How many fish for new pond?

[texmaster]

Hi guys,

Now that I've got the pond up and running the last week I'm ready for the fish. I'd like to go cheap and get all small ones unless a variety of sizes is needed.

Thoughts?

Pond is 10x12 3 feet deep.


Night vision! (still working on the light placement)

Day vision if needed

 

[dieselplower]

I like to stock my pond at 1 fish per 50 gallons. Keeps the maintenance low.
Looks great by the way!

 

[HTH]

Am I the only one who thinks there is too much water movement for goldfish.

 

[capewind]

Morning Tex ... What kind of fish do you want to have? If you are planninng to have any GF, I would start with them, over koi, as they are obviously cheaper. Dont waste your time or pennies on feeder GF ...

Your pond should be about 2500-2700 gallons, so you do have room for a few, but add them slowly. For a KOI pond, I use the formula of needing 1000 gallons for the first Koi, and then for each additional Koi, you need an additional 200-300 gallons .. If Koi only, that would allow for about 8 koi ...

My "made up number" for GF is to replace one Koi with 5-6 comets. shubunkins, etc ... Half a dozen GF should put less load on the pond, then one full grown Koi, but I am leaving some "room" for GF multiplying and time to decide to keep a few, or find the babies homes ...

Unless you already have fish on hand that need to be moved ASAP, I would wait 2-4 weeks from time of filling to adding fish. Then test to make sure all is well .. Dont know what is in your tap water ... If tap water is fine, you really just need to make sure your PH/KH is off to a good start. If all is well, I'd add half a dozen GF that you like ... wait a month, then add a few more ...

 

[capewind]

Am I the only one who thinks there is too much water movement for goldfish.

I didnt catch that ... I have no idea ... at the very least it may cause some visibility issues for watching the fish ...

 

[texmaster]

Whoops sorry about that. I only plan to stock it with Koi

 

[texmaster]

Morning Tex ... What kind of fish do you want to have? If you are planninng to have any GF, I would start with them, over koi, as they are obviously cheaper. Dont waste your time or pennies on feeder GF ...

Your pond should be about 2500-2700 gallons, so you do have room for a few, but add them slowly. For a KOI pond, I use the formula of needing 1000 gallons for the first Koi, and then for each additional Koi, you need an additional 200-300 gallons .. If Koi only, that would allow for about 8 koi ...

My "made up number" for GF is to replace one Koi with 5-6 comets. shubunkins, etc ... Half a dozen GF should put less load on the pond, then one full grown Koi, but I am leaving some "room" for GF multiplying and time to decide to keep a few, or find the babies homes ...

Unless you already have fish on hand that need to be moved ASAP, I would wait 2-4 weeks from time of filling to adding fish. Then test to make sure all is well .. Dont know what is in your tap water ... If tap water is fine, you really just need to make sure your PH/KH is off to a good start. If all is well, I'd add half a dozen GF that you like ... wait a month, then add a few more ...

Thank you!

 

[texmaster]

I like to stock my pond at 1 fish per 50 gallons. Keeps the maintenance low.
Looks great by the way!

Well I listened to you guys and overdid on the filter, UV, pump and skimmer

Thats an Ultima 4000 and 55UV light

 

[Jason]

Im no Expert, But I have 8 fish in my 450 Gallon Pond (4 Commons, 1 Comet, 1 Fan Tail, 1 Shubunkin, and my newest member is a 4'' Koi) along with a Bunch of baby bull frogs running and swimming about and that seems to be doing good and my water stays clear. I have a 2.5 Gallon Mechanical Pressurized 13wUV filter that I bought off E-bay for $50 and is doing a Awesome job over the last few months but I do clean the pads about twice a month lol

 

[addy1]

Nice looking love the waterfalls.

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
To add to Capewinds advice witch is great advice by the way.
Don't add the fish all at once you want to build the beneficial bacteria as you go and let the pond cycle.
so add 3 or 4 fish then a few more then a few more I would say maybe every 10 days or 2 weeks.

Nice looking pond

Ruben

 

[texmaster]

I'll do that thanks guys

 

[fishin4cars]

Nice filter system, Is there going to be additional filter media in the falls or somewhere else for Bio-filtration? The Ultima is a great mechanical filter and does a superb job at removing fine particles out of the water, But it isn't a great choice for bio-conversion. IMO the addition of a shower filter would be a great Bio-conversion with minimal expense. If the filter falls has matala, bio-balls, or similar filtration media your system should be plenty to handle some really large fish. I usually try and completely balance all the water before starting to add new fish. I can usually balance the water once it's been up and running for 48 hours and once it's balanced I'll still monitor for a few days to make sure it stays stable. Then there is two choices, adding ammonia directly to the pond and monitoring the cycle. Or you can still go the route of adding fish and hope the fish can handle the stress of the cycle. If you decide to use fish, I don't use any I don't want to risk losing. 2-3 6-10" fish should be plenty to start the cycle, once the pond has completely cycled and a again stablised then add one every two weeks or more apart. Max # of koi I would try and keep would be MAYBE 12 small to medium. This will allow more room for them to reach their potential size. 6-8 24"+ fish will be a lot of load so going big is in the filtration area is not going to be a bad idea at all. NIce job BTW!