Can you keep fish in a back yard pond?

Question

there is a small plastic pond in my back yard i was wondering if you could keep fish in there even in the winter? we get about a week of could weather so how would you keep it from freezing? and what kind of fish would you use?

i tryed to find links about this but no good ones came up so i would appreciate your help thanx

Answer 1

You can have goldfish and balance your pond ecologically. See

http://www.pondlady.com/Articles/pond_pl...

No koi....they eat everything and require huge filtration systems.  You would be fine in the winter.

Answer 2

It's kinda tough in a small pond.  They tend to gunk up with leaves and stuff - you'll have to put some effort into keeping it clean.  You'll also want a way to circulate and aerate the water.

Yes, inexpensive koi are okay.  Or consider some basic pond gold fish.  Gold fish are just fancy carp, and they're pretty tough little fish.

Also consider planting some water plants around the edge.  Plant them in pots that drain well, and just put the pot and everything down in the water.

Provided you can keep the water level up, the fish should survive a week or two of cold weather.  Turn the circulation pump off in the winter.

Answer 3

yes

Answer 4

u can keep fish in a back yard pond but BEWARE your neighbour's cat.

Answer 5

Get cheap koi, not the high dollar ones, you can also get cheap goldfish at wal marts, it works, I have done it

Dont worry about the cold as long as teh fish have gone into winter in the water and not put there from inside to winter outside in do transition.

Fish are very heardy

Answer 6

Koi are easy to care for.  However, it's the shallow pond that will need constant work. It needs to be constantly aerated, and kept clean of algae.  You'd have to take steady water tests and make sure the water temperature is just so.

And you'd need a few water plants to help keep the fish healthy.

If you live in a temperate area the fish could overwinter; they'd use the water plants as protection.

A good friend of mine had koi but over a few years would lose them all to neighborhood stray cats.  The pond was too shallow for the fish to protect themselves.

She eventually settled for a turtle.