Backyard Pond Fish Care - Keep Your Fish Healthy
In this next Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping blog, we are going to look at some tips for keeping backyard pond fish healthy throughout the seasons. Find out more below:
1. Common backyard pond fish in Ontario
2. Products to help pond fish stay healthy
3. Seasonal Tips for keeping backyard pond fish healthy
4. How Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping can help you maintain your pond and ensure your fish stay healthy for a long time
Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping can help you keep your backyard pond fish happy and healthy.
Image Source: Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels
Tips for Keeping Backyard Pond Fish Healthy
1. What Kinds of Fish Thrive in Ontario ponds?
We all know that people living in Ontario experience a wide range of winter temperatures. Though it can vary depending on where you live, most of us experience long periods of weather that is below 0 degrees Celsius. Due to this fact, pond owners who want pet fish usually select hardy fish that can withstand colder temperatures.
Common backyard pond fish that can withstand Ontario temperatures are:
Goldfish
Koi
Golden Rainbow Trout
Pumpkinseeds
Rosy Red Minnows
Catfish
Barbel
For more types of fish that are recommended for cooler temperatures, check out our other blog, What Fish Can You Have in Backyard Ponds in Ontario?
Just keep in mind that if you decide to keep Koi or Catfish, these fish can grow to be quite large depending on the variety you have. Also, Catfish may not make great pond mates to Goldfish and Koi, since the Catfish may decide to eat them!
Another note - fancy goldfish are not ideal for outdoor ponds unless you plan on bringing them in for the winter.
Goldfish and Koi are the most popular hardy fish for Ontario ponds.
Image Sources: Right Photo: Kaeyla McGee on Unsplash, Left Photo: ฤตินันทน์ อาจวิชัย from Pixabay
2. What kind of products can help pond fish stay healthy?
In order to keep your fish healthy in any season, you need to make sure you water is of good quality. To keep your pond water clean, you should have the following:
Pond Pump
Your pond will need a pond pump to circulate water which helps in oxygenation which fish need to survive. Depending on the amount of water you have your pond, the size of your pond pump will vary. Use Aquascape's Pond Pump Calculator to find out what pond pump suits your pond the best.
Pond Filtration
You will want a filtration system for your pond to help break down the waste in your pond (from fish waste, uneaten fish food, debris or water runoff) to keep water clean. There are various types of filters, but Aquascape recommends a combination of both mechanical filtration and biological filtration.
Mechanical filtration can be done with a pond skimmer, which removes debris like small sticks and leaves from the surface of your pond. Biological filtration use bacteria to break down waste and create aquatic plant fertilizers. To read more about pond filtration, read this helpful article from Aquascape: What You Need to Know About Pond Filtration
Learn more about this Pond Skimmer from Aqauscape that houses and protects the pond pump.
Video Source: Aquascape
Pond Skimmer Net
Using a net to clear debris from your pond will help ease the workload of your pond skimmer. Pond nets are especially helpful in the fall when you need to clear a lot of fallen leaves from your pond. You can even lay a net over the surface of you pond to catch any falling leaves while you wait for all the leaves to drop.
Food
Invest in a quality fish food that is high in protein. If you can find one that includes multivitamins and probiotics, that is even better! Then, remember not to overfeed your fish. The food that your fish doesn't eat becomes that excess waste that turns into ammonia and nitrite, which are harmful to your fish.
Plants
Aquatic plants are very beneficial for keeping your backyard pond fish and pond water healthy. Plants help remove harmful nitrates from pond water and provide shade and protection for your fish.
During the summer months, plants also help keep pond water cool, which helps maintain oxygen levels for your fish. According to Aquascape's Key to Clean Water, "At season’s peak, you should have 40% to 60% of the surface area of your pond either covered or shaded by plants."
Too many plants, and they will rob your fish of oxygen. Too few, and the hot days of summer will heat up your pond water to a point that fish will not be able to breathe.
Some possible aquatic plants for your fish pond are:
Water Lilies
Lotus
Water Iris
Water Lettuce
Umbrella plants
3. Seasonal Tips for keeping backyard pond fish healthy
Water Temperature
As mentioned, you want to maintain the temperature of your pond throughout the seasons. A pond aerator can help circulate your pond water and provide oxygen to your pond. An aerator can be helpful both in the summer and in the winter when water temperatures are more extreme.
In the summer when water temperatures are high, oxygen levels go down. An aerator helps provide oxygen in this case. In the winter, an aerator helps prevent your pond water from completely freezing over so that the exchange of gasses can occur. You can also use a de-icer in winter to keep your pond from completely freezing over. See out other blog post, 5 Tips for Winter Pond Maintenance.
Fish Food
As temperatures drop, Fish eat less and less until they become dormant. You can change your fish food to a Cold Water Fish Food as temperatures begin dropping and then stop feeding them at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius.
Spring and Fall Maintenance
With the changing of seasons, pond maintenance is essential to the health of your backyard pond fish. Spring maintenance is usually a bigger task that involves the draining and refilling of pond water, removal of excess sludge and algae, and a check of your pond's devices.
In the fall, you are preparing your pond and your fish for the winter months by clearing out debris and making sure that you have enough water in your pond to account for water loss or an active pond pump during the winter.
For more info on backyard pond maintenance, check out our 2 articles: Guide to Backyard Pond Maintenance and 5 Tips for Winter Pond Maintenance.
If pond maintenance seems like too much, contact Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping. They offer Spring Maintenance/Pond Cleaning Services and Fall Maintenance & Winterization Services.
Has the algae in your pond gotten out of control and killed off your fish? Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping also offers Pond Algae, Leaks, and Renovation Services.
Learn about fall pond maintenance to help your fish stay healthy through the upcoming winter!
Video Source: Aquascape
4. How Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping can help you maintain your pond and ensure your fish stay healthy for a long time
As mentioned earlier, Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping can help you get your pond back in shape with pond maintenance services that will keep your fish healthy and happy.
They will also give you advice about how many fish can be housed in your pond to prevent overcrowding, what size of pond pump works best for your pond to keep the water clean, what sort of fish food is recommended, what plants to incorporate, and all sorts of other tips to help you properly care for your backyard pond fish.
Contact Epiphany Ponds & Landscaping for help with building a pond or maintaining a pond. After all, they are your Eastern Ontario Pond experts certified with Aquascape!
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