@Deanasue and anyone else who knows goldfish and ponds, may I pick your brains a little about my parent's garden pond please? I know almost nothing about goldfish or ponds, or controlling the breeding in there, and wondering if I need to start fishing out some youngsters to take to LFS since it seems to be getting a bit crowded in there. 
I can't calculate volume sadly, I remember helping my dad dig out and make the pond when I was a kid. I just stepped it out and it's roughly 14 feet by 8 feet, gets much deeper in the middle, and one end is pretty shallow where the fish come for food and sunbathe.
There's roughly 15/18 adult fish in there, mostly common goldfish, and about three adult long tailed shubunkins (love those, they're so beautiful). Most have been in there for years and years, he never buys new stock. The shubunkins were rescues that my uncle gave him maybe 5 years ago. The fish are fed in summer, pond water gets topped up every week or two in the summer, and elodea and other plants get thinned out maybe twice a year or they'll clog all the swimming space. Other than that, the fish are left to pretty much do their own thing, pond is about 25 years old, and frogs/toads and newts live and breed there too. Oh, a heron almost cleared out the pond a long time ago, hence the cover.
Usually notice a few new young fish every year, 2-3, the shubunkins have been busy each year, but have only really noticed recently that there are a lot more dark, almost black fish in there than I knew. With all the plant in there plus the way the sun reflects, can be hard to track. Some adult/sub adult size, and this year alone, I've been able to count 9 new almost black new goldfish, along with 4 or 5 baby shubunkins (a couple are guppy sized, they're so cute). I'm a bit worried that if the fish keep breeding like this, the pond won't be able to sustain so many. On the other hand, I don't think he's removed any fish over the last 25 years, so I just sort of assumed they were self balancing? Not sure whether to leave them be, or if it will get/is horribly overstocked. Or why they might be breeding more successfully than over the last decades? The "new" shubunkin stock maybe? Maybe the other goldfish were too old to breed much before or something, but that wouldn't account for so many normal, wild type goldfish now. Any advice much appreciated!
I can't calculate volume sadly, I remember helping my dad dig out and make the pond when I was a kid. I just stepped it out and it's roughly 14 feet by 8 feet, gets much deeper in the middle, and one end is pretty shallow where the fish come for food and sunbathe.
There's roughly 15/18 adult fish in there, mostly common goldfish, and about three adult long tailed shubunkins (love those, they're so beautiful). Most have been in there for years and years, he never buys new stock. The shubunkins were rescues that my uncle gave him maybe 5 years ago. The fish are fed in summer, pond water gets topped up every week or two in the summer, and elodea and other plants get thinned out maybe twice a year or they'll clog all the swimming space. Other than that, the fish are left to pretty much do their own thing, pond is about 25 years old, and frogs/toads and newts live and breed there too. Oh, a heron almost cleared out the pond a long time ago, hence the cover.
Usually notice a few new young fish every year, 2-3, the shubunkins have been busy each year, but have only really noticed recently that there are a lot more dark, almost black fish in there than I knew. With all the plant in there plus the way the sun reflects, can be hard to track. Some adult/sub adult size, and this year alone, I've been able to count 9 new almost black new goldfish, along with 4 or 5 baby shubunkins (a couple are guppy sized, they're so cute). I'm a bit worried that if the fish keep breeding like this, the pond won't be able to sustain so many. On the other hand, I don't think he's removed any fish over the last 25 years, so I just sort of assumed they were self balancing? Not sure whether to leave them be, or if it will get/is horribly overstocked. Or why they might be breeding more successfully than over the last decades? The "new" shubunkin stock maybe? Maybe the other goldfish were too old to breed much before or something, but that wouldn't account for so many normal, wild type goldfish now. Any advice much appreciated!
