My first pond (and my first post), Advice needed

[DomDom]

Hi there lovely people.

Huge Cory/Co-op fan from the UK. I've kept tropical fish for years, and have had lot's of different types and kept them to varying degrees of success. We are currently having our garden completely re-landscaped, and my wonderful wife who doesn't share my love of fish has agreed to us getting a pond. I am incredibly excited but i have a few questions I would like a hand with if possible?

Some details first of all. Not sure to the degree of detail i need to go into, but the pond I have purchased is the Laguna preformed 980litre. This measures 6ft X 4ft X 2ft. It will be completely above ground, and will be built into a block and slab built raised bed. 

Here are my questions;

Fish/Stocking - I was planning on getting the fish all at a small size (up to about 3inches each), and stocking with 5 canary yellow goldfish, 5 red goldfish, and 5 sarasa comets. I then wanted to reduce the numbers as they got bigger, only keeping my favorites of them. Does this sound ok as far as stocking when considering filtration below?

Filtration - I have a 1500litre per hour pump which is going to be hooked up to a terracotta plant pot which I will have a mix of mechanical and biological media in. This will then come through a bamboo spout and spill out back into the pond. I also have a home made 6 inch square sponge filter which will be run from a solar powered air pump. 

Plants - I have got a couple of 40cm black plastic plant pots that i want to put in upside down, with holes cut into them so that they can be used as caves, and then use them as shelves for planting on top of. Our garden is east facing, and the part where the pond is gets full sun for a few hours at the end of the day. We are in the UK with temps around the 22 most of summer, going up to 30+ on barmy spells. Does this sound ok, and what plants would you go for?

Many thanks for anyone who reads and replies. I'm so incredibly excited! 

Dom

 

[Patrick_G]

Welcome @DomDom! Your plan sounds wonderful to me. I’m a huge fan of Sarasa Comets, and I’m jealous that you’re able to get canary yellows. I’d also recommend a Shubunkin unless you’re not into them. In my experience they’re less shy than the other varieties. 
 

 

 

[DomDom]

47 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

Welcome @DomDom! Your plan sounds wonderful to me. I’m a huge fan of Sarasa Comets, and I’m jealous that you’re able to get canary yellows. I’d also recommend a Shubunkin unless you’re not into them. In my experience they’re less shy than the other varieties. 
 

 

 

Hey Patrick, thank you very much for your reply. Shubunkin are nice, but I prefer the others. I hadn't even thought about it from a shyness standpoint though. Do they encourage the others to be more confident, kind of like dither fish for a pond?

 

[Patrick_G]

@DomDom, Yes if I offer some food in my hand the Shubunkin is the one who comes up first and seems to give the others more confidence. 
 

I wasn’t a Shubunkin fan either, I wanted only Sarasas for the mini Kohaku look. My picked out the Shubunkin and it’s turned out to be a great choice. 

[DomDom]

4 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

@DomDom, Yes if I offer some food in my hand the Shubunkin is the one who comes up first and seems to give the others more confidence. 
 

I wasn’t a Shubunkin fan either, I wanted only Sarasas for the mini Kohaku look. My picked out the Shubunkin and it’s turned out to be a great choice. 

You have tempted me!

[Dancing Matt]

I'm sure the stocking is fine. I have been dealing with being "overstocked" with my goldfish I bought when first starting out and found that I just can't feed as often. I like your idea for hides as they help to break up visual space too. I say get plants that are available and recommended for your region. Know that any plant matter in the water exposed to the fish might get nibbled on. 

One thing I noticed with my fish was numbers helped them to be bold. I transferred two to my pond (from a too small fish tank) and I hardly saw them. When I put the other four in the pond, all six were out and swimming boldly.

Good luck and have fun!

[CalmedByFish]

Useless comment, but I have a dream of someday owning a fish pond that I can carefully crawl into so I can play with the fish - maybe even with a snorkel. I'm not sure 6x4x2 is big enough for that, but I'd be tempted! ❤️

 

[CosmicAshhole]

7 minutes ago, CalmedByFish said:

Useless comment, but I have a dream of someday owning a fish pond that I can carefully crawl into so I can play with the fish - maybe even with a snorkel. I'm not sure 6x4x2 is big enough for that, but I'd be tempted! ❤️

 

No comment is useless! 

[kammaroon]

You can buy pond plants from your local garden centre. Alternatively, I've bought lots of cheap bare root plants from https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lincolnshirepondplants

I got a combination of floaters, marginal and oxygenators for my tub ponds.

 

 

[Patrick_G]

1 hour ago, CalmedByFish said:

Useless comment, but I have a dream of someday owning a fish pond that I can carefully crawl into so I can play with the fish - maybe even with a snorkel. I'm not sure 6x4x2 is big enough for that, but I'd be tempted! ❤️

 

NOT a useless comment, but definitely the most Nermly comment of the day! 😀

[CalmedByFish]

18 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

definitely the most Nermly comment of the day! 😀

I could not feel more honored. I would like to thank all the little fishes that got me to where I am today... 

[DomDom]

13 hours ago, Dancing Matt said:

I'm sure the stocking is fine. I have been dealing with being "overstocked" with my goldfish I bought when first starting out and found that I just can't feed as often. I like your idea for hides as they help to break up visual space too. I say get plants that are available and recommended for your region. Know that any plant matter in the water exposed to the fish might get nibbled on. 

One thing I noticed with my fish was numbers helped them to be bold. I transferred two to my pond (from a too small fish tank) and I hardly saw them. When I put the other four in the pond, all six were out and swimming boldly.

Good luck and have fun!

Many thanks Matt. Yes, I'm hoping to be able to keep feeding down to help, but i have 3 children who will want to feed them all the time i'm sure. 

I am thinking maybe changing my stocking to 4 of each so I can add 3 shubunkins because of Patrick's comment about them encouraging the other fish to be more gregarious.

 
I'm sure gonna try and enjoy it. 

[DomDom]

12 hours ago, CalmedByFish said:

Useless comment, but I have a dream of someday owning a fish pond that I can carefully crawl into so I can play with the fish - maybe even with a snorkel. I'm not sure 6x4x2 is big enough for that, but I'd be tempted! ❤️

 

Ha! The amusement that comment has caused definitely stops it from being useless.  I'm 6ft6 and 300lbs so i may need a bigger pond if i'm gonna try that. My kids have already asked to swim in it tho.

[DomDom]

11 hours ago, kammaroon said:

You can buy pond plants from your local garden centre. Alternatively, I've bought lots of cheap bare root plants from https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lincolnshirepondplants

I got a combination of floaters, marginal and oxygenators for my tub ponds.

 

 

That's a big help. Thank you.

[Patrick_G]

16 hours ago, kammaroon said:

You can buy pond plants from your local garden centre. Alternatively, I've bought lots of cheap bare root plants from https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/lincolnshirepondplants

I got a combination of floaters, marginal and oxygenators for my tub ponds.

 

 

I’m a little jealous of this. I was just watching a vid from UK Aquascaper MD Fish Tanks were his local garden centre appears to have a huge selection of pond plants. That would be very unusual here in the US. 

[DomDom]

55 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

I’m a little jealous of this. I was just watching a vid from UK Aquascaper MD Fish Tanks were his local garden centre appears to have a huge selection of pond plants. That would be very unusual here in the US. 

They had a good selection at mine too, I just don't really know what I'm doing so wondered what to put where.

[Daniel]

Here in North Carolina we have a couple stores that specialize in pond plants.

[DomDom]

Hello again everyone. As with most projects this one ended up getting very delayed and is only just finished this week. 

Please enjoy the photo's. I was after some advice. The pond is ready to go, as in the pumps and filtration are set up but i have not filled it or planted it, or of course added any fish. It is now early winter here in the UK, so it is best to wait until spring before doing anything, or should i get it filled and get the pump running now and then add plants and eventually fish in the spring? 

Any advice at all would be hugely appreciated. 

 

Cheers 

Dom

[Flumpweesel]

Nice pond  - I would certainly wait till spring to plant and stock it, once the temp drops the plants won't grow and we are already in the short days.  Choice is always better at LFS in the summer to. 

I would fill and see how it fairs against ice this winter it will start building biofilm and establishing its eco system while your not looking.

[Patrick_G]

Wow, nice looking pond! I agree with @Flumpweesel, get some water in it so it starts seasoning, then add plants and fish in the spring. Have you started looking at what fish you’re going to add?  I’m partial to Shubunkins and Sarasa Coments. 

[DomDom]

On 11/9/2021 at 4:18 PM, Patrick_G said:

Wow, nice looking pond! I agree with @Flumpweesel, get some water in it so it starts seasoning, then add plants and fish in the spring. Have you started looking at what fish you’re going to add?  I’m partial to Shubunkins and Sarasa Coments. 

Sorry for delay in answering. 

The pond has had water in it since November. Now that it's warming up I have done a small water change and gone in with a silt net and cleared some stuff from the bottom, topped it up and got the filters working and have now planted it with 5 small plants that will fill out I'm sure. 

I went with a marsh marigold, horsetail reed, hornwort, scirpus cernuus, and something else that i've forgotten the name of (has white/grey and purple leaves).

I will upload an updated photo soon.

The shop where i am getting the fish don't have anything small as they said they mainly stock year old fish currently so most are in the 4 to 5 inch range, so I may just end up getting 3 of each of Shubunkins, Canary Yellow Goldfish, and Red Goldfish. Although I'm also very keen on getting a few comets as i really love the look when they are pure white with just a red patch on the top of their heads.

On 11/9/2021 at 1:27 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Nice pond  - I would certainly wait till spring to plant and stock it, once the temp drops the plants won't grow and we are already in the short days.  Choice is always better at LFS in the summer to. 

I would fill and see how it fairs against ice this winter it will start building biofilm and establishing its eco system while your not looking.

Thank you. I've got it all set up and planted this past weekend. It is running nicely and looking lovely with 5 plants.

I emptied some water then topped it up and netted as much silt out as i could as the pond collects quite a bit of leaf fall and we have has building work so it's no doubt had some wood and brick dust in it too.

I will post some new photo's later. 

I will hopefully start adding some fish soon.