Learn How Many Fish Per Gallon Will Fit In A Pond Comfortably
Find Out The Different Ways You Can Determine How Many Fish Fit In Your Des Moines Pond
There are 2 ways to find how many fish per gallon will fit in your pond. You can go by inches of fish or square footage of surface area per inch of fish.
Find the methods with examples below-
Will They Need More Fin Room?
Paul frowns and rubs his jaw. “You may have a good point there, hon. I guess we should find out how many fish per gallon will fit comfortably here. Let’s use the same site we found that fish questions and answers post on.”
Paul pulls out his phone and goes to the site. There he finds the following:
How Big The Average Koi Fish Can Get
Koi can usually grow to somewhere between 2 and 3 feet long. We like to figure the average koi in your pond at anytime will probably be closer to 12 to 18 inches.
“Shoot, looks like there’s more to think about than I first thought,” Paul admits. He scrolls down to find the 2 methods for seeing how many fish will fit in a pond.
The Fish Per Gallon In A Pond Rule
For every 10 gallons of pond water, you can have 1 inch of fish. This leaves enough room for them to live comfortably and grow some. A 500-gal pond means you can have 50 inches of fish. 1,000 gallons means 100 inches of fish.
The Fish Per Square Foot Of Surface Area Rule
You can easily fit 1 inch of fish per square foot of surface area. So for 10 foot by 10-foot ponds you have about 100 square feet of surface area. This means you can fit about 100 inches of fish.
It’s best to not pack as many as you can into a pond. This makes sure they’re comfortable.
“We’ve all had that it’s-to-crowded-in-this-elevator moment. Let’s not do that for our fish,” Hanna says. Paul nods his head. “Yeah, it wouldn’t be great. This next part tells us more about why overcrowding isn’t good for fish.”
Sometimes all your pond needs is a good, thorough cleaning. We’re talking a full drain and clean so anything that could be causing the cloudy water is taken care of.
Most ponds need a spring cleaning process, fall maintenance, and winter shutdown. Some of our clients have us maintain their pond weekly throughout the season. This makes sure it’s beautiful, clear, and protected all year round.
“Well, our pond is fairly new so I don’t think it needs a cleaning yet,” Louis points out. Sharon nods and scrolls downward.
What Happens When You Over Stock Your Pond With Fish?
Your fish can get sick and/or have parasites.
With more fish comes more fish waste. That’ll put more pressure on your pond’s filters, and if they can’t handle it they’ll just recycle the dirty water.
This leads to algae, parasites, sickness, and a nasty pond.
More fish can lead to higher levels of ammonia in the water. This is dangerous during the summer. Ammonia levels rise in the summer heat. Add that to the higher levels with too many fish and they can die overnight.
“Well, how can we make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen?” Paul scrolls down to find out.
3 Ways To Make Your Fish Feel Comfortable
- Have fewer fish
- Add aeration
- Upgrade or add filters