Category: Goldfish Ponds

Does A Goldfish Pond Cause More Mosquitoes In Your Backyard?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date February 13, 2011

The fact is many people believe that a goldfish pond increases mosquitoes by having a water garden in the backyard but it does not. The only way that mosquitoes will reproduce and increase its population is if there is still water in your yard. You see mosquitoes prefer to breed in still water. By having a well circulated pond with a proper size pump will help prevent mosquitoes from laying the eggs on the water.

Also if people are going to have a fish pond they are going to have fish in which they eat mosquito larvae. Goldfish, Shubunkins, Koi and other types of pond fish actually help control and cut down on the mosquito population.

If you have buckets or containers laying around your yard or birdbaths with water, it is suggested that you empty the standing water right away or refill it daily. If not you better invest into some mosquito repellent.

So everyone can put the pond myth away! Ponds don’t actually increase the mosquito population as long as it’s built right. It’s the standing water, puddles and water laying around which is the culprit in which mosquitoes lay their eggs. So if your looking at building a garden pond, don’t let the thought of mosquitoes stop you. The fact of the matter is that a goldfish pond can actually help control mosquitoes plus you’ll have a lifetime of enjoyment from your new water garden. Want to control mosquitoes even more, buy some mosquito fish!

Do Goldfish Eat Pond Plants and Water Lilies Like Koi Fish?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date January 30, 2011

Goldfish do eat many things but they don’t really eat pond plants and water lilies like koi fish do. Goldfish may pick at pond plants and water lilies a little but they will not disturb them like koi.

You see koi fish are scavengers and they have barbels also known as whiskers under their mouth in which they used to search for food. It’s in the search for food that koi fish disturb plants in ponds. They may pick and eat water plants but not so much.

Goldfish Swimming in Pond by Water Lilies

I know goldfish don’t grow nearly as big as koi fish do and this may be a factor. I know I’ve had many koi and goldfish and koi don’t really bother my water lilies at all. The worst they’ve done is uproot a hardy water lily in the past but that’s my fault as I didn’t put large rocks around it to prevent it from happening. As far as goldfish are concerned you don’t have to worry about them eating your pond plants and water lilies. Keep your goldfish well fed and you’ll have no worries of them eating your water plants.

Tags Feeding Goldfish, Fish Pond, Goldfish, goldfish eat plants, goldfish eating, Pond Plants, Water Gardens and Ponds, Water Lilies

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How To Protect Baby Goldfish Fry From Aquarium Filter and Pond Predators?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date September 13, 2010

In order to have many baby goldfish fry from your breeding you will need to know how to protect your baby fish from not only pond predators but from your aquarium filter intake as well.

Baby goldfish can be killed or injured from a variety of different ways. As soon as your goldfish breed and lay their eggs on the spawning mops or water plants they become prey to many different insects. These insects include the water boatman, water beetle and more. If insects weren’t enough to worry about if you don’t treat the water to protect the fish eggs some will quickly be overtaken by fungus. As you can see lots can go wrong even before they get a chance to hatch and develop into goldfish.

Some other things you will need to do to protect your baby goldfish is to make sure you remove the goldfish that have spawned from your breeding tank set up. If you don’t they will quickly eat up all the goldfish eggs. Another thing you need to do is protect the newly hatched baby goldfish from getting sucked up in the filter. For this you can simply use an old or new filter sponge and simply make a little cut into it and slide the filter pipe inside. This will prevent your baby goldfish from getting sucked up into the aquarium filter. Something I do as well using the Hagen AquaClear Power filter system is turn it to low. Remember these baby goldfish are very small and too strong of water current can damage, injure or stress them out and die. Yes they do need exercise but too much where they can become exhausted can be harmful as well. This method using a simple filter sponge works great at protecting baby goldfish fry from aquarium filter intake.

I’ve seen some other methods that people have tried too when they were breeding goldfish that seems to work as well. What they did was used a pop bottle, poked holes in it and slid the filter pipe inside and then wrapped it with pantyhose. If you do try this method make sure you place plenty of holes as this will evenly distribute the amount of suction from each hole. This will work too! One note to remember is to be careful and make sure it is a tight fit on the top of the pop bottle where the filter pipe goes inside. If not small baby goldfish can get through and get sucked up by the filter. If it’s not a tight fit you can simply cut up small pieces of filter sponge and jam it in and around the filter pipe preventing any chance of danger when raising baby goldfish.

As you can see there are many dangers to goldfish even before they hatch and then when they do they have much bigger pond predators to worry about too. For many pond owners they often learn the hard way and end up losing all of the goldfish, koi or other types of fish in their pond from predators. For more information on how to protect goldfish from pond predators you can visit the links below. As for now when breeding goldfish make sure to protect your baby goldfish not only from pond predators but your aquarium filter as well.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

How To Take Care of Goldfish In A Garden Pond?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date August 22, 2010

Many home owners often dream of having a garden pond but are often unsure on how to take care of goldfish. Taking care of goldfish in a garden pond is easy! With a little bit of research, you’ll be a pond expert in no time. A lot of people who have fish ponds in their backyards often have had an aquarium in their life sometime before. The fact is that taking care of goldfish in a pond is so much easier and I’m going to show you how.

Now that your garden pond is in place you will need to add your goldfish to your newly built pond. You can either buy goldfish online or as most of you do is go down to your local pet store to buy your new pet. Taking care of goldfish starts right here at the pet shop. Remember you want to buy healthy goldfish and don’t want to bring home some other guests as well. Never buy goldfish from a tank that has dead fish, cloudy or if you see fish scratching themselves on the aquarium gravel. These are signs that something is wrong. Take your time, look around and ask questions at the pet store if you have any. They should be able to answer all your fish, pond and aquarium questions.

Now that you’ve just bought your new goldfish you will need to introduce them to your pond. What you do now is float the bag in the water for about 10 – 15 minutes so that the water can customize. Once the time is up what you will then do is make sure you add a couple of cups of pond water into the bag so that the water chemistry can mix together. Every little thing you do minimizes the stress on the goldfish. Now that you’ve done that and waited a few minutes now you can release your goldfish into the pond. In order to do this you will need a fish net. Never introduce the water from the pet store into your garden pond as it could contain parasites. Always use a fish net to catch the goldfish and then place them in the fish pond.

Introducing Goldfish To A Garden Pond

Your goldfish should be swimming around in the new pond and looking quite happy. Don’t worry if the goldfish goes right to the bottom of the pond and you don’t see them for a few days as this is common. Remember this pond is new to him and it could take a few days for your goldfish to get use to its new environment. After a day or two you should see your goldfish quite regularly. Sometimes you can even feed your goldfish right after placing them in your new garden pond.

What you should feed goldfish all depends on the time of year and the temperature of the water. Remember goldfish hibernate come winter and when this happens their digestive system begins to slow down too. In early spring and fall goldfish should be fed a lighter food such as a wheat germ based fish food. This is light and easy for them to digest. This should be fed to goldfish down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very important to know what the temperature of your pond is to be able to provide the best possible care for your goldfish. In the summer months you are able to feed goldfish a higher protein diet as they are more active and require better nutrition.

Your probably wondering about now is how much food do I feed goldfish in a pond. The answer is quite simple, only feed your goldfish what they can eat within 2 minutes. When the goldfish are feeding you should start to see them get sluggish or uninterested in the food. Always discard what they cannot consume within 2 minutes or this can foul your water. You can feed your goldfish in the pond once a day in cooler weather and in the summer months you can feed them a couple of times a day. Remember don’t worry if you ever miss feeding your goldfish as there is literally tons of food in the pond for them. They can feed on all the live insects, mosquito larvae and more. Your goldfish will never starve in a pond.

For maintenance for your garden pond you should clean your pond filter from time to time. Whenever you notice that the water volume from your pond pump has slowed down it’s time to clean your filter. You should also test your water quality once a week to make sure all is well.

If you have water lilies in your goldfish pond you will have to discard any decaying lily pads as they appear. What you want to do is try and stop as much leaves and debris from going to the bottom of the pond. If there is to much organic matter such as fish waste, leaves and debris this can cause a perfect breeding ground for parasites and fish diseases to occur. Try and eliminate as much as you can. What many pond owners do come fall is place a pond net over their ponds to stop leaves from going into the water. This pond net also stops pond predators from getting access to your goldfish in your pond. Depending on where you live wildlife is bound to come near your pond sooner or later whether its herons, raccoons, kingfishers or eagles they will come to your pond looking for a snack. Look for other great ways at protecting pond fish from predators.

You’ve just read about how to take care of goldfish in a garden pond and I’m sure you will have more pond questions as they arise. Throughout the years you will learn more about ponds and have other questions. I urge you all to ask any garden pond questions here so you will be able to take care of your goldfish and know what to do when problems occur. Enjoy your new garden pond and I wish you all best of luck taking care of your new goldfish.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Tags Fish Pond, Frequently Asked Questions, garden ponds, Goldfish, goldfish care, Goldfish Pond, goldfish pond care, take care of garden pond, take care of goldfish

Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds How To Pond Predator Protection

How To Protect Goldfish and Pond Fish From Herons?

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date August 16, 2010

Knowing how to protect goldfish, koi and other pond fish from herons will save you a lot of frustration and anger. Today two great blue herons decided to take a little walk into my pond and ate my goldfish for a snack or two.

It’s unsure how many goldfish or other pond fish these herons ate but let me tell you they are smart.

Pond predators are pond owners worst nightmare and this was mine today. Now I am going to have to fix up the pond protection I currently have from herons and other pond predators and raise the pond netting.

What these great blue herons did was walked right on top of the pond netting and sank the net in the water. This created like a fish net that easily caught the goldfish, koi and other types of fish I currently have in the pond. If it didn’t catch them the herons still had a chance to eat the goldfish and injure larger ones that couldn’t fit through the holes of the pond netting. As soon as I noticed at my front window I banged on it and it scared off the herons.

I went outside to notice at least one fish fatality which was a big koi. The koi was on top of the pond netting. I have a very large pond so I have two pond nets to protect the fish. The first one sank into the water and the koi fish swam on top of the netting and the heron poked a hole in him killing the fish. It was one of my favourite large koi that I had in my pond. I am quite disappointed and have fixed my pond so that this type of situation won’t happen again.

Pond Netting Protection From Predators

What people can do to protect goldfish and pond fish from herons is raise your pond netting so its not flush or within 6 inches above the water. I know many people don’t like to take away from the look and beauty of their pond with netting but if you don’t sooner or later a heron will stop by your place. What I did was cut up some 2 x 4’s and made them 24 inches long and pounded them in the ground with a mallet. Then I hooked up my pond netting on top and made it nice and tight. Herons won’t land on it and even if they did it won’t sink it into the water. Now I can be rest assured this won’t happen again.

If your looking for ways to protect goldfish, koi and other pond fish from herons and plan on using pond netting make sure to raise it. If not you might experience the same situation as me.

To learn more about protecting pond fish from predators like the great blue heron visit the following link:

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Don’t Eat Goldfish – It Can Cause Cancer And Make You Sick

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date February 14, 2010
6 Comments on Don’t Eat Goldfish – It Can Cause Cancer And Make You Sick

Can I eat goldfish? The answer is no! Eating goldfish can cause cancer and make you sick. I’ve seen so many young teenagers, men, and some women eating or swallowing goldfish at parties for a joke or a dare through YouTube videos and it makes me sick just thinking of it. Well for one eating a goldfish or swallowing one is gross but it’s what they don’t know that may make them think twice next time. Eating goldfish may indeed cause someone to get cancer and I’ll explain why.

For years I’ve been treating goldfish and using certain fish medications including Melachite Green to treat against different diseases and parasites. What some people don’t know is that Melachite Green is a carcinogen, meaning it has the ability to cause cancer. Now think about it now! These young kids, teenagers and even adults thinking they’re having a good old laugh about it could be in fact writing their own death sentence. This fish medication that goldfish and koi breeders use at fish farms intended just to be used as ornamental fish for aquariums or ponds can have serious effects against us. No fish should be consumed if this type of fish medication is used. Melachite green can cause cancer and should be used properly, with protective equipment and with caution. So no, no one should eat or swallow live goldfish as it’s not safe.!

A few years ago now I remember in Japan they had I think it was salmon that the Food Inspection Agency came into a local market and removed all the fish as it was contaminated. No fish intended for human consumption is allowed to be treated with Melachite Green. The fish in the market they found was immediately removed and destroyed.

So next time you, or people you may know decide they want to eat a goldfish or swallow one, remember this post. Goldfish treated with melachite green has the ability to cause cancer and should not be for human consumption. Now if this doesn’t stop you from picking up a live goldfish and eating it maybe all the wonderful little parasites that they carry might stop you. I could go on and on about how eating goldfish can make you sick. Some goldfish parasites reproduce at an amazing rate like ich at 500 parasites per cyst. I could say more but I think I made my point about how eating goldfish can cause cancer, make you sick and is plain gross. So next time your hungry instead of eating a live goldfish, go grab something out of the refrigerator.

Would you eat a live goldfish for money, a dare of just a plain joke? Love to hear your thoughts on this!

Tags cancer, Eating Goldfish, Goldfish, sick

Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds Pond Filtration

Oase PondoVac 3 – Pond Cleaning Tool For Goldfish Ponds

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date September 19, 2009
1 Comment on Oase PondoVac 3 – Pond Cleaning Tool For Goldfish Ponds

Most of us can agree that cleaning a goldfish pond is no fun, until you found the Oase PondoVac3. This easy to use pond vacuum cleaner makes cleaning a pond easy, efficient and fun. A pond vacuum is definitely worth getting even though they can be expensive but the time you save in cleaning your pond makes this one product that pond owners love. Oase makes high quality pond products and is definitely worth investing into if your looking at having crystal clear water. Regular pond maintenance is needed and people should know how to clean a goldfish pond and this one piece of pond cleaning equipment that people should buy at the same time they are looking at building a pond in their backyard. Add this PondVac3 to your list when buying pond supplies and products so you can fully enjoy your garden pond.

Here is a complete product description of the Oase PondoVac 3:

With the PondoVac 3 you can avoid the annoyance of container capacity restrictions. The Two-Chamber System: Two identically sized cylinders are filled and emptied in alternating cycles. If one container is full a valve is mechanically activated by a float. This triggers emptying of one chamber while the other is being filled. Both vacuuming and emptying of the container can occur at the same time. Built-in wheels allow for easy movement and transportation. The delivery includes a special string algae nozzle, a wide nozzle with a rubber lip, a crevice tool and a floor nozzle, the vacuum tube extension, as well as a debris collection bag for the water return. It is also ideally suited for wet vacuum applications in the household.

Power cable length – 13 ft. Dimensions – 15 x 27 inches.
Limited Warranty – 3 + 2* = 5 Years (*a 2 year extension is added when you register the PondoVac 3.)

If you want to buy a Oase Pond Vacuum Cleaner go here > PondoVac 3

*** Please note at the time of posting this, a 2 year extension warranty is available unless the supplier or manufacturer decides to change this ***

If people are looking at buying a pond vacuum cleaner for their water garden you should check out Amazon.com for the PondVac3 as they do have the lowest price on the internet from what I’ve seen. Here is the link to buying a PondoVac 3 over at amazon and you can see customer reviews and more information. This is by far the ultimate pond cleaning tool for both spring and fall pond cleaning as many pond owners will agree with me.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Tags garden ponds, goldfish ponds, Oase PondoVac 3, pond cleaning, pond cleaning tool, Pond Maintenance, Pond Supplies, pond vacuum cleaner, Water Gardens and Ponds

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How To Protect Your Goldfish From Pond Predators

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date September 13, 2008
2 Comments on How To Protect Your Goldfish From Pond Predators

By Jamie Boyle

Many pond owners today often face the problem of pond predators visiting their water garden and they need to learn how to protect goldfish from pond predators before becoming their next meal. A lot of people don’t even realize they even have a problem until it’s too late. People should always try and count their fish come feeding time to make sure all fish are accounted for. It also makes a great time to observe your fish for any signs of goldfish diseases or parasites.

If you notice your fish scared or frightened or any goldfish missing then you may very well of had a tall-feathery creature stop by for a meal or two. Herons, kingfishers, raccoons, snakes, cats and even frogs are pond predators. Yes! Even frogs! I have seen many frogs shoot out there tongue and catch small fish when they dash up to the surface. You see a frogs tongue is shot out based on movement and we have seen many goldfish eaten at an early age. The good news about pond predators is that there are many ways you can protect your goldfish from wildlife and I’m going to show you how.

How To Protect Your Goldfish From Pond Predators?

The first step in protecting your goldfish from predators is to go out to your local hardware store, pet store and often even garden nurseries today who stock pond supplies and equipment and purchase a heron decoy. A heron decoy will stop other herons from dropping by as they are very much territorial. They automatically assume that there is already a heron there so there must not be too many fish left. In turn the heron continues flying on in search of a free water source to fish. I know many people who have had pond predator problems and they have used them and they haven’t had any problems since.

Another way to protect your goldfish from pond predators is to buy a scarecrow sprinkler system. These work great! Why you may ask? Is because they have a built in motion sensor so when anything comes even remotely close to your pond a blast of water shoots out scaring off anything near. This is a sure way to defend your goldfish and give them a fighting chance. It’s also a great laugh in the scare you put the pond predator through with a blast of water right at its butt! 🙂 It will make that heron or other animal think twice about coming back 😉

Another suggestion pond owners can do is to protect your goldfish pond from predators using a pond netting. Again you should be able to buy pond netting at any local hardware store and also you can buy it online as well. Using pond netting will protect pond fish but it takes away the beauty and look of a pond. I know I hate using pond netting but hey, if it protects your pond fish then you did solve your problem. It also stops leaves from going into the pond and falling to the pond bottom messing up the water. It works, but what you decide to choose is up to you.

I hope these above mentioned ways at learning how to protect your goldfish pond from pond predators has helped. Pond predators are annoying but at least there are things we can do to help protect our pond fish.

Have you ever had pond predators drop by your pond? What did you do to protect your pond fish from being eaten? Lets here your stories on the problem that faces many pond owners – pond predators. How to protect your fish from pond predators? A question most pond owners will have one-time or another.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

Tags Fish Pond, frogs, garden ponds, Goldfish, goldfish care, Goldfish Pond, goldfish protection, herons, Pond Predators, raccoons, snakes

Goldfish Goldfish Ponds

Jamie Boyle The Goldfish Guy

Post author By GoldfishCare
Post date January 14, 2008
21 Comments on Jamie Boyle The Goldfish Guy

Well that’s me, my name is Jamie Boyle also known as The Goldfish Guy and that is my nickname that people have been calling me for a long time now. For years now all my family and friends have called me The Goldfish Guy ever since I got into the hobby.

To let you all know I started in the goldfish hobby about 10+ years ago now. It all started for me while I was in school really and gained interest in goldfish and koi. I first started off with a 33 gallon tank myself, you know with a few goldfish to start. Then as I got more into aquariums and fish I got bigger tanks and more goldfish and koi fish to add to my aquariums.

The turning point for me was when I built a water garden pond in my parents backyard years ago now, pretty much the same time I got started into the hobby. This was the very first fish pond I have ever built and my father and I built it. I have to tell you building your pond yourself is fun, yes it’s work but very rewarding and you get to build it as you like. If people build their own water garden pond I suggest doing it yourself, the hobby is suppose to be fun, and seeing the job done when your finished is very rewarding like I said. Your pond is your art work, your work and your masterpiece in which you will enjoy for years to come.

I am going to show you the picture of our very first pond that we built below. This is pretty much when my nickname The Goldfish Guy originated from as my hobby with aquariums, goldfish, koi and water lilies all happened around the same time.

Jamie Boyle Goldfish Guy - Water Garden Koi Fish Pond — Jamie Boyle – The Goldfish Guy First Water Garden Goldfish & Koi Fish Pond

I tell you one thing the best way to learn things is by hands on experience. Now this garden pond was done over 10 years ago now, we definitely learned things in the process. Now it’s full with water lilies, goldfish, shubunkins, koi and butterfly koi. I love water plants and it definitely adds beauty and colour to your pond.

Well this is how my nickname The Goldfish Guy came from. I don’t mind at all it’s something I truly enjoy and have a passion for. Since then I have made my hobby into a business as well. The name our business is Country Koi Fish Farm operated by myself Jamie and my father Danny in which we started together after building our first pond pretty much. Having this job is not a job at all as it’s something I really enjoy doing so I don’t consider it work really. You can call it my dream job as you have to love what you do for a living. So I my goldfish hobby turned into a business in which I sell goldfish, shubunkins, sarassa comets, koi, butterfly koi and a few other types of goldfish as well. On top of that I sell aquatic plants like the water lily, Yellow Flag Water Iris and a few other water plants as well. So now you have a little bit of information on how I got into the goldfish hobby.

Goldfish Koi Fish Pond With Hardy Water Lilies

How about yourself? When did you get into the hobby, how long and when did it all start for you keeping goldfish? What was your first goldfish? Please leave a comment and please share, love to know how it all started for other people and what got them hooked on goldfish.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Tags Jamie Boyle, The Goldfish Guy