goldfish and crayfish?

windeindoiel

windeindoiel

I
Mar 24, 2005
153
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Canada
I have a pond in my backyard with 2 goldfish in it, they're both about 5 inches long at the moment, I'm guessing the pond is about 50 - 60 gallons. There's caves made of tufa rock and a fountain in the middle. My question is do you think a crayfish would be ok in there with the goldfish? Or more like would the goldfish be ok with the crayfish? Or if not would any other invertebrates be alright in the pond? I live in Canada so it gets quite cold in the winter.
 
No!

No, it will sneak up on the goldfish when they are sleeping and try to grab them. They will get sick from bacterial infections and /or parasites from the injuries to the slime coat and then die and then he will eat them.
 
I had a 2" crayfish take out a 4" goldfish. I had another 3" crayfish never touch a single 1" guppy. Your plan might work, but I don't recommend it...
 
Hmm. I guess no crayfish for me. Is there any other type of... creature I could put in with them? Especially ones that eat algae, there's a major algae problem in there. We are getting live plants to put in the pond to out compete by the way. :) Thanks for the advice also.
 
A cold-water pleco might work. I'm not too familiar with these fish, but I think they are actually part of the loach family. I dunno if they eat algae...
 
No pleco either...

goldfish are serious algae eaters! Do not add a pleco, it will eventually attack the goldfish and in a pond you may never know until they die off. The pleco sucks on the slime coat, leaving an entry for bacteria and parasites which kill the fish.

If you have algae in a pond, add shade to reduce the lighting, reduce feeding until the filter bacteria are fully awake after the winter (they are very temperature sensitive), and add plants to reduce nitrates, or change water if you can. Goldfish eat the small daphnia that otherwise will help to clear greenwater. If there is a protected area you can keep the fish out of, you can try to add daphnia there. Find a place that will ship a culture for you.
 
What kind of snails could go in the cold water? Also what about cold water shrimp? They're small and don't appear to have much for claws, I have no idea what they're actually called though. I was thinking of catching some from a near by lake and quaranting them while I try to get them used to the water they'll be spending their time in afterward. What do you think? Mostly I'd just like to add some variety to the pond. I'd adore some water bugs in there, but after doing some research it seems most are predatory and I wouldn't them attacking the fish or starving to death.

I was also thinking about pygmy sunfish. Does anyone know anything about these guys? I've read the profiles on this site but some first hand advice would be great.
 
Bump.

And I discovered what the shrimp like things I was talking about actually are. They're scuds. Would those be ok with gold fish? Would they get eaten? Would they be able to hide enough seeing how they're nocturnal? It doesn't sound like they'd do any damage to the fish themselves. Also I'm still interested in sunfish and coldwater snails if anyone knows anything about them?

Also I was giving some serious consideration to the loach but I'm guess it's not like goldfish in that it can freeze solid all winter and then come back just fine, so that's out too. :(

Darn ponds and their difficultness lol.
 
Common pond snails will be fine in cooler water, but goldfish have been known to eat them. The scuds would defintiely be a meal--even with good hiding places.

I wouldn't mix sunfish in with long finned fish. Sunfish like blue gill and pumpkin seeds are some of the nastiest tempered fish, very aggressive and territorial. With a long finned fish around, I'm sure they'd shred the fins in short order.
 
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