>>>> > You could, but I wouldn't if the idea is to clean the pond. Friends >>>> > of ours had a BEAUTIFUL, springfed, swimming pond on their property. >>>> > They decided to introduce some koi and ornamental goldfish into it. . >>>> > . Well, it's not a beautiful swimming pond anymore. The fish >>>> > reproduced like crazy and the water is always muddy/dirty looking >>>> > now, even with the addition of two fountains to try to aerate things. Goldfish are dirty. > > > I don't believe that's true.
You might if you saw our friend's pond. They had native fish species in it prior to adding the goldfish and koi and it was always clear and clean-looking. But after two years of adding the ornamental fish, it changed. > Our goldfish pond is usually very clear, although there are times when it > becomes somewhat murky. < I am not talking about a smaller, backyard ornamental pre-formed or lined pond that have grown immensely popular in the last 5 -10 years -- we had one of those too with goldfish, potted waterlilies, etc. We always added floating Water Hyasinths (spelling!) to it every summer to help keep the water clear and it did very well. And we seldom fed the fish. They reproduced in it, but for some reason, we never got an over-abundance of them -- maybe 5 extra than what we started with? No, I was speaking about adding goldfish / koi to a larger, farm pond with dirt bottom situation of half an acre or more -- which is what Virginia has (unless I'm mistaken?). I don't think adding goldfish would be wise if she wants to clean it up simply because in a more natural environment without sufficient predation, goldfish will breed like crazy, stirring up the dirt bottom in the shallows constantly and eventually over-run the pond with their numbers. We had a "gray water" pond at our previous house. I turned a DOZEN feeder goldfish into it one summer. . . . At first it was nice, and then, within a couple of years we had the same situation as our friend's going on -- muddy-looking water, TONS of goldfish. But it was never a nice "swimming pond" to begin with, so we didn't worry about it. And it attracted lovely blue herons, though they never seemed to make a dent in the fish population despite their best efforts!. : ) -- Renee M. in Michigan
