CAMPING

Colorful fish are a fun way to add beauty to the water garden, and watching them grow over time is exciting.

A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes.

Depending on the lake or pond you are fishing, you can catch fish species like largemouth and smallmouth bass, pike, pickerel, walleye, perch, sunfish, rock bass, and trout.

Whether the pond is new or established, specific steps must be followed. Late spring and summer are the perfect time for adding koi fish and goldfish to a pond.

Dikes are the most important part of a fish pond, as they keep the necessary volume of water impounded and form the actual pond; their design and construction is particularly important.

While fish do not sleep in the same way that land mammals sleep, most fish do rest. Research shows that fish may reduce their activity and metabolism while remaining alert to danger. Some fish float in place, some wedge themselves into a secure spot in the mud or coral, and some even locate a suitable nest.

Reduced Insect Population. While you can reduce the chance of mosquito infestations by keeping your water moving, adding fish to your pond will further deter insects from settling in or near your pond. Fish feed on various insects, keeping them away from your aquatic plants and maintaining the balance of your pond.

Fish in a garden pond can live on foods like plankton, floating pond plants, and the tiny roots of pond plants floating in the water, as well as the larvae of insects, worms, and other small animals.

Small fish need small pellets that they can wholly engulf. If necessary, they will spend time chasing a big pellet, badgering it around the surface of the pond as it softens in the water, and eating off it like a giant peach. It's better to give your smaller fish a small pellet that they can consume in one gulp.

Larger goldfish may also eat fish smaller than themselves, as well as frogs. Wild koi (also known as the common carp, the domesticated koi carp's ancestor) will readily eat aquatic insects, flies, algae, smaller fish, plants like water lily and water lettuce, snails, and frogs.