Planning a new project..

[jay24]

Im in the process of constructing a pond that will be ready in late Feb, the ponds planned to be 3-400 gallons. So please note that I do have the space for these fish as they grow before reading.

Instead of purchasing a glass tank for the fish that I'm moving to the pond in Feb anyway I'm going with a 45 gallon heavy duty Rubbermaid to save on cost. I'm planning on making my pond a cold water/texas native setup and am wanting to get started on stock.

I want to use the 45 to house the rosy red minnows I plan to add. Adding gravel, lots of rock work and some plants. A 60 gallon HOB filter and another 15 HOB for filtration. Ph is neutral and water is room temp, around 66. I'm wanting to go ahead and get a decent sized shoal, how many would u guys recommend? I'm hoping I can get them breeding and by Feb to keep the setup to raise feeders for my other fish.

And, would I be able to add some small common goldfish to the rosy red minnows to fill the 45 gallon? If so, how many of each could I add without overstocking? I was hoping for a dozen 2 inch commons and two or three dozen rosy reds, considering the fish will be moved to the pond in a month or so. With weekly water changes of %90 would this be OK?

Any help would be awesome, I just don't want to overstock.

Thanks!

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[Dnoel5787]

I have a 400 gallon pond in Colorado and keep both fish. I would recommend just the minnows for a while as they are often sick/parasite infested at the store. This way, you can let the ones that are not going to make it weed themselves out before adding a goldfish that may get sick. 20 or so would probably be okay, but that would nearly max out 45 gallons, though the frequent water changes will help. Plants would help even more. Maybe you want to start growing some water hyacinth or something to eat up nitrates. Make sure the filters are well established by adding the fish in small bits (5 or so at a time). After you've had your minnows for 3-4 weeks, you could make sure your water parameters are healthy (0 ammonia and 0 nitrites), then you could start growing a few small goldfish. Feeder comets are super cheap and great for ponds, but I also really love Shubunkins (poor man's koi) because they have much better coloration and stay small enough for your pond. Keep surface area at the top and bottom of the pond in mind as well, though, since these fish will be competing for the same swimming level. I would not do more than about 10-12 goldfish for most 400 gallons unless the pond is fairly shallow (but won't freeze solid in winter) and therefore has lots of square footage. Mine is roughly 3 feet deep and 5.5 feet long by 4 feet wide (ish), and it is well stocked with the 10 goldfish I have in there. They grow large quickly in the pond, and they poop like crazy (feeding algae), so don't overestimate the pond volume.