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Comet goldfish pond idea


KrissMystic
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*New to fish keeping so... sorry if I forget anything important*

I guess a bit of preamble, I have a 29 gallon aquarium, inside, where at the moment I have five 1-1.5 inch comets. Yes, this is currently my only tank.  My plan was to give the ones in there back to the pet store when I actually decided what to do (and find the fish I want) with my indoor tank. My problem is I kinda fell in love with them and now I wanna keep them too(MTS already hitting me). Sooooo....

I have an idea for a 35 gallon pond in my  back yard year around. I’d like to keep it simple and use a medium sponge filter for both agitation and filtration. I’m not sure if I should use a substrate or not but if I do it’ll be some gravel from my other tank. I’ve also already put some extra bio rings in my filter so when I do set it up I already have some good cultures on there as well. 

I’d like to keep duck weed in both my indoor tank and in this pond. That way, (as I don’t plan on having anything indoors that’ll eat it) as the goldfish outside eat it all, I can transfer some from my indoor tank to the pond as it propagates. I do have food in case the duckweed dies or can’t keep up with the fish. 

My climate is fairly mild here in central California with winters only having a few nights per year below 32*F and no snow. The summers frequently go into triple digits for weeks at a time. I am concerned about it getting too hot as I know goldfish like cooler water. The place I’m thinking of gets afternoon sun as well. I’m hoping the duckweed will help with water temperature as well.
 

Id like some advise on this. About any of it really. Is this an ok set up for them? Is there something more I should do? Maybe you see an obvious problem that I just don’t see. Like I said, new fish keeper here, so I don’t even know what questions to ask. Maybe you’ve done something similar and I’d love to learn from someone else’s experience. I’ve tried to educate myself the best I can but there’s no way I found ALL the info. I guess I’m nervous as I want my fish to be happy.

Thank you

BFF1D83C-05D0-4E21-B086-1394DE4D95E7.jpeg

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1 minute ago, KrissMystic said:

*New to fish keeping so... sorry if I forget anything important*

I guess a bit of preamble, I have a 29 gallon aquarium, inside, where at the moment I have five 1-1.5 inch comets. Yes, this is currently my only tank.  My plan was to give the ones in there back to the pet store when I actually decided what to do (and find the fish I want) with my indoor tank. My problem is I kinda fell in love with them and now I wanna keep them too(MTS already hitting me). Sooooo....

I have an idea for a 35 gallon pond in my  back yard year around. I’d like to keep it simple and use a medium sponge filter for both agitation and filtration. I’m not sure if I should use a substrate or not but if I do it’ll be some gravel from my other tank. I’ve also already put some extra bio rings in my filter so when I do set it up I already have some good cultures on there as well. 

I’d like to keep duck weed in both my indoor tank and in this pond. That way, (as I don’t plan on having anything indoors that’ll eat it) as the goldfish outside eat it all, I can transfer some from my indoor tank to the pond as it propagates. I do have food in case the duckweed dies or can’t keep up with the fish. 

My climate is fairly mild here in central California with winters only having a few nights per year below 32*F and no snow. The summers frequently go into triple digits for weeks at a time. I am concerned about it getting too hot as I know goldfish like cooler water. The place I’m thinking of gets afternoon sun as well. I’m hoping the duckweed will help with water temperature as well.
 

Id like some advise on this. About any of it really. Is this an ok set up for them? Is there something more I should do? Maybe you see an obvious problem that I just don’t see. Like I said, new fish keeper here, so I don’t even know what questions to ask. Maybe you’ve done something similar and I’d love to learn from someone else’s experience. I’ve tried to educate myself the best I can but there’s no way I found ALL the info. I guess I’m nervous as I want my fish to be happy.

Thank you

BFF1D83C-05D0-4E21-B086-1394DE4D95E7.jpeg

I never had  a pond but 35 gallons on the small side  for 5 comets they get 12in each 

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Guess I’m giving them back then. Thought I’d get like some suggestions though and not so much “you’re doing it wrong”. Like maybe what size they should go in? Oh well I guess

Edited by KrissMystic
I don’t think I spoke well
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2 hours ago, KrissMystic said:

Guess I’m giving them back then. Thought I’d get like some suggestions though and not so much “you’re doing it wrong”. Like maybe what size they should go in? Oh well I guess

You can do it, but you'll have to do alot of water change.

I kept almost a 100 in a 50 gallon stock tank and they did well..but it was connected to my spring so they got almost 100% water change everyday.

For your setup I would do atleast 50gallon, the bigger the better

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I think some of the feeling of criticism is just that many people think goldfish are easy but it’s a complex equation with goldfish needing a lot of space, have more needs then people think and are a heavy bioload so bigger is better and needed. As @WhitecloudDynastysaid It would require a ton of work on your part maintenance wise with water changes every couple of days to keep the poop machines that are goldfish down. I had comets x 2 and koi x 2 bought at 1-2” as a teen along with fancy goldfish and was doing 2 fifty percent changes a week in a 60 G acrylic tank - it became too much and they became too big so fast I ended up using the farm I bought them from to find a buyer for me. All the water changes took some of the joy out of it for me. and it sounded like you had a decent plan to supplement them with duckweed and put some serious thoughts into it but I’d double the gallons to 100 if you’re looking at this as a long term project. A Rubbermaid stock trough 110 g would meet your needs and won’t break the bank. Sorry you felt discouraged and best of luck.  

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1 hour ago, WhitecloudDynasty said:

You can do it, but you'll have to do alot of water change.

I kept almost a 100 in a 50 gallon stock tank and they did well..but it was connected to my spring so they got almost 100% water change everyday.

For your setup I would do atleast 50gallon, the bigger the better

I’m ok with doing lots of water changes. Where I’m planning to put it is right below the kitchen window and I go out there everyday, multiple times a day. I like watching them. I’m also ok with waiting to get a bigger one in a couple months rather than the 35g. 

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3 minutes ago, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I think some of the feeling of criticism is just that many people think goldfish are easy but it’s a complex equation with goldfish needing a lot of space, have more needs then people think and are a heavy bioload so bigger is better and needed. As @WhitecloudDynastysaid It would require a ton of work on your part maintenance wise with water changes every couple of days to keep the poop machines that are goldfish down. I had comets x 2 and koi x 2 bought at 1-2” as a teen along with fancy goldfish and was doing 2 fifty percent changes a week in a 60 G acrylic tank - it became too much and they became too big so fast I ended up using the farm I bought them from to find a buyer for me. All the water changes took some of the joy out of it for me. and it sounded like you had a decent plan to supplement them with duckweed and put some serious thoughts into it but I’d double the gallons to 100 if you’re looking at this as a long term project. A Rubbermaid stock trough 110 g would meet your needs and won’t break the bank. Sorry you felt discouraged and best of luck.  

I could do the 110 stock trough. I’ll just have to stick to one trough though. I know goldfish can be a lot of work. And I don’t know, I just figured maybe I could give them a better life than if I took them back to the store where they live with 200 other fish in a 20 gallon. I don’t mean to be rude, I just came here for advice not to be shot down. Thank you for your help 😊

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I took you as someone trying to create a good environment for your wet pets and that’s what you seem to be headed for. I hope you keep at it as it will be a rewarding experience. Goldfish have a ton of personality and brought me a ton of joy. It was only when the work overcame the joy that I switched up but that’s 30 years ago now and I just might end up with some goldfish - I have 2 boys 3 and 5 so it’s bound to happen. 

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Well I want them to be happy. And I figured I’d end up with either more than one pond eventually or just a big pond. Right now I’m trying to plan it and not just buy and hope. I certainly hope I can create something they’ll be happy in. They really are peaceful to watch and I can tell they each have their own little personalities that are just so perfect. I’m sure your boys would love that, I’m hoping my niece and nephews will enjoy feeding them eventually. Thank you again for your help 😊

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I have six in a 100g patio pond 4’x2’x2’ and I’ll move them to a 200g sometime this year. Don’t worry, you’ve got plenty of time! Those little ones can live in the 29g while you get a pond installed. Get the biggest solution you can. If it’s in direct sun get lots of floating plants. Hyacinth works great and is cheap. Duckweed shades the water and feeds the fish. 

7FA7C130-2580-40B6-BC54-56C6D0F08AE9.png

909C0B2C-2FC1-4302-9981-8F4BA764D3F2.jpeg

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4 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

I have six in a 100g patio pond 4’x2’x2’ and I’ll move them to a 200g sometime this year. Don’t worry, you’ve got plenty of time! Those little ones can live in the 29g while you get a pond installed. Get the biggest solution you can. If it’s in direct sun get lots of floating plants. Hyacinth works great and is cheap. Duckweed shades the water and feeds the fish. 

7FA7C130-2580-40B6-BC54-56C6D0F08AE9.png

909C0B2C-2FC1-4302-9981-8F4BA764D3F2.jpeg

Looks beautiful! I can do a lot more in that than I was thinking too! Im bad with plants but I’m trying to learn. I know duckweed is fairly self sufficient so hopefully that’ll be easy but I’ll look into hyacinth as well. Thank you 😊 

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My entire pond is pretty much self sustaining. The hyacinths are annuals and don’t require any care at all, the water lettuce and duck weed are the same. They only thing I do is test the water and do a partial change if the Nitrates get high. 

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