Belinda,

I'm not a fish expert at all, so I'll let others give you the advice on the care of your new watery pets.

However, I can help in the area of posting pictures. In the Gallery section there is a thread started by Brenda about how to post pictures. I have a Photobucket account and use it for posting here.

Anne

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Post Pictures in the Gallery

Well, you raise a lot of questions here. First off, how big is this container? Goldfish can get BIG, my feeder fish on their 3rd year and are 6 to 8 inches long. The "book" says 20 gallons min for the first goldfish and 10 gallon for each additional.

1. I would let the pump run 24/7. First if it is always on you can't forget to turn it on for a day or week. Next, it being hot you need to get all the oxygen you can into the water as hot water holds the least O2.

2. Feeding my fish is the best time of my day, but some people don't feed them and they seem to do fine. I guess it depends on how much algae and such is growing. If you expose your plants to the fish you may find the fish have completely eaten the plants, stems and all! Maybe not this year but maybe next year. I have to put slate tops around my Lilly to keep the roots intact.

That said, I have my plants in those plastic baskets with lots of holes so the water can flow in and out.

3. Don't empty the pond if you don't have too. Good things like good bacteria will grow. ("Good" smells like fresh dirt, "bad" smells like rotten eggs.) The main reason for a filter is to run water thru as much surface area as you can to get bacteria to grow to take care of the fish waste. Bacteria turn ammonia to nitrite to nitrate and the plants love to eat that! If you empty the pond you have to start all that over again, and good bacteria can take months to grow.

I have a small 200 gallon pond with a small pondmaster filter and I use batting from a craft store as the pre-filter to accumulate muck. Every 2-3 days I need to pull the pre-filer and rinse it off. I actually have 2 pre-filers so I never put one back in full of city water.

I've seen arrangements for small ponds where they just drop the filter into a small sealed plastic jar, punch holes, and fill with gravel. That gets a sort of filter going and leaves places for bacteria to grow. That needs to be rinsed out with pond water every so often.

4. Texas stays warm all winter, I go there from New York to enjoy your lovely warm Christmas! So that shouldn't be a worry.

5. Keeping the pond in the shade helps too, but it will eventually warm up to the average air temperature. If it stays in the low 80's it should be fine.

6. If the fish have good water and good food (either feed or from plants) then they will definitely grow. You'll see them get bigger month by month.

Good luck, I hope your fishies give you years of enjoyment!

Hi Belinda,

Yes, how big is your container pond? There are many here on the forum that can help answer your questions. We can give you better answers with more info.

I have several stock tank ponds, one for example that is about 125 gallons. No pump, lots of plants, and 2 feeder goldies for mosquito control. The water is crystal clear now, but early in the spring I always get an algae bloom. When the weather is hot I let the water overflow a bit every other or 3rd day to keep it cooler, but by the heat of summer the fish at least have lily pad shade. I don't feed these fish, they eat bugs and algae.

A foutain pump is fine if your container is smaller, a pond pump is just bigger, and whether or not you need a filter depends on the size of the pond, the fish load, and the number of plants.

IF you have a small container, 6 fish is alot. If you feed them they will waste food, and the decomposing food and fish poop will provide nutrients for the algae. Plants help filter the excess nutrients, and provide shade for the fish and deter algae growth. Running water from a pump will help increase oxygen and reduce stagnant water where insects thrive. So keep it going 24/7.

I had a 1/2 whiskey barrel several years ago. Several plants and 2 feeder goldies, and a tiny spitter to circulate water. It did ok, but while the plants thrived and the fish survived, something bigger was definately in order. Not much of a life for the fish. I moved them to a bigger pond and bought some mosquito dunks for the barrel.

S