so they were saying the way to reduce bugs in the yard is to put out containers of standing water with a goldfish in it?? That's crazy! Goldfish might eat the mosquito larva that is in their own water, but they will not help reduce the overall bug population.

I appreciate the advice. I guess the thing to do is install a pond. I'm a bit nervous because this will be my first time. Do you think that a 44" L x 32" W x 13" D would be okay, or should I just go for the 90" x 51" W x 20" D? I live in Upstate New York and the winters can be pretty harsh so I wasn't sure if a deeper pond is better for fish or if I would have to remove the fish for the winters anyway.

Koi or goldies? If you are going that shallow, the pond will freeze nearly solid in the winter and you'll have to remove the fish anyway. If you want to keep koi in up-state New York, you should plan on keeping them outside, since they get very large and it becomes difficult to overwinter them indoors. To keep koi in a decent climate, you would need a bare minimum of 36"....although that is not really deep enough. 48" is better. If you want to keep them in a harsh climate, you need 6' deep minimum. Keep in mind that these are fish that have the potential to get VERY large.....over 36" long! they need a lot of space to be healthy and to thrive. They need a properly designed pond with bottom drains going to the filter, and no rocks in the bottom to trap waste. Check out some of the construction threads on koishack.com for great koi pond design information.

If you want to go with goldies and plan to leave them outside, get hardy ones like comets, shubbies, wakins. Forget the ones like Orandas and Ryukins....their odd-shaped bodies make them much less hardy. For depth, go with at least 24" deep for goldies. Use a bottom drain going to the filter, and no rocks in the bottom. You will need to keep a floating heater going in the winter to keep a whole thawed out in the ice. You may even need to cover the pond in the winter to keep it from freezing. Again....koishack has a lot of great construction threads that can help with pond design.

The most important thing you can do at this point is research. Don't dig and then wish you had done it differently. It's much easier to do it right the first time.

Fish in bowls and barrels without filtration or aeration is NOT GOOD and will result in fish deaths- on this forum we all love our fishies dearly so you won't get any encouragement at all to try it! However a small pond like you are prposing could work well.

Don't even think koi, not sure why above poster went there... of your two sizes, the larger 90 x 51 x 20 would work well for 3-5 goldfish---WITH GOOD filtration and with the idea that you will be moving the fish & pump & filter indoors into a 100 gal stocktank in your basement when the water freezes up. Check out the Pondmaster pump + filter system for around $100 - it utilizes charcoal + bio filters and is very effective for small ponds.

Put in semi-shade to maintain good even temperature ... but if possible not under a lot of trees. It helps to have the pond slightly raised maybe about a foot higher than the ground so that leaves and junk aren't forever blowing into the pond, and that mud doesn't wash into the pond when heavy rains fall.

I can't overemphasize the importance of the good filtration and designing so that leaves and junk aren't overwhelming the pond. My first pond was a complete disaster because I didn't know the importance of those factors. People were saying I didn't need a filter, etc., and maybe theoretically its possible but for the novice believe me, its completely not workable.

My second pond, done as I've described above, has been a great success. Moving the fish isn't that difficult if you wait until water temps are near freezing - fish are very sluggish then and easy to transport. If they get too big - and they could get to be about 12" long-- you might have to give them away to a larger pond at some point... or build a bigger pond!

13" is not deep enough - you could have boiled fish on hot days.

I "went there" because one of the first thing a newbie does when they put in a new pond is go visit their local pond store and fall in love with all the pretty colors that koi come in. The pond store sure won't tell them.....they are only too happy to sell the newbie a dozen or so brightly colored little bitty koi to go in that new pond. I did point out to the poster that neither of the size she mentioned would work with koi.

Do you actually want a pond or are you trying to reduce the bug populations in your yard?

Having a pond will actually increase bug populations! They are attracted to water like any other animal.

For mosquito control, carefully go through your yard and make sure there is no standing water in things like tires, tipped over pots or flower saucers, dog bowls etc. Mosquitoes breed in very small amounts of water.

You can have watergardens in containers but you need to use Mosquito Dunks in them. Barrels are too small for fish unless you are using Mosquito Fish (Gambusia) and then you would need to bring them in for the winter.

Bottom line, installing a pond will not solve your bug problem. Having a pond requires committment and it can be somewhat costly. If you want to try a fish pond or water garden, for a beginner, I would suggest to start small to get experience. I think you would enjoy it, regardless.
Afterward, you can build the biggest pond your heart desires! :)

Thank you for all the advice. I don't know that I am particularly interested in using a pond for bug control-I was going to purchase a bat house and see if they would roost as I've read they eat quite a lot of pests. I was just curious if the person was talking about something that would actually work.
I want to try a pond but would likely just start with plants and eventually a few little goldfish. I know that koi wouldn't fit in a small, shallow pond-even if I am a newbie! Hah.
I appreciate the advice on the sloped ground. That will probably save a lot of hassle-especially in my relatively small yard. We've got quite a lot of big, old trees on all sides and their leaves are absolutely everywhere. Nice for birds to rummage in but not so great for pond clean up, I'd imagine.
I will have to think it over a bit more, I believe. It sounds, from the replies, as though there is quite a lot of thought that must be put into a pond of any size.
Does anyone have a favorite brand of liner/filter/etc for ponds that use? I suppose I should be worried about cracking in the winter. I'm always a bit wary when asking people for advice at the shops.

You may want to try a 300ga stock tank (5'5"x5'5'x28") just sitting on the ground for a trial run. Can always be removed if you don't like ponding (Ha, like that would ever happen!) also easily removed or converted to a huge skippy filter if (and when) you build a bigger pond. I dug mine in 3/4 of the way and love it!

There are lots of DIY instructions here, 'cause even with a 300ga stock tank you'll want a pump and biological filter at least so you can see the 5 or 6 goldfish you have!

Good luck! Research, research, research...