My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

I'll push the warmer weather up your direction, Keith! Supposed to be sunny and 50's today and tomorrow. Yesterday they were talking possible bad storms on Sunday, now it only says 40% chance. Best news is warming up to 60's and 70's early next week! Woohoo!

 

[sissy]

yep seems like spring is fighting to take over ,all my trees have blossoms on them so hoping for some good fruit this year .I even have well not sure but the pussy willow has tons of pink and white fluff on them .I think I'm going to try and get 2 more of the weeping ones this year as they are so pretty .The weeping cherry buds are ready to open .I can see a little pink .This is the first year for them as I planted them last year ,late in the season .

 

[herzausstahl]

Herz, There is a restaurant that serves beer in those things in South Beach. We were there around the first of the year and people were drinking out of them. I wonder how many ounces it holds? and could it be used for a goldfish? That would have been neat if that was part of the video!

the website says they are 48 oz and the cost is $14.99, would be cool for a goldfish or beta, never thought of that. i like beer, but probably wouldn't fill that to drink out of.

We had two days of 60 degree weather and all the ice finally melted. I looked at the pond just before dark and I saw a couple fish. Today it was back in the 30's again. burrrr.

sounds like the weather we had, surprised you weren't at least 5 degrees warmer than us

 

[addy1]

We hit 70, dropping again tomorrow, but the fish sure are chasing.

 

[CountryEscape]

Tell me again the temperature of the pond when the goldfish will spawn? My pool in the basement was staying at 55, if I remember correctly, and I'm sure hoping those new fish will hold onto their eggs for a while yet. Starting new goldfish pond tomorrow and hope to have it dug and up and running, using water from the existing pond (adding new to the existing pond) to jump start it.

 

[j.w]

That's the way I did it CE when I had my first pond across the sidewalk. I just ran a lot of the water from the old pond into the new one and added the fish and then slowly added the new water from the well to fill the new pond to the top. So easy that way!

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, heck I wasn't even thinking of not filling it all the way. That's an even better idea, as I don't want to put too much well water in either pond right off the bat. I can run my skimmer pump with a piece of tubing from one to the other and fill it faster than the hose would be refilling the first pond.
Addy, if I were to use only a bog in my new pond for the goldfish, what percentage should be bog? In other words, if my pond surface area is approximately 100 sq ft, would 1/4 of that be enough for bog surface, or would I need far more? I'm thinking of going just bog for filtering that pond, plus a skimmer.

 

[koiguy1969]

63* is the minmum temp for viable egg fertilization 63 - 68* is the normal range. but goldfish can and likely will spawn thru-out the summer. eggs that develope in the cooler side of the range develope slower and are less prone to defects in body shape.

 

[CountryEscape]

Great, thanks for the reminder, KoiGuy. I gotta get digging tomorrow and that will be my incentive, to get those girls outside in the new environment before they pop!

 

[addy1]

I would think that would be fine ce, mine is around 30% maybe more. My pond never varies in perfect water readings, algae stays away, no green water. Minimal string algae. I would need to measure to get it accurate in ratio.
The bog is 4 to 4.5 feet wide, the pond is 8 to about 18- 20 feet wide, both the same length.

My fish where chasing like crazy again last night, the water warmed a little, but cooled again. Right now 46

 

[CometKeith]

It hit 60 yesterday and 67 today. We barbecued both days. Last night salmon and trout and today hanging tender. Pretty cool for March. Whats wrong with global warming anyway? Got my waterfall running yesterday and today I did a nice water change, but the fish are still moving pretty slow and all staying together. I won't be adding the bio-filter until it warms up more. Somewhere I read that there are gnats that land in the pond during spring and that may help initiate spawning. Country, frequent small water changes helps spawning. Something to do with altering the pheromones in the water.

 

[addy1]

We are heading up into the 70's for the rest of the week, rain tonight, those fish will be chasing again.

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I'm hoping the goldfish in the basement do NOT spawn before I get them moved to the new pond I'm working on. LOL So, I was glad that they prefer about 63 degrees or warmer to spawn. Same for the outside pond. Would like to move them before they spawn, too.
Did a water change yesterday ... out of necessity since the water got behind the weir and was leaking for a while before I noticed it. Good thing I didn't start it up and leave for the afternoon! That's always been a fear of mine. The pump is in the 42" depth, plus on top of a milk crate, but still, 16" of water of thereabouts would NOT be enough for them to be comfy in. Lesson learned - never turn waterfall on and leave. Stay there ALL day just in case something goes wrong on the first day. After that, hopefully everything will be good to go and nothing will break.

 

[CometKeith]

Country, Wow that could have been a disaster. That's smart to raise the pump up. Maybe I'll do that too. Re: spawning it usually goes on for my goldfish for about 3-4 weeks. Are you going to have lighting on your pond? I have lights that turn off around midnight. It's pretty amazing to go out to my pond at 11:00 at night and see them all chasing each other. Now my family thinks I am crazy to do that, but that is an issue for another day. addy my fish all came to the surface this morning for the first time since last year and are eating whatever lands in the water. It was nice to see them!

 

[addy1]

Neat cometkeith, mine have been even jumping some at bugs. Every time I am down there mucking around with the plants they come flying to eat what ever is stirred up. The water is around 54 today. Still cold for this body to be in, wading to deal with the lilies...........burr

My lights turn off around 11pm or so, will be interesting to see if they attract bugs even though underwater.