I'm planning to add two (maybe more) crucian carps to my garden pond this summer. Last year I had guppies there, which took care of mosquitoes and looked pretty. Guppies couldn't keep up with eating excess plants and algae (although they do eat them), and they multiplied a little too fast. So I'm thinking of crucian carps which will eat both excess plants and guppies. They are a species from which the popular goldfish was created, but they're more common and sturdy than the goldfish. Their meat is considered tasty but they grow rather slowly, so they're rarely kept as a food source. I was thinking of koi carp but they grow too big, and I like the natural look of a crucian carp.
I'll see how they do in the pond and maybe I'll consider keeping more of them along with the guppies, or maybe even just the crucian carps alone, if they don't destroy my plants...
Flora, I have always been fond of goldfish, especially the colorful ones.
Flora said, "They are a species from which the popular goldfish was created, but they're more common and sturdy than the goldfish
Something that I was wondering is will these fish eat the guppies?
When we had an aquarium we never had guppies or goldfish so I don't know about them.
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I'm not sure about this either. Guppies also eat their own fry, but it's not so easy because it escapes really fast. Guess I'll have to see how lucky and determined the crucian carp will be. I'll still have guppies in the aquarium and if the carp doesn't eat too many, maybe I'll keep some in the aquarium too (but there I would be more worried about the plants).
They are here! All four of them, 10cm long, 2 years old. My guppies grow to 6cm in 6 months, so the crucian carps are taking their time, indeed... I was told that it also depends on their feed.
I released them to the garden pond and they buried themselves in algae. They have a lot of daphnia there, and water looks crystal clean, so I guess they just wanted to hide, being stressed. They look really pretty. Would be great if they could live together with guppies. I'll show some pics when they wake up from wintering.
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