The Wildlife Garden Project | A guide to fish in your wildlife pond

[@davidpotter3361]

Great video. Yes, 3 spine sticklebacks are good for a wildlife or any fish pond come to that. They are interesting to watch, self populating and will eat mossie and gnat larva etc. If you do catch sticklebacks from the wild, make sure they have no white spot and look healthy. Could quarantine them for a while in a fish tank! Shame so many garden ponds have gone. Use to be a must have in a garden back in the 60s and 70s.

[@wildlifegardenproject]

Yes, we definitely need more garden ponds! They are such a wonderful habitat for so many creatures.

[@GardinersPlot]

i have both 3 spined and 9 spined in my pond. i put some in last year and they bred and have done again this year. they great for keeping down mosquito larvae and dont destroy the pond. ill be doing an update on my pond in my next video.

[@nickygreenfingers]

Beautiful, I love to encourage wildlife , I’m a landscape gardener & love this work with nature 😊

[@juggerireland]

This is great thanks so much.

[@pierswarren4465]

Top work Jack and Laura! x

[@Biffo1262]

You missed the best one, the Minnow. They do require moving water though so I have an artificial gravel bed stream from my filter box. They are thriving and breeding plus they co-habit well with my Sticklebacks.

[@charlotteoneill5199]

Thank you for this video! We are going to have a pond soon and I was wondering about native fish we could be able to stock it with.

[@wildlifegardenproject]

Ooo lovely! So glad you found this video useful!

[@danprescott2256]

I have 3 roach in a allotment pond I build 2 years ago. They are doing so well and I dont use a filter either

[@StellarSailor]

Hey, thank you for the video. It’s really helpful. I’m looking for some 9 spine sticklebacks for my native pond project. Are you aware of anywhere I can get them? I’d be happy to purchase a few off of yourself.

[@alinn9172]

Wow super

[@jesusacevedo9692]

I love this video

[@peteandrew5502]

lovely concise video, what are the tall yellow flowers please? I guess they're good for pollinators?

[@LMAO-ef3ip]

st johns wort

[@mattevans923]

I have two golden tench, a common carp, and the rest koi carp, however I want to build a pond that only has the species that occur naturally within the British Isles, dace, roach, rudd, crucians, loach, barbel, etc etc, I’m thinking Barbel could grow too big for the pond however, also I won’t be introducing predators like perch pike and zander for obvious reasons, I can keep perch in my indoor tank, one of my favourite fish species perch, catch them at the local canal.

[@Alexandra_homesteading]

Hoe big will the native fish pond be?

[@Williegillan]

Just created a wildlife pond in my garden , I have some tadpoles in it just now , what small fish would be best to add that won't feed on the tadpoles ? Thanks

[@tenchskate6066]

Sticklebacks

[@dorianleakey]

I thought i had minnows in my pond, but perhaps they are sticklebacks?

[@AZTEC_ARTS2023]

How deep must a pond be (for fish), for winters in Canada (down to -30 degrees celsius sometimes) ?

[@dorianleakey]

Jesus, asking a Brit wildlife channel this, we have poor summers but our winters are mild, we wouldnt know. Logically, likely quite deep, how deeo do the rivers freeze? Like he said native fish semi hibernate, if they have some water, it should eb enough.

[@parabugsknowingtheunknown.]

Do you have a pump or do they need one?

[@lloyddavies9683]

Where did you get the 9 spines?

[@christophersavill4785]

Add fish and say goodbye to your tadpoles and young newts

[@shanemaguire7874]

if i released say a 2-4 inch carp into a small pond in a mountain with plenty of aquatic life and left it on its own, would it survive?

[@ganggang2558]

Shane Maguire most likely not.

[@shanemaguire7874]

What if every couple of days I sprinkled a few maggots in?

[@ganggang2558]

It'd be a possibility. Is the pond healthy?

[@shanemaguire7874]

I assume so, there is lots of tadpoles,beetles,aquatic worms etc, etc and the water is quite clear and deep.

[@derekskinner]

If would be fine

[@843thebear]

Are there any reputable places where we can purchase Sticklebacks from in the UK?

[@Chasingscalesspecieshunt]

I recommend MF Aquatics its where I get mine from or DC Freshwater Fishes www.mf-aquatics.co.uk/product-category/native-fish/

[@843thebear]

Thanks

[@shanemaguire7874]

You can catch them in the wild

[@cliffcarlo180]

I did contact MF Aquatics eventually got a reply from a text message. No reply from the email I sent. The text message said their Sticklebacks were too small yet for despatch (out of stock on the website), however, they were strangely available on their eBay site and would be delivered in 2 days. Strange that.

[@prisonmike1798]

For a wildlife pond I wouldn’t actually recommend any fish, they either disturb sediment making it impossible to see the wildlife, or eat the beneficial insects and invertebrates that help to keep the water clean

[@marcusbaldwin9627]

Nope, again a huge generalizatio and common misconception, that is why Jack has just presented these 4 species.

[@prisonmike1798]

@@marcusbaldwin9627 from my own experience I’ve found that sticklebacks quickly over-populated my pond and very few newts/tadpoles were surviving past their larval stage as they were predated all the time. The original 3 sticklebacks I put in quickly became 300, and since I drained and removed them all, the water clarity has been a lot clearer and the invertebrates are thriving. Just my personal experience. It also depends massively on the size of your pond but once the stickleback population outgrows (which they inevitably will) the pond ecosystem is out of balance

[@theworthysoul]

It’s true that fish don’t really help wildlife and instead can cause problems. I only had a few for fun in my small pond but I’ve decided against having them in my next bigger pond.

[@claudiostraniero4919]

Fish them

[@jimmyfaulkner5746]

How bigs your pond ? Mine is 16" x 10" x ( tear-drops sweetie shape) and 3" deep in the middle . Was thinking of adding some stickle backs and a green tench , just wondering what you class as small because I had to argue with the council over the size of mine because your only allowed a 'small wildlife pond' . The head biodiversity officer told me to fill it in or lose my plot this spring so I got the environmental officer to put him in his place 😂 , was your pond pretty bare in terms of pond plants ect? I have partially submerged logs deep water plants , plenty of crevasses overhanging shrubs , rocks to hide behind once the fish go in they ain't coming out again . Any response would be greatly appreciated, you won't stop getting them but but would be good to know if my situations similar to your own . Cheers and God bless

[@leobodiam7950]

Are you allowed to take fish from the wild for your pond? My local river is very clean and the fish that live there are healthy, would I be able to take one or to?

[@mexi-ph7rs]

Yeah you’re good

[@steveblack255]

Lots of exposed liner around his pond, needs to get that sorted.

[@cliffcarlo180]

I did have a look at the fish provider you mention in your clip, they are not cheap by anyone's standard. Are you seriously suggesting to people that they part with their money when purchasing a few fish for their wildlife pond( 10 stickleback £38) just to sit back and watch a heron or kingfisher devour the lot one by one. I don't think so Jack.

[@philliporion9806]

Crussian carp and Tench are not suitable for garden ponds unless you have a small swimming pool size one, id also argue that there not suitable for wildlife ponds, their bottom feeders so what do you think they're feeding on? "disease-free from dealer or garden center" this made me laugh as there where most of the diseased fish come from.

[@marcusbaldwin9627]

10m x 10m is fine for both species you mention, the same size as you'd recommend for GC Newts. If your pond is healthy and balanced you'll have no problems in fact they will help to maintain that balance in a larger pond. Would you not recommend allowing Newts in a pond because they eat inverts? As it goes the Crucian is of far greater conservation concern than GC Newts for instance. Do agree with the Garden centre comment though.

[@derekskinner]

Fish will only grow to the size of the pond , and you obviousy know very little about Tench and Cruicians etc.

[@rockyhighwayroad7365]

WTF, no filter no aeration what is this guy thinking?

[@wendyg46]

Its a Wildlife pond,not supposed to have filters,fountain or aeration ok to have though

[@user-id8cl5zd9e]

U kinda did a bad job with the pond