Pond Fish Suggestions

[DLynn]

Hi everyone,

I have a friend with a pretty sizable pond. Not exactly sure of the size but it's about 4-5' deep in the middle, roughly 12'-15' long by 6-8' wide. The waterfall is pumped up to the top of her property (roughly 200' or so) and it flows downhill in a stream and eventually falls into the pond. It's quite exquisite. She has no fish in the pond now because the heron's like to eat them. It is currently overgrown with duck weed. It also has Lillies. As cheap as goldfish are, I'd say who cares, just keep stocking it. I've given her my extra Red Rams Horn snails, and I have some Red Cherry Shrimp I can give her. Aside from the obvious gold fish, what suggestions do you folks have here?

I saw a post that suggested local fish (minnows) which I think she'd love since she is big on sustainability. Even her landscape is sustainable (meaning she does not water it at all during summer.) My thoughts were to stock with smaller fish the herons wouldn't be so interested in.

What would you do?

 

[DLynn]

Just heard from my friend. The pond is approx. 2000-2200 gallons.

 

[Cory]

Just to be clear it would be illegal to stock native species to Washington in the pond without permits.

Gold white clouds do well in a pond year round and because they are the gold form would be viable. Also they are easy to breed.

A lot of the "shiners" could be overwintered here in theory.

With the depth of 4-5 feet deep. If the pump got turned off during the winter it would let the water stratify like a lake would. Which means the bottom of the pond would be at the earth's core temp and the top would be frozen. When the pump is on we pump the warmer water from the bottom to the top and it' mixes it cooling the entire pond.

I believe the frost line here is 18 inches or so which we are past easily and the coldest earth temp is 50 degrees,, would need to double check to be sure.

That being said that opens you up to things like Florida Flag fish, Rosy Barbs, Variatus Platies etc.

 

[ziggyzoo]

High fin algae eating Sharks are cool! Coop has some for sale now

 

[DLynn]

Ziggyzoo, those do sound kind of cool.

Aquarium Co-op, Good to know about the required permits. Would one go to fish & game for those?

 

[Cory]

I believe so yes. Usually it requires a site visit to ensure that the fish can't escape from a pond into another water source of some type. Thats what they do for tilapia etc.

 

[DLynn]

Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[Ali]

If i were in your shoes I'd probably go with goldfish. Get some drabber colors or add lots of cover so they don't all become heron chow.

I'd love to have a pond, we get so many red-eared slider turtles into the wildlife center that have nowhere to go. You can buy them as cute little babies at one inch for a few dollars, but they grow so much most people just dump them into local waterways where they compete with native species. It would be great to provide a place for them to hang out.

 

[GinnyFinny]

Hey DLynn, the similarities to your pond and ours are unbelievable in many ways. We have 2 natural ponds down below that had been there for years. The neighbor below us was a science teacher in Kingston and every school year-end, he would throw a few gold fish in the deepest ponds. I swear, that over a 15 year period, with the 1 or 2 foot layer of silt at the bottom, these goldfish have survived freezing water (even tho 4-5 feet deep), Great Blue Herons, etc. They're now almost 10" long. Sadly, we don't have frogs in the area. I really don't know what else we could stock it with - the Heron would make quick work of newbies. He gets the ducklings EVERY damn spring! We don't want to place netting over the ponds - ugly. But if you have enough mud/silt at the bottom, carp and/or goldfish will hang in there. I probably didn't tell you anything you already didn't know.

Oh, and after 18 years, our pump died today (runs water from an upper pond down the waterfall into the lower ponds. Just fought off horrific duckweed bloom - again.

Maybe Cory has some interesting suggestions!

Oh yeah, luckily the goldfish our neighbor threw in there were blackish brown, some with a little gold, but cool camouflage that the fish slowly morphed or adapted to, for survival. They've outsmarted the Herons all these years...ha!

 

[DLynn]

Hey GinnyFinny, you might be onto something there with the camouflage. I personally am of the mind, that as cheap as goldfish are...who cares if you have to spend $20 a year restocking it, ha ha. I'd be thrilled to have heron's in my yard. This pond is a friend's in Mill Creek. She backs up to a small hillside. Right now she has solid duck weed so until those goldfish eat a good majority of it, I don't think the heron's are going to see them. They'll have some time and enough cover to give them a chance to get bigger too.

 

[DLynn]

Ali, how big do those turtles get??!! Do you have to feed them or do they eat goldfish, ha ha! I agree, drabber colors.

 

[flamechica]

My grandma has a big metal bird yard ornament thing by her ponds to keep them away from her fish. If I remember right, it's because herons like to hunt alone. She also has a gazillion plants in her ponds, which probably helps with cover for the fish. Pretty much the whole top is covered in lily pads or some other kind of plants. Her ponds aren't nearly as big though.

 

[ziggyzoo]

We keep cinderblocks buried down at the bottom that our fish hide in. And lots of lily pads. We also don't feed them, we haven't fed them in years, they fully stay away from anything that comes up to te water because they are afraid from no human contact. They live off the algae and plants and what not. I have some in there about 5-6inches, beautiful fish with butterfly fins.ill try n get a pic. Also the top pond is very deep, I won't lie and say a herons never got in there, it took my 10" koi last summer( who was still used to being fed), but the deeper the pond the better. We only keep feeder babies in the bottom because it's wider not as deep. We have hardly any issue with the deep pond which has Less plants, also our pond is densely planted around the edges so there's less room to stand for a bird or raccoon, and it's best not to put a platform in the middle for any thing to stand on. I also have waterfalls and fish statues spiting in the water. I think all that helps also they make motion detector sprinklers that scare away the herons we use those too I forgot to mention this is my mom and stepdads pond, it's been running over 12 years
And one more thing.. Speaking of herrons... If you haven't seen the huge Herron nesting site in the park and ride/ old fire station parking lot in kenmore, you must go check it out!! Pretty incredible!

 

[Ali]

Red-eared sliders don't get much bigger than 12inches. They'll eat plant matter and will occasionally snack on a small goldfish. But would appreciate a pinch of turtle pellets on occasion. In the coldest parts of winter they'll require some form of supplemental heat, whether you bring them in the garage to live in Rubbermaid tubs or a little dog house with a heat bulb.

Really they're pretty low maintenance and fun pets, but people just aren't prepared for them to grow.

 

[DLynn]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! We are hoping to move within the year and our next place, we want to build a pond. I was talking with my friend more and she said the lilies and the duck weed keep the fish covered in the summer but in winter when they do dormant is when the herons would swing in and have a meal. Right now she has tadpoles so we're going to add some Red Ramshorn Snails and Cherry Shrimp. Those won't eat the tadpoles. Then we'll add some fish and we'll try to find some that aren't so shiny.

I personally like the idea of a turtle or two. That would be fun. Can you sex the turtles? I don't want babies.