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fish that would be compatible in a garden pond

Started by Guest_wdon71_* , Jun 13 2008 01:37 PM

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10 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_wdon71_*

Guests

Posted 13 June 2008 - 01:37 PM

Hi, I put in a little 1,200 gal garden pond a few years ago it currently is the home of about 12 shubunkin goldfish and 2 comets sized from 2" to ~10" along with some frogs that have taken up in the plants. My wife loves the gold fish so they have to stay, but I'm interested in placing some smaller schooling natives in with them. This would serve a couple of purposes for me: 1) I enjoy watching schools of "minnows" and such dart around and 2) I could collect feeder fish for my grass pickerel.
So my question for the collective here is what is a good active fish that would be compatible with the goldfish, spawn easily, and if possible over winter as well as the goldfish (only lost one in 4 years).
I was thinking of a variety of shiner, or possibly rosie reds. I'd like something that visually would be easily seen from the surface.
Any ideas/ advice would be appreciated. Thank you,
Don

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#2 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 13 June 2008 - 02:40 PM

Hi, I put in a little 1,200 gal garden pond a few years ago it currently is the home of about 12 shubunkin goldfish and 2 comets sized from 2" to ~10" along with some frogs that have taken up in the plants. My wife loves the gold fish so they have to stay, but I'm interested in placing some smaller schooling natives in with them. This would serve a couple of purposes for me: 1) I enjoy watching schools of "minnows" and such dart around and 2) I could collect feeder fish for my grass pickerel.
So my question for the collective here is what is a good active fish that would be compatible with the goldfish, spawn easily, and if possible over winter as well as the goldfish (only lost one in 4 years).
I was thinking of a variety of shiner, or possibly rosie reds. I'd like something that visually would be easily seen from the surface.
Any ideas/ advice would be appreciated. Thank you,
Don

Sounds like you need a topminnow... other than the overwintering part, which they would likely not do in Ohio (but would be easy to bring inside) they are perfect for what you want.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#3 Guest_Newt_*

Guests

Posted 13 June 2008 - 02:53 PM

Rosy reds, or their wild-type ancestor the fathead minnow, would work well. They are tough fish and breed readily in ponds; just provide some clay flowerpots or other cave-like structures for them to lay eggs in. I don't know how many fry would survive the goldfish, but you'd probably get enough for your purposes. Gambusia also do well in ponds and are prolific breeders.

Golden shiners are probably the best bet if you want to keep a shiner, but be aware that they are large fish (similar in size to comets) and will add a good bit to your bioload. Also, you won't see much of them but dark streaks in the water.

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#4 Guest_BTDarters_*

Guests

Posted 14 June 2008 - 04:45 AM

wdon71,

Welcome to the forum! In answer to your post, I put together a "Native Fish for Ponds" slideshow just last month. You can download the slideshow from this link on the forum: http://forum.nanfa.o...?showtopic=4779. The talk is located on the third post down. Also, all of the fish I have listed in the talk would be compatible with koi or goldfish. Hope this helps!

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#5 Guest_wdon71_*

Guests

Posted 14 June 2008 - 12:22 PM

wdon71,

Welcome to the forum! In answer to your post, I put together a "Native Fish for Ponds" slideshow just last month. You can download the slideshow from this link on the forum: http://forum.nanfa.o...?showtopic=4779. The talk is located on the third post down. Also, all of the fish I have listed in the talk would be compatible with koi or goldfish. Hope this helps!

Thank you very much that was most helpful. I think I'll add the rosy reds, and I know a place I can collect some tadpole madtoms to put in. My question would be the darters, I can collect Johnny darter fairly easily and I think they'll do alright in a little pond (if I'm mistaken please correct me). That just leaves me to decide on a topminnow or killifish.

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#6 Guest_BTDarters_*

Guests

Posted 19 June 2008 - 03:06 AM

wdon71,

Sorry for the delay in replying. To be honest with you, I don't think that Johnnies would do very well in a pond. They're more of a flowing-water species. Have you thought about Least Darters (Etheostoma microperca) or Iowa Darters (Etheostoma exile)?

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

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#7 Guest_wdon71_*

Guests

Posted 19 June 2008 - 05:31 AM

wdon71,

Sorry for the delay in replying. To be honest with you, I don't think that Johnnies would do very well in a pond. They're more of a flowing-water species. Have you thought about Least Darters (Etheostoma microperca) or Iowa Darters (Etheostoma exile)?

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

Thanks Brian, though I've only found Johnnies in flowing water for some reason I thought I'd read that they could also be found in less flowing waters.

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#8 Guest_smilingfrog_*

Guests

Posted 20 June 2008 - 02:33 AM

wdon71,

I don't think that Johnnies would do very well in a pond. They're more of a flowing-water species.

I hate to contradict BTDarters on a darter subject, but as a scuba diver here in Minnesota, I see johnny darters in just about every lake that I dive. There is also a lake we go to durring our annual NANFA darter hunt to catch Iowa darters, and we catch a lot more johnnies than Iowas.
I'm saying this only to point out that johnny darters seem to do fine in non-flowing waters around here at least. I am not sure how well they would do in a small garden pond though. I imagine temperature variations would be more extreme than in a large lake, but perhaps still within their tolerance.
At any rate, they would be difficult to see, since they are kind of drab in color and tend to stay near the bottom.

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#9 Guest_BTDarters_*

Guests

Posted 20 June 2008 - 03:37 AM

smilingfrog,

Actually, now that you mention it, I did see Johnnies when I went scuba diving in Lake Michigan a few years back. I had forgotten about that.

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Owner
BTDarters
American Native Fish for
your aquarium...and more!
Web: http://www.btdarters.com
Phone: (262) 268-7489

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#10 Guest_fishyz_*

Guests

Posted 20 June 2008 - 10:44 AM

Sounds like you need a topminnow... other than the overwintering part, which they would likely not do in Ohio (but would be easy to bring inside) they are perfect for what you want.

There are topminnows that make it through the winter here. I'm sure ther are some in Ohio so he should beable to find some that would do fine.

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#11 Guest_wdon71_*

Guests

Posted 21 June 2008 - 12:20 AM

At any rate, they would be difficult to see, since they are kind of drab in color and tend to stay near the bottom.

I've been giving that aspect some thought, and I'm leaning towards only adding rosies and a topminnow of some sort. I enjoy darters and will sometime in the future set up a current tank for some, I don't think just knowing that they're in the pond and not easily being able to enjoy watching them justifies adding them to the biomass.