What Fish for Large Garden Pond?

[TonyMc]

I have a large garden pond - roughly 25 x 12 yards in size and approx 5 feet deep at the centre.
I would really like to put some fish in the pond but I don't want ornamental fish e.g koi etc. Instead, I would like to get something more 'natural' that can live easily in the pond.
Can anyone suggest a good species (or two)?
Many thanks in advance.

[GCN lova]

if its a wildlife pond there should definitely be NO fish. i think sticklebacks would be more natural as they can be found in streams, pond and ditches.

EDIT: realised you said big fish so that rules sticklebacks out because they're about 6 cm long.

2nd EDIT: sticklebacks will probably be ok in a pond as large as yours if its for wildlife.

[tom00_uk]

tench can cope with lower oxygen levels that are present in ponds,

when the population gets to high they make an OK table fish

[King Edward]

Why do you want fish in the pond? If it's for general wildlife interest then you'd be better off without any fish. I don't know if you have any Great Crested Newts in your pond/area, but they'd ought to do well in a fish-free pond this size. Dragonflies and a lot of other aquatic life as well would also do better without fish.

If you want fish so you can watch them swimming around, I doubt Tench and Stickleback would be that great because the first spends a lot of time rooting in the mud and the second is very small. I'd have thought either Goldfish (non-native) or Golden Rudd (native) would be OK.

[tom00_uk]

tench were suggested as they are the native carp for the UK, unlike goldfish which is a heavily worked on carp from the East, that TonyMc suggested they did not want. All carp like to root around in the substrate so if you have any silt in the pond it will often resulted in high turbidity.

Dorts provided a list on here a little while ago that can be found at Native British pond fish

but the post was

My list of fish that would be naturally native to an average size pond, say up to 2 acres, would be:
Common Carp
Crucian Carp
Pike
Perch
Roach
Rudd
Tench
Stickleback (3 & 10 spined)
Common Eel
I can think of no others, other than those that may have been introduced.
Dorts.