Goldfish And Ponds

BethK · Jun 15, 2010

A friend of mine has 4 fancy goldfish, they are small and a family member brought them for her son as an xmas present. After telling her about gold fish and their sizes etc, she has become worried. She called our LFS who will not take the fish, even for free.

So, she has asked, could she put them in a pond. The pond she is referring to is a big pond in the village and not a controlled garden pond. I wasn't sure about this at all, so thought I would ask you guys.

I've asked her to look for proper garden ponds for the moment and not to act in the heat of the moment.

chigwellhammer · Jun 15, 2010

A goldfish is a goldfish at the end of the day and many people end up putting goldfish into ponds anyway so i would say yes but i would wait for a more experienced fish owner to give an answer

dipsydoodlenoodle · Jun 15, 2010

Personally I would say no. How would they be fed? Are there other fish in there? Prdators?

Ryefish · Jun 15, 2010

Its illegal to release goldfish into ponds

chigwellhammer · Jun 15, 2010

Oh okay hope you didn't listen to me lol

stuuk1 · Jun 16, 2010

Im pretty sure that if someone saw you throwing a few goldfish in a pond and called the police.... the police would put the phone down and laugh.

spectrum · Jun 16, 2010

Yes I think it probably is illegal, however most people won't care because the chances of them breeding are probably low, and they will live longer and happier lives in a big pond.

stang1 · Jun 16, 2010

If they are the fancy variety, then they may not do so well in a pond. If kept with normal goldfish, they are normally out-competed for food as they move a lot slower. The other problem is wintertime, many fancies don't tolerate the big drop in temperature.
It might be worth ringing round different stores to see if someone will take them, failing that it would be worth advertising them.

BethK · Jun 16, 2010

Cheers for the replies x

Ryefish · Jun 17, 2010

stuuk1 said:
Im pretty sure that if someone saw you throwing a few goldfish in a pond and called the police.... the police would put the phone down and laugh.

im sure the animal liaison officer (who is still a police officer) wouldnt, which is who the police would pass this on to (every district / county has one)

you can get fined a hell of a lot of money for just releasing a goldfish