Water Gardening: Newbie for Goldfish and Koi needs some Advice -, 1 by dax080

dax080 wrote:
Hi - I'm a newbie for fish - put in goldfish in the summer of 2005. My pond is 4' deep and a diameter of 18'. Last winter I had about 20 fish and did not lose any. The largest at that time was about 8".

In the summer of 2006, Russ gave me 6 koi - the largest about 8", and the goldfish expanded tremedously to about 70 fish total by the end of the season. I'd say the largest is about 11."

Now I'm worried about oxygen since we've had sub-zero weather for a week or so, and the ice is about 4" thick on the pond. I have a heater which keeps the pond from freezing over, and had a pump going for aeration until early January due to warm weather in December.

But I've read that larger fish need more oxygen, and that the number of fish can affect how many can survive - HELP!! Your knowledge and any advice would be greatly appreciated! Will they be OK? Should I be doing something else? Argh!! Dax

Here's a pic from the end of last summer -