transferring my newt and fishes

[Edd]

I had a small pond in my garden, but though it looked nice in the summer there was not much invertabrate life and it was directly beneath trees and so went stagnent in the winter. So i made a bigger pond in a better location, i was emptying my old pond and discovered, to my suprise, that all these stone loaches and gudgeon i put there last summer had survived the winter in my leaf ridden pond, and also there was a palmate newt who looked as if she were pregnant (there was a swelling around her lower stomach), i plan to move all these to my new pond, but will they be ok if i do so? and if the newt was planning on laying in my old pond will she do so in my new one instead? confused:

[dampflippers]

Hi Edd, are you able to keep both ponds? If so, I would have one pond with fish in and the other without which is best for newts. The fish will eat her eggs and babies, so if you want to favur the newts, keep them separate.

Personally I would keep the old pond as the fish pond (top up again and add some oxygenators), and make the new one a fish free wildlife pond. But I'm biased!)

[Edd]

Cheers, i thought it was a bit odd that the newt came to the pond in the first place, i figured maybe it was because the loaches stay at the bottom and are well camoflaged. I dont think ill be able to keep both ponds, so should i leave it as it is or release the fish?

[Edd]

Actually i think ill keep both ponds and build a net for the smaller fish pond. Thanks very much for the advice.
Edd

[King Edward]

What's the net for? Newts and other creatures will move between the two ponds as they prefer, so I wouldn't worry about the fish since you have another fish free pond. Even if their breeding success is lower in the fish pond, it's still useful habitat for them. Plus, nets can be dangerous for creatures which can easily get tangled up.

[dampflippers]

Originally Posted by King Edward

What's the net for? Newts and other creatures will move between the two ponds as they prefer, so I wouldn't worry about the fish since you have another fish free pond. Even if their breeding success is lower in the fish pond, it's still useful habitat for them. Plus, nets can be dangerous for creatures which can easily get tangled up.

I think the net is to keep leaves out because it is benesath trees and went stagnant.
It needs to be taut so noting gets caught up in it, and there needs to be a big enough gap for amphibians, birds and hedgehogs to get to the water to drink or bathe.