Cold water pond clean up crew that doesn’t eat plants or eggs ?

[Jellybean123]

Hi ,

I have been thinking of adding some kinds of clean up crew to my Rice fish pond which is kept in a garden room that stays pretty cold in Uk winters . I can’t think of anything to add that won’t eat rice fish eggs or plants but will eat left over food etc ?

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to add wouldn’t be able to be massive as the rice fish are 2-3 cm . The pond is 120 litres and very shallow but long . I could potentially removed the “cleaner” after summer ends and bring inside for winter but not ideal .

Side note I know they should be eating everything but the food Is very fine and gets everywhere .

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Actually, you don't need a cleanup crew. Just remove and replace roughly a quarter of the tank water every few days. Everything in the tank is constantly dissolving. So, by removing some of the water, you remove whatever toxins have dissolved. I have a small outdoor pond and I change out some of the water every few days to maintain good water conditions. I have probably 15 to 20 adult Goldfish that live outdoors all the time. I do heat the water in the winter, because it can get pretty cold in my part of the US.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[ClownLurch]

My patio pond has WCMMs and a solar filter/fountain. The wind blows the fountain water all over the surrounding plant pots which means it needs topping up every day.
We have a couple of water containers which are topped up every time they’re used to top up the patio pond which is basically every other day which allows the tap water to gas off.

 

[Herpin Man]

You could try Gammarus. They’ll consume dead plant matter.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

In your small pond, I'd go for inverts. Gammarus, snails. I'm a strong believer in snails, especially "pest" snails. I enjoy having them in my tanks, and they're good for the ecology..