Pond setup for keeping goldfish...

aidoh

Hi,
I thought I'd try get some advice here - after lurking other threads it seems like there's a lot of experienced fish-keepers here!
Basically I have an ornamental pond in my garden. It's a fairly basic design - just a square hole with a shelved area and one large, deep corner. I have a pond pump with a filter inside it that turns the water around pretty well (as far as I'm aware, anyway). I also have a sort of 'natural' area in one corner with some cobble stacks and a log (trying to encourage other forms of wildlife in!).
So how does this sound for adding in 2 or 3 goldfish?
Space is certainly not an issue. It's not a huge pond but I would imagine there's more space than in the average medium-large aquarium tank.
Where I am having issues however is in the water chemistry aspect.
Will the pump/filter I have be enough to provide the fish with oxygen?
Should I get a few macrophytes for additional oxygen?
Are there any goldfish breeds which do better outdoors than others?
Have you guys any tips or warnings on common problems associated with pond goldfish?
Any advice would be appreciated and thanks (or apologies) for reading my whopper post!

Silverfish

Lucky person, I'd love a pond.

To work out how many fish you can put in, you'll need to measure the depth / width / length of the pond, to work out roughly how many litres it is.

The best fish for ponds are the common goldfish, or comets, these have single tails and a long body, and are strong swimmers. They'll grow to roughly 10-12" so really only ponds are suitable homes for them.

There's not much to pond fish, you'll most likely end up with more than you put in all going well. I know some people have problems with water quality, usually ponds keep themselves what with evaporation/ rainfall keeping the water fresh, but sometimes if it hasn't rained for a week or two ( ha!) you may need to take out some of the water and top up with clean water.

If the filter is turning the water well, you won't need to worry about oxygenating too much, unless the pond is overstocked, sometimes this causes asphyxiation. Oxygen enters the water through surface agitation, so you should be okay with a pond pump - I've seen some ponds without any at all.

Best time to put the fish in is April / May / June when the temps are a bit warmer. Again, avoid the 'fancy' goldfish types, rounded bodies and double tails etc, these guys wouldn't survive outdoors.

kylith

Any ideas of dimensions of the pond for working out volume?

If you're in Dublin I could be persuaded to part with my goldfish. He has a lot of experience with living in a pond.

aidoh

It's somewhere between 300 and 350 litres.

Edit: probably closer to 300.
And yep, I'm in Dublin.

kylith

From what I've been told it's recommended to have 100L for one goldfish, and 40L for each additional one, so 2 or 3 fish would be delighted with yours.

Would you like to persuade me to part with Paul the fish?