God's Green Earth is Michiana's Largest suppler of ornamental pond fish.
Why
Have Fish In The Water Garden?
Many
water gardeners are just that, gardeners! They install a pond strictly for the
sake of growing beautiful water plants and lilies. They may wonder how fish
might benefit their water garden.
Fish
serve many important functions in the balanced pond. They eat mosquito and other
insect larvae. Thus protecting people from the "pesky bloodsuckers"
and protecting plants from devastation by insect outbreaks. Fish also add to the
beauty of the pond in many immeasurable ways. They eat large quantities of
stringy algae thus enhancing the overall beauty of the pond. They add the
delight of wonderful colors flashing through the pond adding a degree of life
and excitement to the water garden. The wonder and motion of fish in a water
garden are a sure enchantment for children and will certainly draw their
curiosity.
Fish
also benefit the pond in less obvious ways. As they digest their food it leaves
their bodies in the form of waste. This waste is an excellent source of
nutrients for flourishing plants.
Knowing
the virtues of fish might inspire the water gardener to beg the question
"why not have fish in the water garden?"
Nishiki Koi – Nishiki means ‘colored and Koi means
‘carp.’ The Chinese started breeding goldfish in the 1300’s when they
introduce them to their ornamental ponds. Koi breeding started much more
recently in 1800’s when the Japanese started using the common carp. The
Chinese used Crucian Carp a similar but a smaller relative of the Common Carp.
These two fish are both related and come from the Cyprinidae family. Since the
Chinese started with a smaller finish the Crucian Carp, Gold fish never get as
large as the Koi.
As the Japanese continued to breed Koi they introduced
Mirror Carp of Europe and Korean Carp, the Korean Carp with their long
flowing fins were crossed with the Japanese Koi to create the graceful
butterfly.
I
must confess, koi are my number one love when it comes to fish for my largest
garden pond. However, there are a number of reasons why you might prefer
goldfish to koi, or would like to have both in your pond. 
The
size of your pond is a definite factor. Koi are wonderful, fabulous fish
but they become large--let me emphasize this--LARGE. Some reach as much as
three feet in length, and it has been my experience that the beautiful little
six to eight inch koi you had to have will be eighteen inches long by the time
you've had it in your pond for three years. If you have a small pond, or
if you like to have a lot of fish (I envy the restraint of people who buy half a
dozen fish and have the same ones for years) you will quickly find yourself out
of space and having a major filtration problem. I mean, biofilters are
wonderful, but they can only do so much. Before you know it, you will find
yourself putting in a second or third pond just to accommodate your fish
collection--which is great if you WANT a second and third pond, and have the
space for it, but not everyone does.
Next, koi can be destructive to your water plants. I personally haven't
had much of a problem with koi munching on my water lilies, but I have a friend
who had to move all of his to one end of his pond and net it off--now he has one
end for plants and one for fish,
but even at that occasionally a fish gets through the barrier and he has a
lovely time trying to catch it. Anyone who has ever tried to net a koi out
of even a small pond with a couple of plants can appreciate the dilemma of
someone chasing one among a dozen water
lilies in a couple of thousand gallons of water. Koi LOVE the roots of
water hyacinths and munch them down to nothing in just a day or two. You
won’t have this problem with goldfish, who will swim happily among the roots
and never nibble.
Third, koi are expensive. I put this last on my list, though some might
think it should come first, because I personally don’t understand the
mentality of someone spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a pond and
then stocking it with ten for a dollar feeder fish from the pet store, but a lot
of people do this and are perfectly happy. Some people just want fish for
mosquito control and aren’t really interested in the individual fish.
But if you are, there are a lot of fabulous fish out there!
Common goldfish: These can be the above mentioned ten for a dollar
variety, and come in shades varying from creamy off-white to yellowish orange.
Occasionally you will see a black or chocolate brown one--these often
“decolorize” after a year or two and end up
yellow or orange also. I have an older one in my mid-sized pond that is
still black and probably five years old, but I suspect that there's a little
shubunkin blood in there somewhere. Different goldfish varieties tend to
interbreed easily. These fish, in a garden pond, will sometimes reach
eight or ten inches in length, which is true of all the “non-fancy”
goldfish. Goldfish actually excrete a hormone that will prevent them from
growing when it reaches a certain concentration in the water, so they will
actually become larger in a larger pond (or you can cheat and do a lot of water
changes to get the same effect, but then you are back to that filtration
problem).
God's Green Earth
Inc.
