Stocking Your Pond with Fancy GoldfishFancy Goldfish is always a good fish to add to your pond. Fish stocking is what makes a Japanese gardens or backyard ponds so special.
It turns a regular pond into a magical and divine paradise. I love to sit and watch my carp fish they have a special energy, they never seem to tire, as they dart about the pond, hiding under the lily pads and kissing the pond surface for air and food. Sometimes it’s these simple pleasures that bring us the most joy. The tranquil sound of my Fancy Goldfish splashing and playing in my pond is the most peaceful sound. No matter what size or style of your koi fish ponds, make it complete with the moving splashes of color that only fish provide. Fish add interest, life and motion to your pond. From the smallest tropical fish to the largest Koi carp fish there is a variety of sizes, shapes and colors to choose from. Choosing the right size and species of pond wildlife largely depends on the size of your water garden and the quality of the filter system. Some fish require well oxygenated water, and large swimming places, while others are at ease in small ponds with little water flow. The addition of fish to your pond also helps to control the mosquitoes and they fertilize your plants. Remember, when fish stocking most fish prefer shade, and floating plants and stone ledges provide cool hiding places for fish.
Goldfish varieties are the most popular and common as pond fish. They are the easiest to keep when you think of fish care; they grow to 16 inches and can often live for 12 years. They are usually the first fish added to a pond. Their bright colors are only one reason for their popularity. Gold fish come in many shapes and sizes, plain or fancy. Many goldfish are carp types that have been bred for centuries to meet certain beauty standards. Goldfish care will be minimal as they are extremely hardy and will survive a wide range of temperatures and types of water. There are many strains of goldfish available today. The most common is the gold or red variety, often with black or white patches. Long-finned varieties of the common goldfish are also available. The fast, streamlined, long-tailed goldfish, or comet, is generally red. Its tail is extremely long, giving the fish its name. The comet is always active and prefers a reasonably large swimming area. Look out for the elegant red-and-white sarasa comet. For a little variety, shubunkins are an excellent choice. They are a multicolored fish, with colors ranging from blue and white to black, red, and yellow. Shubunkins are often speckled and have a variety of scale formations. Goldfish care is pretty minimal until you start talking about fancy goldfish. Fancy goldfish are a distant relative of the goldfish. Fancy goldfish have been selected to exhibit some extreme physical features. They have been so inbred they lack the vigor of their distant relatives and will not tolerate an icy winter pond. The fancy goldfish suffer from a loss of circulation in colder temperatures, resulting in the fin tissue dying and becoming infected; even varieties with more conservative finnage will not over winter well. Some fancy goldfish are suitable for goldfish ponds, but many more are best kept in indoor aquariums. Fantails are the most suited to goldfish ponds, but you may need to bring small fantails indoors when the temperature drops or you may have get a sick goldfish to take care of. These squat, short-bodied fish are slow swimmers that prefer being kept with fish of a similar size and speed. Usually fancy goldfish will grow no bigger than 6 inches in a pond, depending on the variety. The may be kept outdoors in summer, but you must keep them in an indoor aquarium throughout the winter. They prefer the temperature above 50 degrees F. They do not tolerate rapid changes in temperature. Their shape prevents them from active swimming and they may miss out at feeding time when faster, more aggressive fish are present. Although fancy goldfish spawn like goldfish, they are less likely to do so in a goldfish pond. Crossing fancy goldfish can create very interesting offspring. Some types of the fancy goldfish are: Bubble eyes, pompon, and celestials. These fancy goldfish are in the extreme, where breeders have selected for extreme variations in head and eye developments. Fancy Goldfish are more exotic than fantails. Fancy Goldfish originate from the Far East. Fish stocking such as black moors with their protruding eyes, and pearl scales with their knobby, golf-ball-like appearance, are not ideally suited to pond. The Black moor is similar in shape to an orandas, black moor have bulbous eyes that project from its head. The lion head, and oranda are two more variations. The lion head has a development on its head that looks like a lion’s mane. It has twin tails but lacks dorsal fins. The oranda when viewed from above, their double tails look like butterflies. They can adopt a variety of colors, including calico, which resembles a shuburkin.
Golden Orfe are extremely active and prefer well-oxygenated ponds with a good flow of water. Golden Orfe are relatively hardy but susceptible to lack of oxygen, especially in hot weather. Orfe are not recommended for small ponds. They do best with a pond fountains or backyard waterfalls to provide good gaseous exchange. Although they are called golden orfe, these fish range in color from yellow through to deep orange. Orfe will grow quickly in well-filtered ponds and reach a size of 60 cm (24in) or more. They are a nervous fish, it is best not to keep with Koi. Golden and green tench are a commonly available water garden fish. They are instantly identifiable by their extremely slimy skin, which is covered in a thick layer of protective mucus. They prefer quieter waters, with less flow than many other species. They do well in small garden ponds. Tench are extremely adaptable to most backyard ponds conditions and grow quickly. Green tench can reach 18in in length. These excellent scavengers generally feed from the bottom of the small garden ponds and are often not seen for weeks at a time, while they pick up insects and other food deep down in the water. Another popular coarse fish, the golden rudd, is silvery in color and has a metallic appearance. Its fins are usually orange and the skin has a slightly rough appearance. Golden rudd may grow to more than 15in long. Rudds are best kept in small shoals and will adapt to most backyard ponds. They scavenge at most levels in the water, as well as readily taking dried foods. In common with golden orfe, rudd prefers well-oxygenated water and frequently spawns in larger ponds.
Grass carp will eat algae, they will also break up and eat many pond plants. For this reason, Grass Carp are best kept in larger ponds with little plant growth. Grass Carp make good companions for Koi carp in unplanted ponds. As they can reach a maximum size of 36 in, grass carp are not suited to small, heavily planted garden ponds. Grass carp are extremely hardy and are good for pond algae control.
What makes Koi so special? Firstly, the Koi is very long lived so it can become a pet fish like no other. It is a tough and hardy fish; it can cope with a wide range of temperature and water conditions. It is also a very peace-loving fish.
The Koi are capable of very high speed bursts of movement but it’s quite happy to swim along in their very gentle way and with its curving and twisting manner that is unique to Koi. It is easy on the eyes and restful to the mind, no wonder the Chinese and Japanese value it so highly, for it beckons you to sit awhile and let your thoughts drift to far off places of tranquility and beauty.
Most of all the Koi is a beautiful fish of vivid striking colors-reds, gold’s, blues, silvers, yellows, and even greens, and all can be had in any mixture and with numerous different types of scales, so this is a fish that holds so many possibilities for breeding, showing, and just for decorating a garden pond. Koi are the ornamental carp that many pond keepers aspire to keeping. They are descendants of the common carp and have a well-cataloged history dating back hundreds of years.
Koi are cold water fish which inhabit freshwater, as compared with fish that live in tropical rivers, or in the oceans of the world. Fish stocking Each group of fish has evolved to be able to survive in a given sort of water. Fish Stocking the wild carp can cope with quite variable fluctuations in the temperature and the degree of purity of the waters in which they live, and while Koi can do likewise, this is not good for them and certainly not if you want to have them show off the colors to the best advantage. Dirty water not only makes it difficult to see the Koi but it also inhibits the colors as well. This stated the Koi will not do well in water that is so pure that no organisms of micro-size can live in it. The ideal water will be clean, clear but will still have a population of various bacteria, fungi, and other life forms, for these will make it a complete environment. Finding good quality fancy goldfish for fish stocking can be an aggravation. Your success on buying goldfish will largely depend on the popularity of the hobby in your area. The Koi Pond website sells Koi, we have a nice selection Koi, Butterfly Koi and even goldfish.
This is a picture of the standard Koi, to go to that sales page click on the picture or the link here. Click Here for the Koi Sales PageI hope you are enjoying these articles you can always sign up for my email course where you can have more free information sent straight to your inbox.Thanks and Happy Ponding To read about Garden Waterfall and Backyard Waterfalls click here
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