I had great success with the goldfish and frogs breeding in the pond this year. I was worried the little babies would get eaten by the bigger fish or frogs, so I caught 18 of them and put them in a tub full of water. I was oxygenating the water regularly and changing some of the water too. I was feeding them mosqito lavae, wich they seemd to love, unfortunatly, I woke up this morning to find them all dead exept 1. I am so sad. What have I done wrong? I don't think it was overcrowding, as they were small fishys in a big tub. That'll teach me for mucking with natures ballance :tears:

Goldfish generally carry a lot of parasites which they can handle if in good conditions but the fry can't because they are so small. The more likely problem would be water shock fom a sudden change of temperature or chemistry.

So sorry about your fishies, Why don't you make yourself a home made breeding trap out of an old mosquito net or something. That way you can just catch the babies and put them in there, but they will still be safe in their pond water they were born in I might build a pond next year, so is very excited, though mine is going to be native

OH NO! in so sorry, i think goldfish are cool in ponds! &c:ry

:facepalm: Thanks everyone. That makes sence. I would say it would be the chemistry or parasite problem as I made sure the tub temp was the same as the pond. The breeding trap is a great idea. I have an old whitebait net that I can convert. I don't know if frogs eat fish fry, but the big fish defnatly do. Especially the 1 I caught in the river a year ago (who has reverted back to orange with a black stripe) Good to get them out of the river. I am currently looking to purchase a cheap solar fountain to float in the pond to help with the algae problem over summer. I have a 12v solar pannel and battery so if anyone knows where I can buy a small water or air pump for around $30 or trade for something, that info would be appreciated. The trees around the pond are getting bigger but not big enough to shade it properly yet. I love the idea of keeping natives in a pond, but understand that they need a good flow, so I am still working on the pond in the stream where the natives already thrive. Thanks again for the help. There are still about a dozen baby goldfish in the pond to save. Sam.

I leave mine in the pond. It is heavily planted so the majority of fry seem to survive.

:thup: That's great! I have a couple of lillys, but left the kaikuya roots drooping in the water this year. Helped a lot. I could plant all sorts if I got a pump, otherwise it would be too stagnant for most water plants. I hope to have this problem resolved soon. I usually throw some bunched up braken in the pond at the end of winter for them to lay their eggs in. Works pretty good as well. If I can get a pump, I will defnatly be planting it out. Cheers.

I am interested to know why they died as well. Presumably the tub of water ( was it dechlorinated? ) would be subject to severe temperature fluctuations which the pond would not due to thermal mass.

Nets don't work too well for spawning goldfish as they have sticky eggs and don't fall through the net. The usual trick is to put in a spawning media and pull it out along with the eggs after spawning and hatch elsewhere.

The water was rain water. I collect it from my roof, so may have been something from the zinc coating on the tin or other elements I guess. I should have used water from the pond that the goldfish live in. The baby fishys that were left in the pond are getting big now. I would say the adult fishys would have a hard time eating them these days. I keep them well fed too. I recently bought 1 of these lilly pad water fountains to help keep the water moving. The fish play in the splashes. I would like to get a couple more. I planted some watercress in the pond today. Fingers crossed. 8) And cheers for the heads up re the net.

Or lack of elements .... since it is like distilling water. And lacking any significant amount of elements, it would also not have much buffering capacity.

Buffering capacit? What ir that please? I kina understand about the oxygen and elements, but still have a lot to learn about keeping fish

http://www.chembuddy.com/?left=pH-calculation&right=pH-buffer-capacity

So, your tap water will have various dissolved salts in it and will be classed as hard or soft water whatever the case may be. Lots of places where the water is taken from a deep aquifer like Napier will have hard water. This allows some protection against sudden changes in pH. Although goldfish tolerate a wide range of pH, the change should be very gradual and not sudden. Rainwater lacks this capacity.

Thanks very much!

Yesterday I emptied the fish pond and gave it a proper cleanout as the water was completly green and it was full of rotting vegetation. I counted 30 baby fish and the origional 3 adult parent fish. I refilled the pond with fresh rainwater and put the fish back in the pond with the water fountain. Overnight all 30 baby fish were dead and today 1 of the large fish also died. I am thinking I still don't quite understand how ponds and pond fish work. So dissapointing. Today I planted lots of lilies and watercress in there to help the remaining 2 fish and planted a variety of bromilliad plants around the edge wich complement the existing plants quite well.. So all up this week, I went from having 50 pond fish down to 2. I feel ashamed and helpless. :facepalm: I intend to get a second solar water pump set up and plant some oxygen weed. Really hoping the remaining 2 big fish survive!!!

Normally one does a 25% water change or in an emergency 50% water change. The fact that your goldfish had babies indicated that the pond was in good shape, so unfortunately what you did was the worst thing you can do. Green algae is not harmful to the fish, and if the vegetation were rotting, the filter was working sufficiently.

You don't mention what else you cleaned but hopefully the biological filter is still in place. You need to get an ammonia test kit to check ammonia levels in case you've caused your whole pond to recycle.

Ok. Thanks. I will get an Ammonia test kit this week. A big lesson to learn the hard way. I know the algae isn't harmfull to the fish, but if you can't see your fish, there isn't much point in having them. The one that died today was friendly and used to come up and feed from my hand. I'm going to miss him especially.

Google Koi Pearl for a way to see your goldfish in a murky pond.

The water was rain water. I collect it from my roof, so may have been something from the zinc coating on the tin or other elements I guess. I should have used water from the pond that the goldfish live in.

Yesterday I emptied the fish pond and gave it a proper cleanout as the water was completly green and it was full of rotting vegetation. I counted 30 baby fish and the origional 3 adult parent fish. I refilled the pond with fresh rainwater and put the fish back in the pond with the water fountain. Overnight all 30 baby fish were dead and today 1 of the large fish also died. I am thinking I still don't quite understand how ponds and pond fish work.

How big is this pond? If it now only has 2 fish in it I doubt you will have ammonia problems. Did you take all the fish out of the tub and put them all back in the pond?

I was pointing out that if he has thoroughly cleansed this pond, and destroyed the biological filter, he may now expect the whole pond to recycle. It won't be just from the fish waste but other plant material that falls into the pond and starts to decay.

I am thinking I still don't quite understand how ponds and pond fish work.

Let me help, here is why they died...

yesterday I emptied the fish pond and gave it a proper cleanout

I refilled the pond with fresh rainwater and put the fish back in the pond

You stressed them too much with huge changes in water chemistry. Pond fish don't really work any differently than tank fish.