get the dirt out. Goldies do like to dig, but a dirty pond is not good for them. 35 gallons is REALLY small. If you insist on fish, get only 2 goldfish and that's it. Or some minnows maybe. I hope it gets some shade? I noticed the zone you are in....that water is going to heat up quite a bit. Honestly....I would suggest you forget fish completly and just put a mosquito dunk in it to control 'skeeter larva.

Two fish is what I figured. I promised my son so we are going to try it and see. Do minnows stay small? It gets morning shade and evening shade but it's hot in the afternoons. I was going to get one big lilypad plant so the fish could get under it for shade during the hot part of the day. Do I need to put the plant in before I put the fish in? A pond store here has one big plant but it's 25 dollars! Lowes has some but they look awfully unhealthy. Do the lily pad plants grow quickly? The water dechlorinates itself after sitting a couple of days, right?

Why not goldfish (or any fish, except koi & bigger fish)?

People have goldfish in 10 & 20 gallon aquariums all the time.

If the heat & shade are an issue, they could always try some shade cloth stuff over it.

Does the fountain kit have any kind of small filter? Otherwise you might want to make some kind of filter for the fish & yes, after a couple days the water should be dechlorinated.

missa, true people keep goldies in aquariums.....but aquariums have filters and are in a more controlled environment. this is a small, unfiltered container that will be exposed to high temps. If loweral wants to keep a couple of feeder-sized goldies in it, that would probably work OK....but still without a filter, water quality will be an issue.

I have a 35 gallon preformed that came with a pump, with a sponge filter. I made a small filter out of a ziplock food container and put pump in it and is working nicely. I have 6 feeder goldfish in, but they will be moved to a bigger pond once it is rebuilt. 2 or 3 will stay, the guy at the store said I could keep 7 goldfish in it. I thought he was crazy.
And yes the water dechlorinates it's self after a few days.

If you are going to be putting a water lily in I would try a minature one. I put in a full size one just because I had extra when I repotted mine. But it is getting too big. I also have some var. sweetflag and iris in it.

No more than 2 goldies in that 35 gallon pond. You could also try mosquito fish and some people even put a betta in the smaller water gardens but the tend to jump.

Goldies really shouldn't be kept in 10 & 20 gallon aquariums. They are very messy fish and need more space. I have 3 large fancy goldies in a 55 gallon aquarium and I have to really stay on top of it to keep water quality good for them. The 55 gallons is even too small for them.

you're right lefd05 ....goldies are very messy fish. I had 3 fancy goldies in a 55 gallon tank and maintaining water quality was a nightmare!!! I decided it's WAY easier to maintain ponds. No more fish in tanks for me.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I'd love to see pics of your 35 gallon pond mycats. I'm going to lowes this afternoon to get a few small plants. Do I really need to buy the aquatic soil, or can I just use topsoil to pot them? I think I will get one goldfish and one mosquito fish and see how they do. Mosquitos are a real problem here in Mobile, so I need to get a couple of fish in there quick. The water has been sitting for 3 days.

One more thing: Can I dig up one of these elephant ears (a baby one) and plant it in my pond? I see other ponds with elephant ears, but I wasn't sure if their a special aquatic kind or not. Don't know how to put the pic directly here, so I posted the link. (if it works)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:199249}}

You can use topsoil just put some rocks over it and make sure you wet it down real good before putting in pond. But except for the lilies the other plants do not need soil. I put then in pots with a few rocks to keep them in the pot and that is it.

I would love to post picture but have no idea how to do that, or even get picture from camera into computer for that matter.

I had this pond, and I had 3 oranda goldfish in it. I put 2 water lilies and floaters to help with the shade. I put a submers. pump in the subm. filter with a small spitter, and it worked great. When it gets to hot, I would freeze milk gallon containers with water and put in to cool down. Make sure you put a thermometer in to keep watch on the temp. I used a floating therm. It was a great starter pond. The only pain was catching the fish to bring them in during the winter. That was the only drawback. I finally put in a larger/deeper pond last spring, and now they can stay in year round. Good luck on your new pond!

That milk container idea is great, thanks! Whats the temp the fish prefer? how hot is too hot?

Do you have any kind of filter?

You will need some kind of filter to clean their water, & I don't mean big stuff like leaves. There are other things you want to get out like ammonia & stuff.

I bought the submersible filter, it is rectangle and have the filter pads and bio balls in it. I put the pump in that, so the water will pull through the filter pad, bio balls and out the spitter when I had the 35 gal. pond. I think Menards has the filter box for about $30.00, which I think is very reasonable and easier than making one. I still use it in my new pond, and it does a great job. Goldfish are a cold freshwater fish, which like it in the mid 60 degree, and is impossible to keep in the summer where I am. They seem to do fine when the temp gets warm. Make sure you provide shade since it is a small pond. I had about 75% of plant coverage, which helped. Putting it in the ground will help with the temp also. Once again, happy ponding!

You guys are so nice. It sure seems like alot of discussion for such a little pond doesn't it? LOL But this is my first so I'm still excited about it even though it's not a big and beautiful pond like some I've seen here. Anyway here is a pic of the progress. (if it works) I haven't got the pump/fountain in yet. There is one small lily pad plant in the pond. I planted two lantana and thats a miniature gardenia in the pot that just is starting to bloom.

{{gwi:199250}}

{{gwi:199251}}

I know I am late (very) to this discussion but I have had a 35 gallon pond for years and last fall put in another. I tried all sorts of feeder goldfish fish for awhile and they either died or the racoons got them. No pump because no electic hookup on that side for me. Finially I tried Rosey Red Minnows. They are really SMALL (half inch or so). The big aquarium pet chains carry them as feeder fish. Get about a dozen. This way you can have the drama of lots of fish that you could not with something bigger. Their color makes them easy to see.

The racoons do not notice them but my pond stays clear and I can see them swimming around in a bunch. I never feed them, they live off the misquioto lavea and any algea that even thinks about growing. About once a week or two I put the hose into the pond and add some new water (not too much for the chlorine) and let the old flow out and over the top. Any messes stirred up settle down in a few hours.

Each spring I totally dump the pond and wash it (above ground remember) refill, let stand and as soon as its warm enough, add the Rosey Red Minnows. As I said before, the water stays clystal clear.

Honestly I have tried the Rosey Red Minnows in half barrel containers that get the most gunky water and never any filtration and they do surprisingly well.

I have on goldfish in my half whiskey barrel pond and he's doing great. I've had him for two years now.

I've got a pump with small filter and two plants in there and its' a great little set up.

gGood luck, just keep experimenting until something works!

Thanks for that info about rosey reds Rita. I wonder if minnows from the creek would work just as well for me?
I used to have a half-barrel pond and had 2 tiny goldfish. Actually one was black and one was gold. A cat or a coon got the gold one, and at the end of the Fall, we brought the black one in and put it in an aquarium. It became calico, then bright orange. (But we still called him Blackie). Blackie got to be about 9" long, and lived about 9 years in the house. We had a long power failure one winter, and he died. We were so sad.
I never got any more fish, as I can't stand for things to die. But I think I would be okay with minnows.

In the two 35 gallon ponds I use the rosey reds as throw away fish. I suppose they die when those ponds feeze in the winter. They both are in a shady area and I tried underwater oxigen plants but the racoons just fished them all out so I gave up on that idea and just used feeder fish for mosquito control. But sooner or later the racoons found the feeder fish too. The older 35 gallon has plant shelves so it makes it easy for racoons to go wading in a 3 foot round. The newer 3 foot round is only 12 inches deep so they can wade in that too.

I have about a dozen rosy reds (and one grey/brown fathead) in the stocktank that have made it fine through the winter. I started getting them for the 20 gal tubs and they did great at eating mosquito larvae whether the water was still, moving, murky or clear. Better than mosquito dunks. I feed them just a pinch of crumbled goldfish flakes in the afternoons which is more than a little entertaining. Minnow feeding frenzy! No racoons here to worry about and the cats are mostly indifferent.
Vanessa