When I was a kid our family lived in a house in KY that had a goldfish pond in the back yard. It was there when we moved in. It had two or three huge goldfish…they might have been Koi or whatever. Anyway, I don’t remember there being any filtration system in the little pond. Also, they were not removed in the winter and wintered over successfully. Are my memories all wrong or is this possible? I’d sure like to try and build something like this but don’t know about the aeration deal.
Thanks,
Goldfish will actually come to the surface and get air that way. Most ponds have some kind of cute little water fall or something though, it doesn’t take a whole lot. If the pond is large enough and there isn’t that many fish in it, the natural aeration off the surface of the water could have been enough.
CandyMan
The fish will do better with aeration, but they (and a few other types of fish) can gulp air from the surface when they need to.
Goldfish evolved in cold water, which contains more dissolved oxygen than warm water. So they’re not particularly adapted to low-oxygen conditions. However, the common, “comet”-type of goldfish is generally pretty hardy, so it can be said to be generally adapted to low-oxygen conditions.
However, in the summer heat (where do you live?), goldfish can become highly stressed and prone to disease. Aerating will increase the oxygen levels and cool the water, so it will help them to be healthier.
Keep in mind that, in addition to holding less oxygen in the first place, warmer water also encourages more bacterial activity, which can in turn deplete the oxygen further. Oxygenation will encourage the growth of aerobic, beneficial bacteria that break down the fishes respiratory wastes into (to oversimplify) plant food, and will discourage the growth and anaerobic, acid-producing bacteria, which lower the water pH and further stress the fish.
If the pond has enough surface area for good air exchange and a very low fish population, you can get away with no aeration. But keep the feeding levels down, and feed a low-protein diet: this creates less waste to decompose in the water and lower the pH, and also the fish will adjust their metabolic rates to compensate for the meager diet and be less prone to stress.
If fish gulp at the surface they are in serious distress. A water change is in order as well as aereation.
Aereation is not needed with low fish loads. My 1500 gallon pool is not aerated. The 1000 has a small waterfall for aesthetics. It does help filter the water and has not been run this year. Keep a low fish load and do not overfeed, things will be fine. Remember that healthy fish will grow up to be big healthy fish; the load will increase even if they do not breed.
Like Al Jolson, I’m down on my knees, beggin’ you, “Mammie!”
Turn the computer OFF, go down to the LIBRARY, and get some BOOKS on pond fish before you do another thing. Before you buy any equipment or dig any holes or bring home even one itty-bitty cute baby koi, read read read. Knowledge is power, babe. Knowledge will SAVE your SOUL, will keep you from the burning fiery furnace of dropping upwards of a thousand frickin’ bucks on a pond fish hobby that ends up with fish after fish after FRICKIN’ FISH being found belly-up in the morning, and the erstwhile pond turning into a glorified thousand-dollar mosquito hatchery.
Take it from one who has walked through this particular fire and thank God lived to tell about it. Edgar Allen Poe has got NOTHING on the horrors of the backyard water garden, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Vaya con Dios, sweetie.
Duck Duck Goose, ya sweet talker, I’m going to start reading just for you…and the fish. Better I do it right than wind up in fish killing hell for all eternity. 