New Goldfish For Inexperienced Pond Keeper

[ShinySideUp]

I have just rescued seven goldfish from a couple who are moving house and the new owner wants to fill the pond in, they have gone into my pond OK so far but I don't know how much to feed them. There is no filter (I have no power in my garden) so I can't overdo the feeding; the pond is very mature, just not with fish. I haven't had pond fish before but it was either I take them or the owners put them down.

 

[BiggTexx]

Do you have any water readings?

 

[Byron]

I have just rescued seven goldfish from a couple who are moving house and the new owner wants to fill the pond in, they have gone into my pond OK so far but I don't know how much to feed them. There is no filter (I have no power in my garden) so I can't overdo the feeding; the pond is very mature, just not with fish. I haven't had pond fish before but it was either I take them or the owners put them down.

 
In summer there will be some natural food, but when I had goldfish in my pond i fed them basic goldfish flake/pellet food.  Every day, much the same as my tropicals indoors, but not much food recognizing the natural too.  In winter I never fed them, and the pond froze over a few times.  In your case the goldfish are presumably going into a previously fish-less pond which may not have much in the way of edible matter (leaves, plant bits, microscopic or small critters, etc), so I would feed them but sparingly.  Natural food will be minimal or non-existent, depending upon your weather.
 
Byron.

 

[Baccus]

I would mainly be worried about how large/ deep your pond is and can it house 7 goldfish. I know my 1000L pond has a tendancy to fill up with leaves from surrounding trees which can severly reduce the available water/ swimming area for my goldfish. That and a water lily which tends to grow like crazy in summer plus elodea which manages to out grow my goldfishes ability to eat it.
No power to the pond shouldnt be a problem provided your pond has plenty of plant life, but I would watch for any ammonia peaks. If your pond tends to get hot in summer I would look at either shading it or adding an airstone somehow to increase water movement, goldfish really suffer in warm water.
As for food, in warm weather the goldfishes metabolic rate will be increased, so even though there should be live foods such as insect larva naturally occuring in the pond some supplimentary feeding wont go astray. In cool weather the fishes metabolic rate slows so feeding can either be missed entirely or greatly reduced depending on your climatic conditions.
Food wise I have not found goldfish to be fussy, although generally pellets are advised for goldfish, since they have a tendancy to ingest a lot of air when gulping flake foods from the surface. This air ingestion has been blamed on heath issues in goldfish, but I have not had problems feeding my goldfish flake foods.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Do you have any water readings?

 
I'll get some at the weekend.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I would mainly be worried about how large/ deep your pond is and can it house 7 goldfish. I know my 1000L pond has a tendancy to fill up with leaves from surrounding trees which can severly reduce the available water/ swimming area for my goldfish. That and a water lily which tends to grow like crazy in summer plus elodea which manages to out grow my goldfishes ability to eat it.
No power to the pond shouldnt be a problem provided your pond has plenty of plant life, but I would watch for any ammonia peaks. If your pond tends to get hot in summer I would look at either shading it or adding an airstone somehow to increase water movement, goldfish really suffer in warm water.
As for food, in warm weather the goldfishes metabolic rate will be increased, so even though there should be live foods such as insect larva naturally occuring in the pond some supplimentary feeding wont go astray. In cool weather the fishes metabolic rate slows so feeding can either be missed entirely or greatly reduced depending on your climatic conditions.
Food wise I have not found goldfish to be fussy, although generally pellets are advised for goldfish, since they have a tendancy to ingest a lot of air when gulping flake foods from the surface. This air ingestion has been blamed on heath issues in goldfish, but I have not had problems feeding my goldfish flake foods.

 
 
The pond is about two and a half feet at it;s deepest and I would guess it contains around 800 litres; it is seven feet across at it's widest point. The fish were kept in a four foot by four foot artificial pond that was about two feet deep and the original owner still has about six large goldfish left. I am going to get a solar aerator this week so that in the summer months I can keep the water moving.
 
Byron: Although the pond has previously been fishless, it is over twelve years old and has more aquatic life than I can shake a stick at -- newts, frogs, waterboatmen, dragon-fly (larva and adults), etc., plus various plants (although I did have a clean-out a few weeks ago because the water-iris were becoming too large.
 
The fish are no more than four inches long as I took the smaller ones that the previous owner had. I said that if these do ok over the next week I might come and take the rest but I am thinking my pond is not deep enough especially as the other fish are over six inches and one of them is quite a fat fantail.
 
The problem is that I know that I am the fishes last chance to find a home before the owner of the rest is forced to take drastic action with the remaining large ones. Do I take the rest and hope I can keep them all healthy or stay with the seven I've got and abide by the maxim ' you can't save everything'?

 

[BiggTexx]

The problem is that I know that I am the fishes last chance to find a home before the owner of the rest is forced to take drastic action with the remaining large ones. Do I take the rest and hope I can keep them all healthy or stay with the seven I've got and abide by the maxim ' you can't save everything'?

 
My response may not help, but I would do everything possible to help keep them healthy and also keep in mind you can't save everything; i.e. I would take all that you could effectively care for and try to re-home some at the same time.  Do you have a LFS that would take them, not necessarily for resale, but possibly for a display tank?
 
In the end, euthanasia may be some of their best bets, rather than the alternatives.

 

[Munroco]

Why not try them and see, If they end up gasping at the surface then you have too many in your pond, but it sounds a decent size pond and could well accomodate them all. They don't use as much oxygen at this time of year, and your plan for a solar aerator sounds good. If all else fails you can post them to me

 

[ShinySideUp]

 

The problem is that I know that I am the fishes last chance to find a home before the owner of the rest is forced to take drastic action with the remaining large ones. Do I take the rest and hope I can keep them all healthy or stay with the seven I've got and abide by the maxim ' you can't save everything'?

 
My response may not help, but I would do everything possible to help keep them healthy and also keep in mind you can't save everything; i.e. I would take all that you could effectively care for and try to re-home some at the same time.  Do you have a LFS that would take them, not necessarily for resale, but possibly for a display tank?
 
In the end, euthanasia may be some of their best bets, rather than the alternatives.

 

 
No, I'm sure they will already have tried the commercial solution so it's my pond or no pond.
 

Why not try them and see, If they end up gasping at the surface then you have too many in your pond, but it sounds a decent size pond and could well accomodate them all. They don't use as much oxygen at this time of year, and your plan for a solar aerator sounds good. If all else fails you can post them to me

 
I think I will give them the chance. The ones I have already taken seem to be surviving ok so I'll wait until the weekend, if all is still OK I'll take the rest and see how it goes.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies.