Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Pets without Feathers => Topic started by: massa on March 30, 2010, 20:38
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hi, there is a small pond on my plot, it has no fish in it at the moment just a few frogs and i was told that the previous tenants only put it in place to aid drainage to the plot, but i want to put in a few gold fish or somthing. my question is do i need a pump to oxygenate the pond or will it be ok with a few oxygenating plants as i have no power suply on the plot.
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You need to think about the water temperature in the summer, as it might be too hot for goldfish, especially without any oxygenating pump. You can get solar ones of course ;)
Generally though goldfish eat wildlife.
How big is the pond?
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its about 5 foot wide 7 foot long and 2-3 foot deep at deep end and slopes to nothing at the other.
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It probably is big enough for a few small goldfish if you want -- they will at least eat up the mosquito larvae :D
I presume you don't have access for herons, or they will gobble up your fish pretty quickly >:(
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i supose herons could get to my pond ive seen them on the local fishing ponds about 3 miles away as the heron flies! i just thought it would have been nice to have something to sit and watch!
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Just put some green garden mesh across the surface so they can get in :)
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Just put some green garden mesh across the surface so they can get in :)
think sunny meant so they can't get in :lol: :lol:
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Goldfish are fairly tough and will gulp air from the surface if oxygen gets low so a couple of small fish should be fine ,you can buy pumps with little solar panels to power them.
But..............
The herons will turn up and eat your favourite fish.
The goldfish will eat all the wildlife not just the mozzies,
They may breed and you end up with dozens of fish that you have to find homes for.
The water may turn pea soupy if you need to feed the fish and you will not see the fish anyways.
If the water is nice and clear i would leave it for wildlife, maybe put a few sticklebacks in to eat the mozzie larva.
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We had a very basic pond last year, dug a 4 meter by 2 meter hole (75 cm deep at the deepest, and with some nice shallow bits and beaches for the frogs) lined it with a bought liner, collected stones and pretty grasses and put round it. We put some old logs across some bits of it for shade and I bought some water lillies that quickly multiplied. We didnīt have any air pump as I couldnīt afford a solar powered one but we put fresh water in it every two days or so. We got several big jars of water plants and frogspawn from a friendīs pond (and there were also some crayfish babies!). Once the tadpoles were nearly grown up to frogs we got some small goldfish and they ate all the mosquitos, but I suspect they also ate the crayfish babies because we never saw them again. The frogs did well though and we also saw a giant toad that moved in himself. The water plants did well and the water stayed clear.
We are moving the pond this year to a more sheltered spot with more shade because as people say it can get too warm for the little things living in there. Iīm not sure if we will go for fish again this year as we would like to see more wildlife. But it was magical to see them swim round and round of an evening out there, they behaved totally differently to goldfish in a tank.
Good luck and enjoy your pond, youīll never look back!
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Just put some green garden mesh across the surface so they can get in :)
think sunny meant so they can't get in :lol: :lol:
Ooops. sorry :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Massa your pond is a very similar size and depth to mine, and would be fine for goldfish without any additional aeration if you keep the numbers to a sensible level (usual guide is 1" of fish per square foot of surface area; 35 inches of fish in your case)
Obviously you have to take into account the fact that goldfish can grow quite large and that they may breed, which my original 5 (now 12) did after the first year but haven't done since, probably because they are now big enough to eat their own babies for food (sad but true!)
My pond has therefore become theoretically overstocked, but have not noticed any signs of distress in hot weather; oxygenating plants help but a couple of lily plants are probably even more beneficial as they help to keep the water cool by shading the surface (pretty flowers, too!)
The pond is covered with black rot-proof netting which is nearly invisible, has so far kept the herons out, and would also stop leaves falling into the pond if there were any trees nearby.
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hi, there is a small pond on my plot, it has no fish in it at the moment just a few frogs and i was told that the previous tenants only put it in place to aid drainage to the plot, but i want to put in a few gold fish or somthing. my question is do i need a pump to oxygenate the pond or will it be ok with a few oxygenating plants as i have no power suply on the plot.
i use the solar fountain from Bradshaws http://www.bradshawsdirect.co.uk/BradshawsSite/product/Bradshaws_Sunspray_Pumps.htm
a really good firm to deal with,their advice is second to none.
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I can echo what blackbob says about Bradshaws -- always had excellent service :D
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Herons like to walk into ponds so if youve got a beach area then just put a few thin wires on canes around the pond to stop him walking in , also going back to the beach area , there a good idea to help hedgehogs get out if they walk into your pond :) ,
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Like Jay G says, you wouldnt need a pump to get in the oxygen if you used oxygenating plants, cheaper and nicer
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Like Jay G says, you wouldnt need a pump to get in the oxygen if you used oxygenating plants, cheaper and nicer
Most oxygenating plants do not produce oxygen at night and can even absorb it so a bubble pump can still be a good thing to have. Decaying plant material and dying algae will also use up oxygen.