Plants for goldfish pond?

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bazil323

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May 1, 2008
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I've been helping a friend with the fishy part of her pond. I think I've posted here about some of her questions that I wasn't sure about the answer last year.

She expanded her pond by a lot this spring, from about 150-200 gallons to approximately 1500 gallons!! She currently has 2 comet goldfish and 1 koi (I know, bad mix right?!?). I had told her last year that comet types would be best for her since they would fit in her smaller pond and would be more likely to survive in our Wisconsin winter. She wintered them over in a 29g tank, and she just released them into the new large pond last week.

I know that both koi and goldfish eat plants, but are there any that will be more likely to work? She would like some that can stay in the pond over the winter as well. I suggested that if she wanted duckweed she should have a birdbath-type dish or half-barrel pond thing separate from the actual pond to grow the duckweed and add it to the main pond as it disappears.

There were some hardy water lillies at one of the local stores that seemed a good deal. Would those work? Any other suggestions?

There's a pretty nice huge greenhouse that has an okay selection of pond plants, and I'm definitely willing to buy online. Since I can't have a pond at my house, I've taken a big interest in her pond and would love to help make it beautiful and healthy.
 

bazil323

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Bump.
 

Jennie Beth

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Feb 20, 2009
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I don't think it gets as cold here, WA, as it does where you are, but I have hardy waterlilies, cattails, horsetails, chameleon plant (?), iris, and pickerelweed that all overwintered in the pond and are coming up again right now. I have smallish goldfish (5-6 inch) and a dozen or so tiny ones (last year's babies), and they don't mess with the plants much at all. From my experience, if it is IN the water, with the crown (edge of the soil, where the plant stops and the roots begin) below the water line by a couple of inches, it will usually come back just fine. The thing to be aware of is the crown has to be protected from freezing. So, if your water is going to freeze on top, down say, 2 inches, you need to be sure the crown is below that ice.

I did try overwintering some water hyacinth in the garage, as it won't survive a frost, but I ended up with a tub of mush.

I have heard that koi are much harder on plants than goldies, so this is just my two cents :) hope it helps!
Jen
 

bazil323

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May 1, 2008
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Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into those. I know there is plenty of room on one end to drop them all down, but we're not sure how deep it will freeze. It's about 4 feet deep in the deep end, and there is a shallow part on the other for marginals.

I've recommended that she get at least 4 more comet-type goldies to help the 2 current ones (about 4 inches right now) feel a little more secure as they hide almost all the time. The koi is even more skittish, and she's thinking about giving him to the LFS. I know she didn't want to do that last winter because they were just going to take him without giving credit or anything, and she was worried that he would just be killed (though I reassured her that both mom n pop type places here do not do that) or would go to a bad home. I know she's less enthused about him as he is so skittish and so bland colored (white with a slight creamy colored spot on his head) and getting uglier as he grows. I might convince her to let him go back to the LFS.
 

Desertponder

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Feb 21, 2006
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Western Colorado
Any hardy varities of pond plants will usually overwinter fine. Hardy water lilies, mini cattails, japanese iris, louisiana iris, parrots feather, crushed ice, sweet flag, spiral rush, triangle rush, spiked rush, horsetail rush, mints, arrowhead, pickeral, will all overwinter in cold climates if you drop them to the deepest part of the pond so they won't freeze solid.
 

bazil323

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May 1, 2008
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Wisconsin
Thanks for all those names. I'll check into those too. I came across one in another thread called aponogeton distachyos (water hawthorne), and that looks really intriguing. I'm not sure if they would winter over in northern Wisconsin or not.
 

bazil323

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May 1, 2008
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Wisconsin
UPDATE: She bought a hardy lily (almost black was the color, looks dark red from the picture) from Menards, and I'm bidding on some hardy lilies that are white with pink tips, I believe, on Aquabid. I'm keeping an eye out for hornwort, anachris, etc., and I'm going to use my preformed pond as an above-ground pond to help grow out duck weed and anything else like that.
 
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