where do i get them

[billy brereton]

im thinking of making a pond and i was wondering where you get some good quality coarse fish and also what you feed them

[Ed Matysiak]

Buying coarse fish is not easy. Your local aquatics centre may sell golden rudd, orfe and mirror carp but things like roach are hard to come by. They will feed on insects and lava in your pond but left over maggots, pinkies, squats etc.. will be a welcome treat.

[billy brereton]

thanks Koi for for help

[davidP]

You will get tench, ornamental rudd & orfe fairly easily from any squarium shop or garden centre. Mirror carp & crucians are also quite commonly on sale (nearly bought a few crucians on Sunday myself) and I've occasionally seen gudgeon. Outside those though I think you'll probably struggle to get them from the ordinary outlets.

[chesters1]

never found any use in course fish in a pond ,they are designed by nature to be hard to spot from above , this is why they invented goldfish and koi etc ,a 6ft tank with course fish is spectacular though , maybe you could build a pond with a glass side and combine the 2

[allanC]

I agree Chesters. There really seems no point in keeping invisible fish. A young lad I know, stocked his pond with rudd from a river. You never could see them. Its much like having green tench. Unless your water is crystal clear you will never see them either.

[Ed Matysiak]

Orfe are a good fish to have in a pond. They will grow big if they have the room. You will also be able to see them most of the time in mid water. Make sure you have a few though because they like being in a group.

[peter mccue]

Dace are quite a good fish for the pond, If you get a number of fry from a shoal they'll stay together & spend most of their Summer flitting around the surface of the pond, very watchable even though they're naturally coloured.

 

Minnows are another wild fish that lends themselves very well to the pond environment, as for the Dace catch them from the same shoal if you want them to stick together.

[Ed Matysiak]

I once saw minnows for sale at 50p each.

[peter mccue]

Know what you mean koi, I've seen Gudgeon for sale at £2.50 each