Fish in a natural pond

[Pequot Lady]

Dear friends

I have a natural pond in my garden in Connecticut. Its about 30ft diameter and about 30 inches deep at its deepest point. The water filters down through the base into the water course and is picked up in my natural well about 80 feet underground. I have a pump in my well which recirculates the water back into the pond via a waterfall. The whole is designed to work as a geothermal system to cool our house in summer and help to heat in winter.

I want to keep fish in my pond but all the advice I find on websites refers to lined ponds. It seems to me that the incoming water in winter will actually warm the pond rather than cool it. At present the incoming water is about 57 deg F and the pond is about 62 deg F. But in winter, the incoming water will be about 52 deg F and the pond will be close to freezing.

If anyone has advice what we need specifically to do with this sort of pond, I'd really welcome it. I think the environment in such a large water volume will be pretty stable anyway. But I don't want to find dead fish in the Spring.

Thanks so much. Yours,

Pequot Lady.

[cocoa_pleco]

sorry, dont know anything about ponds, but welcome to ac!

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Why not put native fish in your pond?
That way, they are already used to your climate conditions and should be fine!

And as the mighty Cocoa_Pleco said, welcome aboard!

[S13DWS]

Welcome to AC

Hope someone can help you with this soon enough.. im sure Dave66 will know something about it!!!!! :)

BTW Puegots ROCK!

[Lady Hobbs]

Koi need temps in the 70's so even those would probably not make it in an unheated pond. Winters can get rather brutal in CT. They do have pond heaters but I believe those only keep the ice on top melted should it freeze over.

My son has fish in his pond here in MI but he's just got some perch and those native to the area.

[gm72]

I'm not sure you will be able to keep fish alive in that constant cold. Even goldfish need slightly warmer temperatures for at least part of the year. They can survive in freezing or even frozen conditions though.

[tropfish]

You should get some native fish, and native water plants, make it a whole natural/native display

and welcome to the forum!

[jeffs99dime]

welcome to a.c.

[MeganL3985]

Welcome to the AC! :)

[MeganL3985]

BTW Puegots ROCK!

Are you thinking of Peugeot car brand? haha Yes, those are cool but I think her member name is from the Pequot native american tribe from Connecticut. lol

[Drumachine09]

Your best bet would be to do native species. Im sure there are loads of small panfish species in the area that would be a great addition to your pond. you could create an ideal habitat for them,by putting in some native plants, with some driftwood structures, so they feel at home.

[gm72]

That's a great response, Drum. Agreed with the last post to that regard also. Native fish and plants/driftwood? INCREDIBLE!

[Drumachine09]

I would go fishing in it.....

My uncle has a pond on his farm, and he did the same thing, and he has a TON of perch in it. He feeds them cherios, and they follow him around the pond, flipping and jumping hoping for food.


Another side note, i would just stick to panfish, as bass, catfish, carp, and other larger game fish can get very large, reqiring alot of space to move, and they would end up using your panfish for food in the end.

Unless you wanted to do a species only pond, id keep them out.

[Ark6ie]

welcome to the forum and good luck with your pond :19:

[S13DWS]

Are you thinking of Peugeot car brand? haha Yes, those are cool but I think her member name is from the Pequot native american tribe from Connecticut. lol

Lol OMG i completely misread what her name was... thats awful!!!
Yes i was thinking of cars lol goes to show how narrow minded i am lol!!!