Comet Goldfish Pond

I guess everyone is aware of what awaits a lot of the 25 cent "feeder goldfish". I'm wanting to start up a pond shortly specifically for Comets. I was originally planning on a koi pond, but after seeing Comets in unimaginable conditions at a local Petco, I decided I'd rather go with Comets. How many gallons should I have pet fish? I'm wanting a deeper pond rather than a wider one.

 

I guess it depends on how many fish and how much space you have. it's easier to build the pond first and then stock because you can always take away/buy more fish. Rebuilding a pond is HARD.

I'd say maybe as a starting ground, 1" of fish per 10g?

 

I've heard between 500-1500 gallons a fish, I want to have an idea of how big the pond should be. My plan is to make it bigger than my original thought. I many go with 300 gallons a fish? Maybe 15,000 gallons?

 

300g per fish? That doesn't sound right. Up to you though.

 

Holy mackerel that sounds like overkill...but then again if they reach their full possible size of 12-18" then yeah I could see that... Jupe spent one too many winters in a small tank so he's not getting any bigger.
7.5 gallons in one cubic foot. (Feet? I no speak English)

Ok, so a pond 6' by 4' by 2.5' is 60 cubic feet.
450 g.

 

It does sound like a lot. I don't know for sure. I was thinking 15ft by 15ft by 5ft. I'm not sure. Maybe 20 by 20 by 4? That's just a bit less than 20,00 gallons. This is the reason I wanted to plan it out ahead of time.

 

so usually people say 300 gallons per fish or 500-1000 gallons per fish. But that's for koi. Koi can get to 2 ft long and produce a ton of waste (feeding 3-5 times a day). Comets do also produce lots of waste, but they only get to a foot long (maybe even 8").

In a 15,000 to 20,000 gallon pond, you can so many comets that you'll lose count. I'd say you can put a comet per 50 gallons comfortably.

 

In my smaller pond I went with around 50 gallons per fish, but I can do water changes in my sized pond. Maybe 150-200 gallons per fish? If it's 15,000 gallons, that's 100-75 comet goldfish, and you'd still have room for a koi. lol

Maybe start with one koi and 30 or so goldfish and let the goldfish breed?

Glad you're doing this so the feeders will go to a good home!

 

You have to post pictures when your done. I want to go mark out a 20' foot pond just to see how big it is.

 

Just make sure you cycle it first!

 

Just make sure you cycle it first!

How the heck do you cycle a 20,000 gallon pond?!?!

 

Hmm oh yeah, you make a point 2211Nighthawk . I guess I was just worried about adding 100 comets at once.

 

You don't do a fishless cycle. You start out with some water-purifying plants like water hyacinth or water lettuce and a small number of small goldies, and do a fish-in cycle.

 

I did a fishless cycle in my pond (which is 1600 gallons)

Around 50-100 gallons per goldfish is good and 500 gallons per koi.

 

I reccomend 100-150 gallons per Comet. They get huge.

 

We have a 300gallon pond with 6 x 4 inch Red Comets, they are doing really well this year.
About 50gallons per fish seems sensible, any more would be crowded IMO.
They dart around a lot and only shoal together when we feed them, which they think is going to be every time we
walk by the Pond.

Regards
Tibbs