newbie needs advice

[trinity31]

Hello to you all, first of all i have been reading many posts on here in the last week or two so thought id sign up so i can respond if needed

I recently moved into a house where we were left a (very)small pond complete with pump filter and a few fish (i know some of them are goldfish but not sure about two of them).

Anyway the fish are usual quite laid back just swimming around as you'd expect fish to do, but this morning they are acting a bit odd, i took a bit of footage of the behaviour in hopes someone here could advise me whether i should be doing something or its just a natural fishy thing they are doing

I have kept goldfish before but only in small indoor tanks and if im honest they have never lasted that long :S

here is the link of the fish, hope someone can help

SDC10687.mp4 video by trinity317 - Photobucket

hope this works lol

[dampflippers]

Sorry, I don't know much about fish and pumps but my suggestions would be:

Is it mating or courting behaviour?
Is he water too warm and losing its oxygen?

[tom00_uk]

looks perfectly normal behaviour, possibly trying to spawn

how big is the pond as you have quite a few fish

if they had a area of thick weeds then the eggs would have a place to stick and you might end up with more fish, though that would exaggerate and overcrowding

[trinity31]

the pond is very small think i measured it at 56 inches by 34inches and a metre deep, the fish in there are what was in there when i moved in, all i have done is added oxygeanting floating plants which i have no idea what they are either, as i said ive been here for almost three months and today is the first time i have seen them acting like this. Now i have experienced what its like to own a pond all be it a tiny one, i want to build another next year which would be roughly three times the size of the one i already have, then i was just going to turn this one into a rockery with a water feature, i dont want to lose any fish but this is just a practise run so i know what to expect when i have a proper pond with a proper liner and everything next year :S

[GCN lova]

i dont know much about ornamental fish but they seem to be showing mating behaviour.

[kathateria]

With fish, you need to out number the males,with females.
If these are mostly males,they will all be after the females,which will kill them,due to the stress.
The size of the pond wont be helping,as she has no where to hide
Its impossible to sex a fish,unless you vent it,which is very difficult to do.

[tom00_uk]

for goldfish other thank milking them to see if they are male or female, you can also in the breeding season, look for the following physical features developing:

males develop breeding tubercles (white pimples) on the gill covers and on the leading edge of the pectoral fins

females develop a deeper body as they fill with roe (eggs), and have a larger vent (just before the anal fin) than the males

[Kayleigh]

The plant you have floating is a Water hyacinth they spread and will soon cover the whole pond its better to get some (hornwort) ceratophyllum demersum.
The floating hyacinth is a problem in the wild as its difficult to remove and multiplies rapidly for this reason its best to go for native water plants.

[tom00_uk]

not sure where in the UK you are but, unless your in a very warm and sheltered spot, the Water hyacinth should be killed off in winter, they don't survive well when protected as they are easily overcome by mould, there are lots of readily available natives, or if your after a formal garden with exotics then there are some that are less likely to be potentially invasive if they get out of the garden confines

if your keeping the fish then you will have to top any planters with gravel to try and reduce the amount of sediment disturbed into the water column.

SO goldfish made their way into my pond and they out breed the amount lost to predation so an occasional cull is needed to keep the numbers at a low enough level to not be over stocked

as a side note, it just as well your planning on replacing this pool at some point as the liner does not look as though its a "proper" pond liner so any plastic above the water line could degrade quite quickly from UV radiation resulting in the plastic becoming weak and falling apart,
Though as ornamental fish ponds go, this one could be quite nice, as the basics are there, if on the other hand you want a more natural wildlife pond then you will have to do a bit more work

[N0z]

Nothing to be worried about, their just courting (mating), the males will chase the females around frankicly trying to make the females release the eggs so the males can fertalize them