# Restocking outdoor pond



## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Hello!

We have a large fish pond that until recently had 13 large carp in (at least 20 yrs old plus thousands of smaller fish). Sadly a prolonged cold period resulted in all the big fish dying and I would like to replace them - does anyone have any advice on whether it is a good idea replacing like-for-like (13 new big fish) or would it be better to get a smaller number of a few different sizes to restore and balance between the fish in there? 

I am aware that some of the smaller fish are likely to be baby carp but nothing obvious has grown up in their place in the past year or 2. 

Thanks!


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Well ... 

I'm not experienced enough with cold water fish to RECOMMEND these but do LOVE the look of the Albino Sturgeon

They may grow to large but they are sold alongside Koi Carp ..











The normal dark ones are also stunning but I'm not sure you'd see much of them in a pond . The albinos do stand out though .


Also those Golden Tench are stunning as well but again maybe not ideal as Tench are pretty shy and bottom feeders I think !?!










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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

What are the dimensions, plus of course depth?


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## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Zincubus said:


> Well ...
> 
> I'm not experienced enough with cold water fish to RECOMMEND these but do LOVE the look of the Albino Sturgeon
> 
> ...




Thank you for the suggestions! The sturgeons do look very nice. I think we will have to stick to more camouflaged fish to avoid heron attacks however as it is not protected. 


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## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Shellsfeathers&fur said:


> What are the dimensions, plus of course depth?




I’d say it’s about half an acre in surface area? Really couldn’t tell you the dimensions I’m afraid but I’ve added a pic with me (5’10) as a size reference for width and then it’s pretty long. Behind me in the photo it loops around the corner into a bigger pool area. There is about 5ft of water depth and probably 3-4ft of mud underneath that. 

It’s a natural pond, no filtering or anything like that beyond plants covering the bottom and some lilly pads. I believe it was originally dug out in the 50’s and kept as a trout farm but by the time we moved in it had only a few trout & pike left (which were fished out/died off quite quickly). The fish that were left were these amazing big carp so I’d really like to get back to having a few large fish in there for added interest. Nothing seems to have grown up to fill the gap since the big ones died. We feed them daily but to be honest there are probably so many small fish in there that a scoop of fish pellets isn’t going to be helping so much. 

Another idea is to build a much smaller pond (2m cubed?) and grow a few fish up in there (regular feeding etc) so I can feed them up then move them into the bigger pond? But I’m not sure whether it’s a great ecosystem to have thousands of babies and just a few that are so much bigger - that seems to have been what we had and when the big ones died they haven’t been able to fill the gap...










This is the size of the big ones:










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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

That's a flamin lake !!



It's catch 22 .... If you have dark coloured fish you'll they won't get eaten as fast but you'll never see them but Koi and any albino or Golden fish will be glorious to see but easier prey ...


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## Serious D (Apr 12, 2008)

In a pond/lake like the one you have, you have so many options when it comes to stocking it.

Sturgeon wouldn't be very suitable as they prefer waters with high oxygen levels.

The golden tench that Zincubus suggested would be perfect, but as said previously, your not very likely to ever see them as they are bottom feeders, but don't be put off by this as they can be very benaficial to a pond. They also come in green, blue and koi.

Koi and mirror carp would be a good fit, as you would be able to see them from the surface, and as long as you got some decent sized ones the herrons would leave them well alone. 
The same goes for common and mirror carp although you wouldn't have to get them as big, as they won't be as visable from the surface.

Grass carp is another option, they get to a fair size too and also come in albino form, but again if you want albinos try getting them at a larger size.

Bream can get quite large, and can be seen swimming in shoals from the surface on sunny days.

You say that you also have a lot of small fish in the pond, so you might want to add some predators to keep the smaller fish in check and stop your pond from becoming over populated.

I would suggest perch and/or chub, both do really well in ponds and will only eat the smaller fish in the pond.

Other species you could have include

Ide
Golden Orfe (ornamental Ide)
Blue Orfe (Ornamental Ide)
Koi Orfe (ornamental ide)
Roach 
Rud

You could also add a couple of jack pike (male Pike). Jacks are a fair bit smaller than the bigger females Rarley reaching 10lb in weight, pike eat between 1.2 - 1.5 times there own body weight a year, and a jacks diet mainly consists of smaller fish ( rud, roach and perch, they also help control the sick and injured fish that you may have in your pond.


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Serious D said:


> In a pond/lake like the one you have, you have so many options when it comes to stocking it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Great post !!!

Is that correct that Pike only eat just a bit more than their body weight a YEAR !?

I thought they'd decimate a lake pronto ..

I actually saw two ( a pair ?) decent sized Pike swimming together along a very narrow and shallow stream last weekend .. I've only ever seen them as a solitary figure in the past and always just stationary .


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## Serious D (Apr 12, 2008)

> Great post !!!
> 
> Is that correct that Pike only eat just a bit more than their body weight a YEAR !?
> 
> ...


Yes it's true male pike only need to consume a little over there body weight a year, females tend to eat 2.5 - 3 times there own body weight as they get substatualy larger reaching weights up to over 40lb.

In the warmer months pike will actively Hunt in open water as well as stalk the shallows, this time of year is when they do most of there feeding. Feeding on anything from insects, fish, frogs, toads, newts, mice and even bats. Larger pike will even take rats and ducklings.

In the winter months pike don't need to eat as much, as they become more slow and lethargic, So to conserve energy they'll stop chasing down prey and instead they'll seek out sick, dead or dying fish.

Pike are very solitary as you say. Usually only coming together for spawning between February and April, they are also very territorial and will not tolerate other pike in there swims, smaller pike may even be eaten for doing so.

So it's very uncommon for pike to be seen swimming togeather, I have seen it myself and I have spoken to others that have witnessed this behaviour.

I'm wondering was it really hot on the day you witnessed this behaviour?

As when I and others saw this behaviour it was when we had very warm weather, and at a guess we think it may have been due to lack of oxygen in the water, either way It was very interesting to see.


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Wow that is massive! Are you still in Wandsworth?

Make it escape proof (or part of it) and it would make a super turtle pond - they would love those tree branches for basking.


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## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Wow thank you all so much for the excellent and detailed replies!

We did have a few pike in the pond when we first moved in but they have died off (Or at least we haven’t seen any big fish in there for a long time). 










I was reluctant at the idea of adding one back because I pulled one out of the water couple of years ago that had died halfway through eating another (pretty big) fish! See the photo, it’s pretty interesting, I originally thought it was a dead duck from the way it was floating. For size reference I’m a size 8 shoe and the smaller ‘prey’ fish was a fair bit bigger than that. So I was worried that it would go after big fish too but maybe this is an unusual occurrence?










There is another pond next to the one that needs restocking that has an inlet from a local reservoir. This one has at the very least one resident pike who lurks by the inlet, presumably catching fish as they come in. It also has lots of small bream and perch that we used to fish for fun, so maybe it would be a good idea to catch a few of those and just move them over into the other pond. 

As for bigger fish for the first pond, I’m liking the idea of some bigger grass carp, mirror carp and ghost koi as I think they should all be noticeable without being too obvious. We do get heron but I believe they perch on the side/wade in shallows to fish so the fish should be ok away from the edges (it’s a sharp drop for the most part so nowhere for birds to walk in). I’m also interested in the orfe as it would be nice to add a different species in there if I can so will do a bit more research on those too. 

Thanks again for all the information! It’s really helpful getting some knowledgeable opinions. 


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## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Shellsfeathers&fur said:


> Wow that is massive! Are you still in Wandsworth?
> 
> 
> 
> Make it escape proof (or part of it) and it would make a super turtle pond - they would love those tree branches for basking.




Hahaha no! I dread to think how much woodland would cost in London!!

There is no way the pond could be escape-proofed, we let the dogs run loose around there for their walk and German shepherds aren’t exactly delicate creatures when having their morning hour of craziness 


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Serious D said:


> Yes it's true male pike only need to consume a little over there body weight a year, females tend to eat 2.5 - 3 times there own body weight as they get substatualy larger reaching weights up to over 40lb.
> 
> In the warmer months pike will actively Hunt in open water as well as stalk the shallows, this time of year is when they do most of there feeding. Feeding on anything from insects, fish, frogs, toads, newts, mice and even bats. Larger pike will even take rats and ducklings.
> 
> ...




It was a very warm day as it happens .. looked like they were on a mission.. I wondered maybe hunting together ? Probably not .. maybe simply a pair ?


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## Serious D (Apr 12, 2008)

Thats another pike hanging out of its mouth. What was that pike thinking. 
Thats a case of eyes far too big for your belly.


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## Char D (Feb 7, 2011)

Serious D said:


> Thats another pike hanging out of its mouth. What was that pike thinking.
> 
> Thats a case of eyes far too big for your belly.




Haha brilliant! Nature is amazingly crazy sometimes


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## dps51 (Oct 3, 2017)

the thing is you can get rid of all the pike but there is always the chance they will return if you have wild ducks flying in and landing there a chance they may have fish eggs stuck to their feathers and will come of into your pond


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

dps51 said:


> the thing is you can get rid of all the pike but there is always the chance they will return if you have wild ducks flying in and landing there a chance they may have fish eggs stuck to their feathers and will come of into your pond




Wow ..didn't know that !


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## dps51 (Oct 3, 2017)

yep so you could get some carp eggs or any other fish eggs if you are lucky


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