Looking for koi fish or goldfish for our pond
 

We have enough fish now and if I could figure out how to delete this post, I would be happy to do so. Thanks to all who responded.

Carol
352.661.5171

I'd be curious as to how long these would last. I've seen flocks of white pelicans descend on retention ponds and wipe out most of the fish in a couple of days. I would think that a single fish-eating bird like a Great Blue Heron or a Great Egret or a Wood Stork could empty a small, backyard pond of all of its fish in pretty quick order. And it might even be illegal to try to chase the bird off.

We have a net over our koi pond. Herons have stopped to look.....but don’t touch.

We have a small pond with running water have wondered if the fish would last.

Could goldfish live off decaying leaves that fall into the water?

Probably would require some food supplement.
Do a search on, outdoor goldfish pond. (Plan on some maintenance work)

Hadn't thought of a net. but that would do it for most birds!

Koi Fish
 

If you Google Koi, you will find there is a Koi farm near Eustis or Tavares and one in Dunnellon. Also, Touch of Paradise in Ocala may have some Koi.

i'm curious, where is your pond, in or outdoors? i'd like one, but am afraid of wildlife killing them

Looking for goldfish
 

We have a pond back in Mass where we go for the summer. We used to have fish until a blue heron found it and ate every one two years in a row. We no longer put fish in and we still see heron fly over to check it out. We have tried a fake heron to no avail. We also had a hawk fly down. We tried a net but came home one day and found a small bird tangled in the net, so that came off. With the abundance of birds in TV I would hesitate to put fish, especially koi, in a pond where they would most likely be easy targets, but that is just my opinion having lived through it. Good luck with whatever your decision is. I love sitting by the pond and hearing the waterfall.

pet smart gold fish
 

I have 2 ponds and have actually really loved stocking them with small $.32 goldfish from PetSmart. Half of the fun is watching them grow. My ponds are not covered with nets. I lost fish in one pond to a predator about 3 years ago, but no incidence since. The only true basic requirement for success is to have some falling water (to aerate the pond). Both of my ponds current inhabitants are about 3 years old. They spawn around May of each year, but so far I have only 1 new offspring in each pond and they were spawned last year.

If your pond is not under a screen,
herons and other birds will find your fish and say, “ thank you”!

We used a plastic owl.
 

We had a large pond put some cinderblocks in there to provide a cover for the fish and a large plastic owl nearby to keep all other birds away, it worked, the fish would eat algae keeping it clean, we used feeder fish (fish usually grown to feed other fish, bought 100 at the time for $5.00 to $6.00, also had some Koi purchased initially for a few dollars each, they grew and when we moved we had some 18” long. Enjoy it but put some cover so they can hide from predators

Saw some for free yesterday on Nextdoor.com.

Check Mira Mesa next door. Someone had some for free yesterday.

Our experience
 

Our neighbor in Citrus County had a beautiful professionally built pond with waterfall and hiding places for the fish. Nestled up in the front of the house.

The raccoons got the big fish and the herons got the smaller fish - took them 2 weeks.