Help...How can I convince them?

Caves and stones are not really necessary if all you want to house there are goldfish. They rarely use those as their refuge. They'll simply trap the dirt and pollute the water faster than you can imagine. If possible, try to get flowerpots, put gravel in them and add some lotus and aquatic plants there. Do make sure you get plants with sturdy foliage. The likes of Nymphaea sp., hornworts, Java ferns, etc can be considered. Some plants however have soft foliage and can be easily damaged by the goldfish.

The addition of plants help greatly with the water quality. Although green water has proven to be beneficial due to the available nutrients for the goldfish and thus improving their color greatly, it may be unsightly to some people who don't want a pool of green water. Without having to resort to UV system, you can use the fast growing plants such as Egeria densa and hornworts to outstrip the algae's chances of blooming quickly as they quickly consume the available nutrients. Plants help consume high levels of nitrate as well thus improving the water quality. You'll want to vacuum out the mulm weekly as the accummulated mulm can bind and develop anaerobic pockets that could potentially harm the fish.

Sawyer, could you please study the components of overhead filtration? A lot of Asians like me use this in aquaria and ponds. The concept is quite simple if you know how to set it up. You'll need submersible pumps, PVC piping, buckets/drums for filter and extension cords for the power supply to name a few.
 
A kid/animal couldn't drown it because its going to have this netting over it http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5163+5312+15872&pcatid=15872


And we have a giant pond in our yard (like a retention pond) already. So I suppose there aren't any rules about ponds. But even if there were, like I said, I don't have any choice about the pond. My fish either need a pond or 180g, the biggest tank I'll ever be able to have is a 120.

And speaking of that netting, will that work? It says it fits 7ft x 10ft. The pond will be 6ft long, 5 ft wide.

That netting would not keep a child from drowning. Did you ask your parents how they put their other pond in -- maybe there are rules and you just don't know. Furthermore, yes you do have a choice about the pond - and you have a responsibility, as does anyone who puts a water feature on their property to be sure that it is legal and safe.
 
Yes,that netting will work to keep leaves and sticks out of the pond, and might keep herons and racoons out for awhile, but it is not strong enough to hold the weight of a child that fell on to it. It can be ripped with your hands, especially after a season out in the weather, and even a 50 lb child would go right thru it.

Regarding rules about ponds, some areas have requirements that they be enclosed in 6' fencing, like a swimming pool, if they are more than a certain depth. No sense putting all that work and money into it just to have the city/county/home owners association make you remove it.

OOps, looks like I took too long typing and leeser28 beat me to it :)
 
They didn't put it in, whoever made the house did.
That pond is 10+ ft deep and way to long/wide for me to count and we;re not allowed to put a fence around the pond so there must not be any rules about it.

Lupin, alright I'm looking up on overhead filtration now. :)

Is a New Rio 2500 Powerhead Pump good for ponds? It says "The Rio+ 2500 pumps 782 GPH @ 0 Head and 375 gph@ 6' Max Head 10'. At 52 Watts" I saw one on craigslist so I was just wondering.
 
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Lupin, here's pics of my other 4 goldies. http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531707@N07/3555596097/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531707@N07/3555598147/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37531707@N07/3555594175/

The 2 red and white ones I've always assumed were comets and the other 2 were commons, but I've not very good at IDing. Are they really? And the 2 in the other pics I posted yesterday were commons?

Oh and ignore the other fish in the pics, I was gravel vacing my small fish's tank at the time (never had done it with small fish in the tank that I could suck up/hurt) so I was kind of scared to leave them in here so I transferred them to my goldfish tank while I did.. not a very good idea, I know, but when I adopted them they were all kept with the goldfish so I knew the goldies wouldn't hurt them and all my tanks stay at the same temp.
 
Their tails dictate common goldfish to me. The angles from previous pics are confusing me. I think you should get a pic of each fish just to be sure. You can look up exoticgoldfish.net or Bristol Aquatics Society site for more information. I'll get back to you later if you haven't figured out yet those sites. Both sites are quite well detailed in describing comets and common goldfish.
 
After looking at their tails again and comparing them to the pics on Exotic Goldfish and it does look like their all have comet tails. The 2 largest seem to have the most flowing fins.

Yeah, I'll get pics of each individual one to be sure.
 
Pictures just don't do them much justice hence I admitted my confusion because of the angles in which their pics were taken. Glad the Exoticgoldfish.net was very helpful.
 
Actually, now I"m confused because the 2 smallest (the light gold ones) don't have as flowing fins as the others. Maybe its just my imagination because they are small (like how the biggest 2 have the most flowing comet-looking tails) and so don't have as flowing fins as the other 4..but before I understood the difference between comets and commons, I always thought the looked different from the others.
 
maybe you could use a rubbermaid stock tank? i have an indoor 'pond' built out of one of these, with a couple strong powerheads with aquaclear sponges spliced onto them. mine is 150g 2'x2'x6' and i got it for just over $200 but you can get one cheaper down by where you live. you can find them at any farm or rural supply store and they are light weight and easy to move around until you fill them. they come in different colours as well. mine is actually a different brand, i forget the name, but it is grey. the rubbermaid ones are black i beleive. they come up to 400 gallons.
 
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