Fish for the garden pond is the icing on the cake for most owners of such systems. However, the selection of species should still be very targeted in order to avoid ecological overloading of the system. The size and depth of the water surface also plays a crucial role.
Which fish are suitable for the garden pond?
Species of fish suitable for the garden pond include bitterling, gudgeon, gudgeon, dogfish, koi carp, lizard, peacock bass, roach, veiltail, as well as silver and golden orfe. Make sure there is sufficient water depth, tolerable amounts of food and suitable habitats for the selected species.
First of all, it is important that the garden pond must meet some very important requirements as a habitat for the animals. First of all, the size of the body of water, but also the depth, should be considered as an elementary basic requirement. An 80 cm deep prefabricated tank that freezes over immediately in winter is definitely not suitable for stocking fish, because thewater depth should be around 150 cm, at least. It should be noted that:
- Each species of fish requires a certain minimum number;
- the species cannot take food from each other or eat each other;
- There are habitats such as hiding places, different surfaces and zones of different depths for every type.
What fish food does a garden pond need?
Some fish species prefer dry food, others like live, fresh food. There should only be as much food for the fish in the garden pond as is actually used, so there should be no excess. Many fish do not need to be fed at all, some species no longer accept food when the water temperature drops to around 10°C. You should therefore be careful not to add fish indiscriminately to your garden pond if you want life in the water to be problem-free, and you should also not forget that fish also grow over the course of their lives. A brief overview of which species are suitable for your garden pond:
| fish species | expected size |
|---|---|
| Bitterling (Rhodeus sericeus amarus | 6 to 10 cm |
| Eyeweed (Phoxinus phoxinus) | 8 to 12 cm |
| Gudgeon (Gobio gobio) | 10 to 15 cm |
| Dogfish (Umbra krameri) | 12 to 15 cm |
| Koi carp | up to 120 cm |
| Moderlieschen (Leucaspius delineatus) | 9 to 10 cm |
| Peacock bass (Centrarchus macropterus) | 12 to 15 cm |
| Roach (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) | 15 to 35 cm |
| Veiltail | 10 to 20 cm |
| Silver and gold orbs (Leuciscus idus) | 30 to 50 cm |
Feeding the fish in the garden pond
The amount of food not only has a major influence on the fish population itself, but also on its reproduction, from which two constellations for the pond are derived:
- If there is a lot of feeding, all young fish survive, their reproduction is very high and ecological overload gradually sets in.
- If you feed little and moderately, part of the fish fry will be used as food by their peers, which leads to the desired ecological stability.
Therefore, the fish for the garden pond should only be fed every other day and only in quantities thatcan be completely destroyed within 10 minutes. If there was still food floating on the surface of the pond, the amount was clearly too much.
Tip
Even if it may be difficult to understand: Koi are not for the “normal” garden pond. In order to survive in winter, these fish need water depths of at least two meters and the pond itself needs a powerful filter system.