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Goldfish are a No! No! for earth ponds. Here's why...
Do you have goldfish in your pond ?
Is it possible that this small, benign looking goldfish Carassius auratus, may be the wrong choice for your pond? Seeing goldfish in ponds around the Eastern Townships are a common sight these days, maybe you have them in your own pond or you are considering stocking it with goldfish. Think again.
It is technically illegal to introduce Goldfish in earth ponds in Quebec. Goldfish is a species that is legally sold for the aquarium industry and it is expected that all owners will keep them in a closed system like an aquarium or a water garden. Unfortunately, they are often introduced into man-made ponds that have water overflow systems where the little rascals can escape to the watershed below. The ministry of environment is revisiting the laws regulating fish introduction into man-made ponds due to their impacts on natural ecosystems.
Once, free to roam into the wilderness, goldfish find few limits in their search of habitat. They adapt very well to water between 0 to 41 Celsius but prefer the colder water. They can double their population numbers every 2 years and may grow to a maximum of 3kg. They live many years. Their feeding habits are detrimental to all the other indigenous fish species because they like to eat everything from plants, small crustaceans, insects, fish eggs and detritus.
They basically have no predators. In nature, anything that is bright and colorful spells " I am not good to eat! See me! " The monarch butterfly, the ladybug, the Amazon's orange poison frog are good examples. The goldfish's bone structure also makes them very tough to eat so the usual fish eaters like the herons, kingfishers and raccoons avoid eating goldfish.
In a closed pond system, goldfish will reproduce until the population reaches their maximum carrying capacity for food and space making most goldfish stunted. Being mostly benthic feeders, they stir the bottom sediments for food. Those sediments become suspended making the water murky and preventing sunlight to activate growth and microbial activities in the pond's floor, furthering imbalance in the system.
As responsible pond owners, we should do whatever is in our capacity to prevent goldfish or any other nonindigenous species from being introduced in the water systems of the Townships. Once introduced, we should try methods to limit their growth or at least prevent them from leaving which is a difficult task indeed. Rotenone is the only natural product that can eliminate all the fish in your pond without emptying it. The ministry of Environment has a list of accredited biologists that can do the job properly. Other methods are more drastic like pumping the pond empty to let it dry. Again this may not be successful since goldfish have been found surviving in the mud for days waiting for the water to return…
