I currently have a small pond with I think too many fish, but they seem to be doing well as they are growing with a nice rate for me and the coloring on them has become pretty nice. I'm planning on making another pond, much much much larger and planning it to be at least 3~4 feet deep, yes I know, must be extra cautious when children are around. And I wanted to know what type of set up would yeild the most natural environment without extra care. I would like it to be much like a natural environment where a nice mini ecosytem can keep things in balance. I know of course I will be doing a lot of care I just like selfsufficient techniques.
First question: What plants specifically will really utilize the waste that my goldfish will be producing and help with water quality as well as provide some nutritional value to the fish? I know there isn't one single plant for all of that, so I'm willing to maintain a number of plants as long as it doesn't become like 8 different plants that I must treat each individual species in a special way.
Second question: What type of nutrition other than the natural stuff they eat in the pond help with their health? I'm not into any of the steroids/harmons or color enhancers, i.e. are there any vitamins that help them? I tried one of those vitamin pyramid and followed the instruction and it seemed to help their appearance, but made me worried a little when it made one of the comets grow extremly fast as I put two of the same size in the pond and one grew about 3 times the size of the other one in a matter of 2 months. I was told they can do that when they are young, but in any way can that reduce their life expectancy?
Thrid question: I have some live bearing fish and the plants in the pond seem good enough for them to hide as I can find new fish that have survived being tiny. But is there some type of environment that I should make for the egg laying fish because I was told that they will eat their own eggs. So would I need special ground covering for the pond or something of that nature to protect some of the eggs?
Fourth question: I've noticed that either one of my goldfish is bloated or pregnant. It's the largest of the fish in the pond, should I be alarmed? And if so what measures should I take to help my fish?
I guess I should mention as well as these goldfish are just the cheep ones (feeder fish)you can buy for 25 cents, but I find it interesting to take these fish and make them into larger more flamboyant fish, like taking a commuter car and making it something interesting. And the other fish are just mosquito fish that were provided from the city, they don't look like guppies, they look like black/brown normal feederfish (kinda look like goldfish), but don't grow more than an inch and a half it seems.
I can take pictures if anyone wants me to.
