Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Goldfish

Last summer I put 6 or 7 small goldfish in a very small pond that also has fatheads and small bluegills. I wanted to experiment with them to see if they would eat algae and/or weeds. Only a couple of them have survived and are now 6 to 7 inches long. I am surprised that they will not eat floating food. What do they eat?

They may be well and truly full-up from eating algae, small bits of detritus, small/tiny insects etc. You may get some to come to the surface for flake food but the longer they are in a pond setting where food is abundant the less likely you are to coax them up to get flakes. Now if you want to keep the golfdish in there then I would suggest that it is better that they not become conditioned to getting flakes from the surface because it makes them very easy prey for predators. (i.e. they see a shadow or movement at the surface , think it is you bringing them a meal and then big 'ol Mr Heron gobbles them up.)

You might have two males, or two females, so they are not spawning. But I would be willing to bet that your bluegill are having small golden snacks at particular times of the year. That is why they are not multiplying. Maybe they were, but the bluegill were subtracting.