fish for a wildlife pond

[jedders]

this may have already been covered, but was wondering what fish i could introduce into a new pond? ive heard that goldfish can be a problem by eating everything. i am more interested in tench. would gold or green have a negative effect on the pondlife? we tried introducing what i thought was sticklebacks or some other kind of small fish from a local canal, but they didn't survive.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

If you introduce Tench there is a good chance you will never see them as they are mainly bottom dwellers We have goldfish and they don't cause any damage. You could look at putting in Rudd or a similar species

[Dan Salter]

I disagree

Pretty much any fish even sticklebacks will have an effect on the wildlife in your pond. With regard to frog, newt eggs or toad spawn fish will gobble it up.

The general rule is fish pond = fish .....wildlife pond = no fish..but of course the decision is yours.

Soze of the pond and number of fish will come into it too.

If you have a lake and put in one stickleback...your still going to get spawn from frogs....but a few sticklebacks/goldfish/ or any other fish will soon multiply and take advantage.

[Cazzie]

Hafta agree with Dan, if you want a true wildlife pond then just don't stock it with any fish whatsoever

[nightshade]

I have Goldfish a Tench and a couple of Orfe the rest of the pond is full up with
Frogs and Toads there are Dragons and Damsels
I feel a wildlife pond should not really have fish but the lioness adores them,
if I walk up nothing happens if the lioness walks up the fish are practically
tail walking!!

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Aren't fish wildlife these days? at the end of the day if you like looking at fish in a pond then why not put them in species like Rudd won't have a huge effect on Tadpole numbers etc, i suppose it all depends if you class fish as wildlife!

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly

Aren't fish wildlife these days? at the end of the day if you like looking at fish in a pond then why not put them in species like Rudd won't have a huge effect on Tadpole numbers etc, i suppose it all depends if you class fish as wildlife!

I certainly class native fish as wildlife. Yes fish can predate other pondlife, but in turn can provide food for others, whether it's a hawker nymph eating a stickleback or a Kingfisher or Heron taking fish. The size of pond + the amount of cover may be factors in whether you wish to include fish.

Certainly I've seen some fine wildlife ponds with thriving amphibian + dragonfly populations as well as fish. The choice is yours.

[Purplepixii]

I have goldfish, shubunkins, koi and tench (btw the tench are almost hand-feedable and always come up for food). I think I have a variety of carp too but I've never quite been able to name it...

I also have liles, frogs and the occasional dragonfly buzzes by.

The only problem with fish + frogs is that fish will eat the frogspawn / tadpoles. If you can keep the fish & spawn/tadpoles separate (it's doable) then there is no reason why you can't have both.

I'm going to be re-doing my pond soon (as mentioned in an earlier post). I intend to slightly re-shape the current pond then at one end it will slope to a small wildlife pond which the fish can't get to. This way I am hoping to have the best of both worlds.

A pond with fish in is a joy to me. I love going out to feed them and seeing them come to the surface blowing me kisses And after dark I love seeing the frogs out and about

Purplepixii

[Perry Grin]

Originally Posted by jedders

this may have already been covered, but was wondering what fish i could introduce into a new pond? ive heard that goldfish can be a problem by eating everything. i am more interested in tench. would gold or green have a negative effect on the pondlife? we tried introducing what i thought was sticklebacks or some other kind of small fish from a local canal, but they didn't survive.

If you want a true wildlife pond, with frogspawn, insect larvae, snails and all the rest you need to limit the number of fish you stock or they will munch pretty much everything there is.

I'd stick to native, maybe a couple of rudd and some sticklebacks, depending on the size of your pond. As has been said above, you won't really see the tench but the rudd will stay close to the surface.

Or have two ponds (that's what I plan once I've sweet-talked the missus), my current one has goldfish but not much else, the new one will be fish-free.

[Dogghound]

Another problem with species like sticklebacks and even rudd is they do breed and at times afew fish can turn into alot. A couple of tench would probrably do little damage they do like to eat chironomid larvae etc and as they grow larger food. Rudd prefer feeding of fallen insects on the top. If approached in the right way and the ponds large enough you could probrably get away with it, without a massive environmental impact