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

Jack Perks talks us through which fish species will live happily in your wildlife pond, as well as giving some tips on making sure your pond is a suitable habitat for fish and other wildlife.

About The Wildlife Garden Project:
Imagine if everybody in the UK made just a few small changes in their garden to help our British wildlife. Think of the giant patchwork that could be created, all the habitats that could be formed, and all the mouths that could be fed. And you can do as much or as little as you like!

Get practical advice and information on gardening, identify the new creatures who have visited your garden, or find out more about them in our ever growing wildlife section and learn new tips and techniques with our videos. Ask for and offer advice and connect with other wildlife gardeners on our forum, and browse through our photos or even add your own in our gallery.

It doesn't matter whether you live in the countryside or in a city, whether you own 50 acres or just a balcony, everyone can do their bit. So sign up, watch the videos, read the info and join in the discussions in the forum, but most importantly, GET WILDLIFE GARDENING!

Music: "Open Those Bright Eyes"
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

[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.

[davidpotter]

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.

[nickygreenfingers]

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

[danprescott]

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

[charlotteoneill]

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.

[Biffo]

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.

[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.

[parabugsknowingtheunknown.]

Do you have a pump or do they need one?

[peteandrew]

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

[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

[mattevans]

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.

[AZTEC_ARTS]

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

[dorianleakey]

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

[thebear]

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

[prisonmike]

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

[shanemaguire]

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?

[christophersavill]

Add fish and say goodbye to your tadpoles and young newts

[leobodiam]

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?

[steveblack]

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

[cliffcarlo]

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.