Fancy Goldfish in ponds -- Your experience

[Eug]

Fellow goldfish enthusiasts...

My parents have had a pond in their backyard for the past 5 years, and the original occupants (six comet goldfish) have been fruitful and multiplied over the successive years, and have wintered well with minimal intervention.

My folks would now like to try something a little fancier -- possibly fantails or orandas. I have no practical experience as to how well these will do in a pond environment -- both in terms of how well they can survive wintering, and how well they would do with a couple of dozen very energetic comet pond mates.

I would appreciate any insight from other pond-keepers...

Best Regards,

Eug

[reefrunner69]

to AquariumAdvice.com!!

both in terms of how well they can survive wintering,

I really don't know, but I suspect they would winter poorly, especially in your climate.

and how well they would do with a couple of dozen very energetic comet pond mates.

Orandas and fantails are fat bellied, slow and clumsy goldfish, this will put them at a severe disadvantage come feeding time. IMO, they will not be able to compete with the comets for food, there are also predators to think about, the fancy goldfish are so slow and clumsy, they may as well be happy meals, they would stand no chance.

If your parents would like something more fancy, why not suggest some nice koi, butterfly koi are pretty fancy and can compete with the comets for food and stand a chance against predators.

Well, aren't I embarrassed

I've been talking about keeping fantails in my pond when actually.. they aren't. I have commons, Shubunkins, and Comets. The Comets were where my confusion came in, they have such long tails, I made some sort of moronic assumption and jumped straight to the name Fantail.

I Was Wrong!!!

Reefrunner is 100% correct in regards to Fantails and Orandas.

Now, regarding Koi, there are 2 factors that come to mind. 1, they get big, real big, and need a very large pond, more than any gold fish variety would need. 2, they dig up, eat, and otherwise destroy all your underwater vegitation. If you have water lillies and want to keep them, don't go for koi.

If you shop around, I bet you can find some really nice Shubunkins or fancy Comets, that will be prettier than the ones you have now, and will be hardy enough to overwinter and get thier fair share of food.

[pondmom]

I tried the fancy goldfish in my pond and ended up removing them as the other fish would pick on them and rough them up.
I also have Koi which are not the best with fancy goldfish.
Good luck.

[bumblebean]

I found a few absolutely crimson goldfish at my local pond store. They have multiplied a bit and their color really sets the pond off nicely. They get big and fat too