Need Fish Advice for Pond

Living in Coastal British Columbia, cool temperate coastal climate, I believe zone 8. We get a bit of snow in the winter, but typically it's mostly rain.


We have a small pond on the property - Not sure the exact size, maybe 600 square feet or so.


It's a great habitat for frog and mosquito breeding, but we don't have fish.

Fish could potentially solve the mosquito problem, maybe provide some extra nutrients to the area, and idealistically some food for humans


Fish was tried a few years ago before I got here, but apparently they all got eaten by birds and raccoons.


My main question is: how do I provide protection to the fish so they don't all get eaten up?

Also what kind of fish species could work out?


A potential problem is that we use the pond for irrigation in the summer, so it gets quite a bit lower in the dry season. I imagine that maybe with the right earthworks we could store more water.

Any advice?


Thanks!

If you are just worried about mosquitoes, then the local mosquito abatement folks may be able to provide you with some minnows native to the local area.

I bought some at the local Petsmart (rosy reds) yesterday to keep my pool-in-progress from turning into a mosquito hazard after the 4" rain we had.

You could spend $5 or less on comets (baby goldfish) at the local pet store. They're quite hardy.

- Pet store: Ask for feeder goldfish. They are cheap, usually less than 10 cents or so each.

- Local pond- Either use a minnow trap or a seine net to catch baby fish. Minnows are great but so are bluegills and other pan fish.

If the fish have something to hide in or under like old logs and branches you'll probably lose fewer of them. A good deep spot might help them escape the birds.

Good luck

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think this will help.

I raise blugill in an aquaponic setup of my own design. They have proven to be exceptionally hardy, surviving for four days in a near freezing basement without electricity to power the system pump. Everything else died, but the bluegill didn't even seem to notice. Mine have survived water temperatures between under 40 and over 70 degrees.

They are omnivores, and I'm able to feed them organic pellet food from aquaponicsource and red wrigglers from my worm bin when they are lucky.

There are other sunfish relatives also native to North America who are quite flashy and attractive too, check out pumpkin seeds.

Carp are invasive and illegal to keep in an outside pond in some states, afaik.

Dan Tutor wrote:
Carp are invasive and illegal to keep in an outside pond in some states, afaik.

In Vermont, it is illegal to stock anything but trout without permission. Even fish that couldn't possibly survive our winters like Tilapia.

If some fish eggs happen to hitch a ride on a bird's leg, who happens to fly into your pond, well, that's just fine.