Sunbathing Goldfish

[Ryefish]

It is GORGEOUS outside, and my goldfish are taking full advantage of it.

Even though its only April, the algae has hit us early and hit us hard. The UV light has been on for over a month now but the water is still really grubby. I am thinking of rinsing the filter sponges. We used some chemicals a few years back to get rid of some algae and it killed my new Gold Tench so we are reluctant to use anything again.

Some pics:
the pond itself (see the algae on the waterfall? )

Half black half orange

catching the rays

lots of orange

my favourite white one swimming away (she has the same tail our old male used to have, except he was orange and white lol)

The blacks and the oranges

The distortion in this pic from the water makes the fish look really stubby - one of the smaller whites

The Tench - very hard to take a pic of, ill have to catch him at the top of the pond next time (he thinks hes a goldfish, you NEVER see the other two tench):

with momma bear

We have loads of fish to re-home because we are massively overstocked (and i've been eyeing up more fish ), so if anyone in the north east, or more specifically Teesside has an empty pond and wants some free goldfish, PM me (there are restrictions on what fish are for re-homing lol ) - contemplating posting in the Classifieds section, what do you think?

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Ha your pictures are lovely.

I'd like a pond . How do you set up a pond? Do you heat it in winter? I'm really interested (I'm in Newcastle up the road so I'd assume if you heat, then I'll have to heat lol).

A pond isn't practical where I live now but I'd like one some time

 

[Ryefish]

How to set up a pond.. haha.. well... our pond has been around longer than i have. It has been moved SO many times that i actually made my mam sign a piece of paper saying that the pond was staying where it is now for the rest of her life lol! shifting around 200 gallons of water, around 60 fish, and digging 3ft deep holes each time is NOT fun!! (apart from that time i had a clay fight with my brother but thats not the point)
It started in a concrete pond and ended up being moved various times into lined holes (we filled in the concrete). Now it is back in the original pond but in a liner and half the size
Its pretty easy to set up a pond, you just need a nice weekend and need to do a lot of digging, have a large enough piece of liner, preferably a design before you start out, and the rest is just like a fish tank (de-chlorinated water, good filter, good pump, etc. etc.)

We don't heat it over the winter - i think people with Koi normally do though, but Koi eat plants and we like to have a planted pond. The waterfall we have keeps a hole in the ice when it freezes over and as long as it is over 1ft deep the fish will be happy and just stay at the bottom where its warmer.

Back at the start of the year

 

[~T~]

Lovely pond you have and great pics. Do you ever have problems with predators? My mates pond is similar though only has a few goldies and a ton of rosy minnows. Those things breed like rabbits

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Lovely pond you have and great pics. Do you ever have problems with predators? My mates pond is similar though only has a few goldies and a ton of rosy minnows. Those things breed like rabbits

My dads friend got a nice new pond....that was the first time he'd ever seen a herron bird too...the bird was nicely eating all of his fish!

I think so long as the tank is covered with netting then there should be no problem with predators.

 

[Ryefish]

Sorry, I only just noticed the replies

We used to have a massive problem with the heron. It actually swiped all of our fish yeaaars ago, and then all but 8 of our fish another year, including the largest and oldest ones we had As long as the pond is in shade and doesnt create a reflection on the surface as the sun comes up on a morning, then a passing heron won't see it.

we don't cover it with netting because the birds like to bathe in it. The neighbours cats occasionally sit on the edge of the pond and watch the fish, but i've never seen one stupid enough to try and fish a fish out

 

[simonas]

well I;m sure tyour goldfish are bathing today. its gorgeous/.

mine look so happy today you really do get the best of your pond fish on days like this

my blue orfe are looking great in the sun

 

[Ryefish]

yes they are
my Tench is quite enjoying the sun aswell. Im pretty sure he thinks hes a goldfish

 

[simonas]

funny enough the golden tench I have had for three years has been feeding at the top with the goldfish

 

[Ryefish]

Mine ALWAYS does! Im glad to hear hes not the only freak Tench in the world
He swims with the goldfish, whilst the other two tench do tench-like things, like staying under rocks etc. He also is the first to eat at the TOP of the pond, he sunbathes with his head under a lilly leaf. And he is so #40## nosey! I was testing the pond water earlier and he came right over to see what the test tube was.

He is very pretty though so i dont mind

Would just be nice to see the other two every now and again. I don't even know if they are still alive!

ETA: actually, here are some pictures of him eating dinner earlier on

you can see his butt

(im presuming he is a he btw haha)