Should I turn off my pond water filters while my goldfish are spawning?

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@imrainmaker I found several sites about spawning and raising fish in tanks. They pull out the fish and isolate the eggs. Their water is already spotless.They have control of every aspect of the process.
My pond situation is different. It is basically a deep mud hole in clay soil.
The only thing I can control is aeration and filters on or off. I will keep aerating, of course.
But the filter question is the worry..

I don’t think I’d turn off the filter….what is the intake like for it? Would it be possible to fit a large sponge over it?

I wouldn’t. We have a problem with goldfish overpopulation in our ponds and we run the pumps and filters year round, plus who knows how many of the eggs get eaten. Goldfish are worse than rabbits.

The pump intake is in a box that is covered in a foam that keeps big items like leaves and twigs out. It lets smaller stuff, BB sized or smaller, go in so it can be caught in the ever finer media.

Today I left the filter on but did not put in any flocculent. That might be a reasonable compromise. I’ll see if the water gets really cloudy.
If worse comes to worst and my filters suck up the eggs and fry, I can always buy a dozen little goldfish for $2.00 from the local fish store .

Your pond is fairly young, I think you’ll find that it will start to regulate itself over time once it builds up some healthy natural bacteria. It can get pretty disgusting and unmanageable from time to time in the early years (at least, as we experienced it), but it does eventually self regulate. I wouldn’t be too terribly worried about cloudiness if this is your first or second year, it’s almost inevitable. Also, the pond will get murkier and kind of gross when the fish are spawning.

@ANef_is_Enuf The pond, in this configuration, is only 2 years old so this is the beginning of the 3rd season. The water is getting cloudy and there is some froth on top which looks like I spilled a little detergent. I didn’t.
Before, every time it got cloudy I’d slam it with clearing agent and the water would get crystal clear in a few hours.. Probably the fish didn’t like that. Please forgive me little fishies, I was young and ignorant. :-(
I even used clearing agent a few times in the winter and could see right down to the bottom ~5 ft, when it was not covered in ice and snow. Today, I’m lucky if i can see 2 feet down.

I’ll keep the filters running and see what develops.

I just came from the local fish store. I purchased 3 water plants to float around on the surface. They should give the little guys some cover and a place to hang out. Maybe it will help the eggs and fry stay away from the filter intake.

@LuckyGuy is going to be a daddy.

The froth is related to the spawn, the water will get bubbly and frothy sometimes while they do their business. It’s kind of gross.
Certain times of the year you will have algae blooms and things will be murkier than others, but for the most part it will eventually regulate on its own as long as you have an effective filter and a good pump running. I don’t think we ever put any sort of product in anymore, except occasional stress coat for the fish. We try to keep the pond plants well stocked, as well. It provides shade for the fish and also helps to balance the pond’s ecosystem naturally. I’m not sure what you have growing in yours, but something to consider if you don’t.

@ANef_is_Enuf My pond is in the woods so it does not get much sunlight. i buy plants for $3 each every now and then but they get eaten by other animals that stop by for a drink.
I put in 3 yesterday. We’ll see how long they last.

Um….can you build something in the pond where the filtration system is less powerful and the eggs want be washed.out?
Also need help planning your baby shower?

They hide their eggs from natural currents don’t they?

@Dutchess_III I have an additional small pump that causes the water to rotate clockwise about once every 3 minutes. The water does not stagnate but there are some spots ner the edges that don’t move as much.
Re,: the baby shower. It is going to be very difficult to determine if the decorations should be pink or blue. Maybe I’ll stick with green.

Gold, duh!

I think they have the instinct to figure it out. In the wild they’d deposit it in the general direction of ptotective rocks and recesses and covfefes.

Oh, that’s actually quite nice that it’s away from the shade. I don’t have either pond in natural shade, so I’m not sure what the downsides might be – but I’ll tell you that balancing a pond in full sun is a challenge. Looking forward to baby pictures in a few months.

LOL! I don’t think gold fish gestation is months long! Well there IS no gestation for fish!

It’s not that the gestation is terribly long, it’s that the babies don’t come around until they’re a little bigger. At least, that has been our experience. One day there will suddenly be 6 new tank sized goldfish coming up to eat out of the blue.

I stand corrected. But yes. Pictures!

Gold… of course!

Ok. I’ll post pix when it gets interesting.

The downside to being in the woods is tons of leaves that fall into it during the Fall. They eventually sink and form sludge on the bottom. I’ll get a screen cover before the end of summer.

You should have a screen or something to keep Heron and other fishing birds out of the pond. I had a friend had a pond put in his backyard expensive and put expensive Koi, some of the Koi cost over $75 each. All were gone by the end of the first week; no bird protection.

Maybe made out of stiff, clear plastic that you could put down just below the water level so you can’t really see it?

Point taken but I am not going to cover the pond. It would be like putting an 8 ft fence around a garden to keep out the deer. If it can’t survive open, so be it.
The pond is much deeper than most backyard ponds and in the cover of woods. So far it has not been bothered by birds of any sort. If my camera picks up a bird I will do something but until then I will leave it like my house – open.

I’m still coming over!

Come on over! There’s plenty of room!

The spawning frenzy has passed. One of the females is now swimming very slowly and slightly tilted with her right side lower. I hope this doesn’t mean she’s sick or rear the end of the line after depositing all those eggs. I will keep an eye on her.

If she’s swollen, especially in the belly area, she might have a condition known as fish dropsy, which, as you may know, is more a symptom than a condition.

Well… It’s over. RIP Goldie.
Upon close inspection and preparation for the funeral service, I noticed both sides of her had 2 inch circular patches that were devoid of scales.

I had a good clean-up fire going in the woods and tossed placed her lovingly on the pyre. Her minerals will nourish the soil and her carbon will be absorbed in the trees.
Ashes to ashes….

Aww. At least she went fast. I have a fish quarantined for dropsy right now. It’s not a pretty end.

I hope it is not infectious.

LOL! I’m reminded of that home video where a little girl just breaks down as they lovingly placed their dead gold fish in the toilet and prayed!