisonous waste excreted by pond fish and other creatures in the garden pond must be broken down by beneficial bacteria in the pond and filter system this must occur at the same rate at which it is being produced. It takes time for the beneficial bacteria living in the filter system  to react to an increased amount of waste from new pond fish so if too many new fish are added too quickly the toxic waste builds up too quickly for the bacteria to break it down  , making the garden pond very unhealthy place for the fish , which will stress your  pond  fish possibly  leading to  disease or death.

Now for the Exciting Part, What Fish can You Add to Your Pond.

If when you built your garden pond you you did not have keeping koi in mind it is not advisable that you purchase the expensive koi fish as chances are they will not be very long lived in a pond that was not designed with them in mind. If your pond is koi friendly there are still some aspects to be considered  for example koi require way more maintenance than goldfish.

Koi or Goldfish

GOLDFISH                                        KOI Better suited to small garden Need much bigger ponds usually ponds under 500 gals of water at least 4ft in depth the bigger the garden pond is the better for koi It is generally believed that Goldfish Koi will just grow and grow regardless of the size of the pond in which they live habitat but I am not sure some if the pond is too small they will soon of my goldfish have gotten very over crowd each other big indeed but then again mine was a very big pond Goldfish will live harmoniously Koi will wantonly destroy pond plants  just with pond plants for for something to do On average pond goldfish Koi if housed well regularly live to 25 if well cared for live to around and 30 years if cared for properly but 10 years but its is possible though have the potential for living to be over extremely rare for them to live as a hundred  years old if they are long as 40 years really happy in their environment goldfish as a rule do not get bigger Full grown koi usually reach 30 in in than 10 to 12 inches in length length or more in some types Goldfish breed if conditions Koi won’t breed until they are 3 to 4 are right in their second season years old.They are usually 18 to 24 in length Goldfish are not incredibly Koi are particularly fussy over fussy about pond water quality water quality and their health will suffer considerably if they don’t get it Goldfish are inexpensive garden koi particularly Japanese koi can pond fish be very expensive

Goldfish and  koi are cold water pond fish  both Goldfish and koi are members of the carp family, but they differ from each other in size and in the fact in that goldfish lack  barbels around their mouths. This  allows them to be immediately distinguished at a glance from young koi.

Goldfish  come in a variety of colors much larger than their name implies. They are suitable for both ponds and home aquariums, there are fancy types of goldfish that have been bred just to enhance one particular physical characteristic such as goggle eyes or fancy tails however this selective breeding compromises  their hardiness, making them ill suited to outdoor pond life.

 

Gold Fish Suitable for Your Garden Pond From left to right :-

Common goldfish
Comet goldfish (these are my favorite they are far more graceful and attractive  in appearance than any other pond fish yes even koi)
Shubunkin come in regular and comet varieties
Sarasa comet a really beautiful fish
Fan tailed goldfish *
Wakin Goldfish a great little pond fish but sometimes hard to find.

*Fan tailed goldfish although a fancy goldfish and I strongly recommended  not to include fancy goldfish in outdoor garden ponds as generally they will not survive. But I believe the fantail to be the exception although with their fat little egg shaped bodies they don’t move though the water at quite the speed of  sleeker bodied fish do for food they manage well enough .A friend had tank fish she wished me to adopt as her son was not taking care of them as he should, and asked could she put them in the pond .I had expected her to give them to me to put in the pond but to my shock and dismay one day I arrived home to find I had two new comets a Sarasa and two fan tails., swimming in my pond .I say shock and dismay because you as a pond keeper you should learn that all new pond fish no matter what their source should be quarantined before being added to the fish community in your  own garden pond .The fantails survived several winters and I would think would still be living to this day but a 4 years ago I lost all but my baby fish to a very severe Canadian winter that caused my pond to freeze almost completely solid.

Koi for the Garden Pond

There are a huge variety of different types of pond koi with so many different names and marking way too numerous for me to mention here It is generally considered that there are thirteen separate   Koi classifications , each possessing  one or more types in each class .
Here are the classifications and some of their types. This is by no means a complete list. even if I knew them all which  I don’t claim to be a koi aficionado or even a great lover of koi.

Other Garden Pond Fish

If you are lucky enough to live in warmer climates of Florida or California or any other places where water doesn’t  freeze in the winter  you may try

Bitterlings and Mosquito Fish

Bitterlings
This type pond fish is great as they feed on mosquitoes  and other insect larvae including the parasites that often infest garden koi  Bitterlings have gold and silver bodies with pink or blue tails
Bitterlings  need  at least thirty gallons of water, and love rocks to hide in.

Mosquito Fish

Also only suitable for ponds in areas of milder winters and as its name implies they eat mosquitoes and mosquito eggs often significantly reducing mosquito populations in the pond and garden so is therefore a very worth while pond inhabitant . They belong to the same fish category as the “guppy”They are pale silver in  color, with slender  long bodies, they enjoy  plant cover in order to catch  mosquitoes.

Golden Orfe

Orfe a rare find in North America as I did own several for a few years until the “big pond freeze” they make  very lively additions to the garden  pond. Living primarily in the upper strata of the pond, the Golden Orfe is a  shoaling pond  fish ,with a sleek body, so you need to purchase at least half a dozen for them to be content ,the Orfe is capable of jumping clear out of the pond in its hunt for flies or mosquitoes  so it is better that your pond is not netted . Orfe need slightly higher standards in pond  water quality than  goldfish, but will live happily in a  garden pond with lots of surface area. They are also likely to be the first  pond fish to show a changes in behavior should water quality start to decline. These pond fish if you can find them are a worth while pond investment ,as unlike goldfish when temperatures become too warm dive to the cooler areas of the pond with Orfe you always have fish to watch

Rosy Red Minnows:

Rather like a miniature version of the Orfe in appearance, the Rosy Red  is a useful pond addition as it consumes vast amounts of mosquito larvae these too are  a shoaling fish so should be bought in small groups. Rosy Red males can  become very territorial around  breeding time, Rosy Reds like  Goldfish and koi are members of the carp family and one of only a few  carps that display aggressive behavior however because of their diminutive size it isn’t an issue .  These little pond fish feed on mosquito larvae and  other tiny insects  they love exploring tight nooks and crannies behind rocks and prefer a  well-planted pond.

All cold water pond  fish for sale at aquarium stores  will most likely all to be compatible with each other as far as aggressiveness  goes. However, there may be certain issues relating to a particular pond fish’s  suitability to a  specific pond size or conditions. Shopping for fish for the garden pond can be a most enjoyable expedition, especially when you are lucky enough to find a supplier that stocks  many varieties from which you may make your selections. Happy pond fish shopping.