Would a 30 gallon small pond be fine for gold fish

Fray said:

If you have it in full sun in summer it will grow a lot of algae. A lot. I shade mine with some palm leaves
I have elephant ear, water reeds and bacopa. The bacopa is important (or some other floating plants) for shade and somewhere for the fish to hide. The water reeds took off straight away and keep growing. If your local Bunnings has a pond section, ask them, they're usually a pretty good help.
This is one of mine a couple of months ago. Bit messy then but you get the idea

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Fray said:

OkayAnd no water changes etc. I do nothing for mine apart from topping up the water when needed.
The fish provide fertiliser for the plants, the plants provide shade and homes for the fish.
Any algae (and you should get some) will feed the fish and tadpoles.
The fish also take care of any mosquito larvae, but if the fish have been breeding a lot I throw a small pinch of fish food in now and then.
The frogs and winter will usually take care of any over breeding.
The only negative is that it will get diving beetles in there at some point. They and their larvae will catch any slow fry and some of the tadpoles.
But it's all nature!!
This all works with small Aus native fish, gold fish are a different story.

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Fray said:

And no water changes etc. I do nothing for mine apart from topping up the water when needed.
The fish provide fertiliser for the plants, the plants provide shade and homes for the fish.
Any algae (and you should get some) will feed the fish and tadpoles.
The fish also take care of any mosquito larvae, but if the fish have been breeding a lot I throw a small pinch of fish food in now and then.
The frogs and winter will usually take care of any over breeding.
The only negative is that it will get diving beetles in there at some point. They and their larvae will catch any slow fry and some of the tadpoles.
But it's all nature!!
This all works with small Aus native fish, gold fish are a different story.

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Fray said:

With fish just go with what you can get. And plants the same, as I said I have bacopa, water reeds and elephant ears but just go with what looks good to you.
You don't need any pump unless you are doing a waterfall. The pond does not need to be filtered, the plants will use the fish waste and the fish will nibble any algae.
If it's on concrete, you can surround it with rocks and pot plants to make it look more natural.
Ribbon grass is good for that as it puts out runners with new plants. And you can prob pick some up around your neighbourhood for free!
You can put the gravel and any sand you have spare, if you get bombproof plants they'll do fine

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