# Breeding nuisance!



## Swampy (29 Mar 2009)

Sorry if this question has already been asked...
I have a 900 gallon pond full of over sexed goldfish, in the past Ive shipped them on to LFS, e-bay etc. Ive been thinking of adding a species of coldwater fish to keep the numbers of goldfish down. I had even thought of using perch, as an angler I know what these little fish are like for eating small fish, but the down side, once grown, an adult perch could easly eat any of my adult goldfish!
If anyone has an idea for a small pond, to keep the numbers down, (_Not my wifes idea of bromide_) Im all ears!

On a different subject, Ive now replanted my pond and seen the post by ceg4048 but and am a little unsure about using garden ferts in a pond with fish. What is a safe dosing level?


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## Ed Seeley (29 Mar 2009)

Can't help on the ferts, my koi produce plenty of nutrients for the plants in my pond and, as I want my koi to grow as much as possible, the last thing I want to do is increase the TDS by adding ferts!  I spend all my time doing lots of filter cleanings to keep it down!

As to the breeding then there are some semi-predatory fish you could use.  Orfe are close relatives of chub and will eat any small fish.  However in many ponds the parent fish will eat the eggs and fry and keep numbers down.  Is your pond very heavily planted?  If so there may be too many places to hide.  I think your idea of a small shoal of perch might work really well.  Once they get to 8" or so (probably in a couple of years) I'm sure a good LFS will happily swap them for smaller ones as someone is bound to snap big perch up as they'd make really great coldwater oddball fish for someone who likes predatory fish!  They'd look great in a large tank with bamboo sticks to look like reeds!


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## Acrantophis (9 Apr 2009)

Go out and buy some spawning ropes, let the Goldfish spawn into these and then remove the ropes before they eggs hatch. This should keep the numbers down with the minimal amount of effort on your part.


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## Swampy (18 Apr 2009)

Acrantophis said:
			
		

> Go out and buy some spawning ropes, let the Goldfish spawn into these and then remove the ropes before they eggs hatch. This should keep the numbers down with the minimal amount of effort on your part.



That's a good idea, ill try that.


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