Does the pond pump recirculate all the water or just like the top half?
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mrsclem
mrsclem
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Welcome Zuke- most goldfish are born drab brown and can sometimes take years to change colors. As far as koi are concerned, 2-3' in a few years! Unless you are willing to do some serious digging, I would stick with goldfish varieties. Goldfish can get to be 10-12". A hybrid goldfish koi can easily grow to 2'.
Ah! Good to know that we're talking 15 GOLDFISH! That's much more manageable! I know everyone thinks koi are somehow the thing to get when you have a pond, and they are beautiful. But you really need to have a pond that can manage the size or you're just asking for trouble. Goldfish can be just as beautiful and fun to watch. We have a couple of shubunkins that are nearly 8 inches long. And they come in lots of different color variations. After losing all our koi this past winter, we are sticking to a goldfish/shubunkin pond for the near future.
Your pond is around 1200 gallons if your measurements are correct. That's a great size for goldfish. You could have a whole herd of them!
Your pond is around 1200 gallons if your measurements are correct. That's a great size for goldfish. You could have a whole herd of them!
Haha my bad, I actually considered a turtle pond, not sure about that, yes maybe a little less than 1200, how much is a herd do you think?
yep no problem! And by the way my Koi are about 15 to 18 inches long in my pond. I have a big filter and a big pond.Wow! Pretty! Big goldfish! I think mine are gold fish lol, definitely not koi, I got a closer look and couldn't see any whiskers... I tried to catch one but failed, but that would explain why they didn't get as big as koi.. LOL
How many goldfish do you think my pond can hold?
Would I be able to put maybe 1 or 2 koi in it?
@Ray G @Tula Yeah I don't know what I was thinking....Thanks!
@SherrysPond Yeah I am excited! I always had thought goldfish were more of an indoor fish for some reason. How big is your koi? Sounds fun
Honestly with that many goldfish to start with I wouldn't worry about adding anymore. They will continue to grow (and control) the population in the pond. If you see spawning activity, stop feeding them and they will devour most of the eggs. The first few years we would get lots of babies. Now we have maybe one or two survive every year. In fact, you don't really need to feed them at all if you don't want - they'll find plenty to eat in the pond.
As for a turtle pond, that's a whole other ballgame. Turtles like to roam, so you have to build an enclosure that keeps them in, including not allowing them to dig their way out. It can be done, but it's definitely different than a standard pond for fish.
@Lisak1 Makes sense, would they eat algae instead of the eggs? Yeah, I just started feeding them now and again a week or 2 ago.. They had been without no food from for a year and survived just fine, I will probably feed them if I want them to get bigger right?
Yeah I have had wild turtles come in it and stay for a few days then go on their way, and they can climb really well.
Yeah I have had wild turtles come in it and stay for a few days then go on their way, and they can climb really well.
They'll eat algae, they'll eat bugs that fall in the pond, they'll munch on plant roots, they'll eat tiny microscopic things that you can't even see... they're good at keeping themselves fed! And sure, if you want them to grow faster, feed them more. But they'll only get so big. If they are 2 or 3 years old, they may be done growing. Don't feed them more than they can eat in a few minutes or the extra food will just dirty your water.
To answer your original question, if you have your pump in the skimmer which pumps to the falls box, and if your pond is deep, I found that the water at the bottom did not get circulated well. At one time I added a second pump at the bottom but currently I have an air stone placed on the bottom. How did I know that the water wasn't circulating? It was slightly cloudy at the bottom. Once I added the extra circulation, it cleared right up.
Interesting point @cas - another reason to make your pond is well aerated! We've also noted that we get better bottom circulation when the pump is turned up on the waterfall - the water hits the pond with greater force and volume and we see debris that was at the bottom get stirred up and drawn back into the water column and out of the pond.
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Some of them are around 8-10 ish inches. Hard to measure so pure guess.
It is almost 3 foot deep, but the pond is also not designed the best for water circulation. As Lisak1 stated, if your waterfall hits the pond with enough force it will help circulate the deeper water. My waterfall goes into a stream before going into the pond, so it doesn't disturb the deeper water. It's one of the things I would change if I did it all over again.