Starting a pond, sort of...

[eatyourpeas]

I am considering populating a pond with fish. It is outdoors, unheated, with a submerged pump that somewhat circulates the water. Currently inhabited by frogs, scuds, daphnia, copepods, ostracods, mosquito larvae and who knows what. It is heavily planted with water lilies, duckweed and white snowflakes. I will get the parameters as soon as I can but here are the preliminaries:
450 gal.
Rain water as water source
12 years old
Temp. range: 45F - 80F approx.

Would White Cloud Mountain Minnows work?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Do you have a problem with birds in your area? WCMM would make a tasty snack.

WCMM are very small, and could easily be eaten by any pest. Maybe looked into goldfish?

 

[eatyourpeas]

Updating parameters:

Ammonia: 0 - NO2: 0 - NO3: 0
pH: 6.2
KH: 40 ppm
GH: 30 ppm

Here is a picture:


@PheonixKingZ Yes, there are birds. Bald eagles, great blue herons, pheasants, ravens, ospreys, geese, ducks, seagulls. Most of these stay on the other side of the bamboo where the harbor is and catch fish there. The lily pads are the size of large dinner plates, so they can offer some shelter.

Now that I know the parameters it should be easier to figure out fish.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you leave it for the frogs?
They are endangered all around the world so if you have a healthy population of frogs in your backyard, leave them be.

If you add fish to the pond, the frogs could catch something from them and that might be the end of the frogs.

Depending on what species of frog, White Cloud Mountain Minnows might get eaten. Bitterlings are a bit bigger and shouldn't be an issue for frogs but big bull frogs might eat them.

Goldfish are filthy things and I wouldn't put them in a pond that was home to frogs.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Thank you @Colin_T ! I love my frogs! They are so green and brown and beautiful, and they serenade me for days on end, and they jump on my hand when I check on them. I absolutely adore them!

I was inquiring because I am on the fish forum and it is all about fish, so was wondering if there was anything I needed to reconsider. Goldfish are not my thing, so I am happy to leave it as is.

Soon they will be croaking their little hearts out calling for mates and I will be having the sweetest dreams ever! They are green and small, some brown and small, and just amazing! I will take a picture and document from eggs to taddypollywogs to frogs! I love it when they nap inside the roses!

 

[itiwhetu]

I have a WCMM and frog pond, which works great. I will go out and see if I can get a couple of photos.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't add fish to a froggy pond, keep it clean for the frogs. Frogs are more important than having a few fish in there. Plus you can use the pond as a live food source for your aquarium fishes.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Indeed I do. My daily trips to get food for Nicodemus and Miss Ethel are something I look forward to. It affords me an opportunity to observe a different ecosystem in addition to the frog's world. I am quite fortunate and would not trade it for anything!

And I am lucky that my family doesn't think I have completely "lost it" when I ran out there to get worms and bits to feed the critters But then again, I talk to animals all the time!

 

[itiwhetu]

I have whistling tree frogs and WCMM running in this pond it is 20 meters long and about 300mm deep average.

 

[eatyourpeas]

It is beautiful! Your pond has a lot more of a natural setting, quite stunning actually! I was just looking up the whistling tree frog and what a lovely sound they make! I think what I have is the Pacific tree frog. They are so itty-bitty, friendly, quite curious and fun.

Edit: I have about 5 feet at the deepest end.

 

[itiwhetu]

It is beautiful! Your pond has a lot more of a natural setting, quite stunning actually! I was just looking up the whistling tree frog and what a lovely sound they make! I think what I have is the Pacific tree frog. They are so itty-bitty, friendly, quite curious and fun.

I built this along an old ditch, within 2 months the frogs were there, the white clouds I put in there because I had to many, they just breed and look after them selves I feed them about once a month if I remember.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Love the way nature makes things happen. We originally put ours in to provide a water source for some of the wild life. Then came the frogs, and the pheasants, and well, the wild life. It is a fun place to watch critters gather. We do not feed anything, and only allow rain water in it. There is a hose that feeds from a rain catcher in case the water level gets too low during the summer months, but other than that it takes care of itself.

The most interesting time is when it becomes a territorial battleground for the resident hummingbird and a dragonfly. They can be be extremely aggressive in their fight for the pond!

 

[itiwhetu]

The bird problem isn't that much of a deal. We have white heron and king fishers, the fish are pretty smart they dive to the bottom and stay still. If the pond is over 600 mm deep the birds rarely get one. If it is very heavily planted they have their work cut out.

 

[itiwhetu]

This is my main pond it is 6m x 6m x 600mm deep. It has a stable population of around 100 fish. Goldfish and WCMM. They breed and some get picked off by the White herons and King Fishers but I put it in 4 years ago and the population is what I call stable. This pond has a black polythene liner in it so is nothing fancy.

 

[Colin_T]

We don't have any birds here now. Between the feral and domestic cats, and the local council poisoning and burning them, there is nothing left here.