Fish – What To Do If You Have Too Many

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

In the thousands of pond related questions we get every year, there are a few that always seem to come up pretty regularly. Of course there are the ever present pond algae related ones, but another common question is, “if I have too may fish what can I do about it?” Right along with this is the question, “if I have smaller fish, how do I catch them easily?”

Since the focus of this site is related to algae control, for smaller ponds fish always factor into the equation. If you have too many fish in a pond for it’s size, there’s no question that this overstocked situation will lead to water quality problems, potentially high and toxic levels of ammonia, and most likely, green water or string algae.

Here’s a recent article we put together on this very topic – Pond Algae And Fish – Are The Two Related? Here we talked about how to calculate if your pond is overstocked or overloaded. It’s good information to have if you have fish and algae in your pond.

The focus of this article though is what do you do if you find you have too many fish? The reality is, if you do, you can try treatments, potions, and remedies, but chances are you’ll still have algae because you haven’t addressed the real root of the problem. While it’s true, if you’re close to the threshold, beneficial bacteria or improved filtration can help but there’s a limit to everything.

Case in point. June wrote to us a few weeks ago and noted that she’s sure she has too many fish in her pond and algae has been stubborn. But she’s got a problem. “I know I have to get a few fish out of there, but I don’t have any other pond owners near me and I don’t know what to do with the one’s I take out. I like my fish so I don’t want to just “get rid” of them and I know it’s not a good idea to release them in a natural pond or lake. What should I do?”

And here’s another good question. Angie writes, “We have a small pond which we put in last summer. We added 4 gold fish to this pond. They survived the winter and we were thrilled until they had at least 100 babies! We caught about 40 of the babies about 3 weeks ago when they were smaller and gave them to a friend who had a large pond. But now the fish have become smarter and faster and we can’t catch them. We’ve tried everything we can think of and still no luck. We know we can’t clear up the algae problem without first getting rid of the fish. Please help!”

So dear readers, here’s my plea on behalf of pond owners everywhere. From your experience, (and there is no greater resource than experience in my book) what are the best options for safely getting rid of a few too many fish, and if they’re fairly small and quick, what’s the best way to catch them? Please share your comments, thoughts, and ideas below…it will help out a lot of folks.

Many thanks!
Mark
Pond Algae Solutions

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.

11 thoughts on “Fish – What To Do If You Have Too Many”

  1. I once had the same problem, and being an elementary school teacher, knew to offer them to the teachers in my school, and then to other elem. schools in the district. I found it so interesting when I had some in my classroom, and actually had some young children ask if they could ‘pet’ them. WOW – what a learning experience for me!!

    We live in upstate New York (Jamesville, just outside of Syracuse- a ‘snow-belt’ with lake-effect snow coming off of the Great Lake Ontario). We tend to average some 120″ during the season, but not all at one time. With this in mind, a have a small, 80 – 100 gallon pond that I dug out years ago. I learned the hard way that the fish would die with our heavy snow and ice cover keeping in the methane gas. I now bring the 4 – 5 fantail goldfish to the basement where they winter over until late spring. When I had just these few and earlier years with many more, I too had a terrible time carefully catching them. My now 40-year-old son and his young son always seemed to have no problem
    in ‘outsmarting’ and catching them. I have emailed him to see if he can remember some of his different ways of doing this. I sent along your portion of the newsletter so he would know what the problems were, and your web address so that either he can correspond or have me do the typing. Hope this will help.

  2. Hi Mark,
    I am in England, UK and like getting your useful newsletters.
    The relationship between algae and fish numbers is interesting but how do you (I) tell how many fish is right for a given pond size. Do you or your readers have any comments on that.
    Keith

  3. I place a large 5×5 piece of netting on the bottom of one end. I attach string to the four corners. Throw in some food at the net end and wait. Then when the fish come to eat, Pull the four pieces of string up. I usually get about half of the and do it again the next day.

  4. I FOUND OUT WHY I NEVER HAD A FISH NUMBER PROBLEM THE HARD WAY IT WAS THE CATFISH I HAD IN THE POND AND THE BEAR BUY GREEN BELT SENT VISITING BULLFROGS TO MY POND FOR LUNCH THE CAT FISH KEPT THE BABIES UNDER CONTROL AND THE BULLFROGS ATE ANY THING SMALLER THAN THEMSELVES I NOW HAVE COVERED MY POND SO THE FROGS CAN’T GET THE FREE MEAL AND HAVE GIVEN A FEW OF MY CATFISH TO OTHER FRIENDS WITH PONDS (LETTTING THEM KNOW OF THEIR FOOD TASTES MY POND IS ABOUT 3000 GAL AND I HAVE A LARGE NUMBER OF FISH HOWERVER NOT SO MANY BABIES

  5. I have a 100 gallon pond that I installed myself and proud to say that I am running the pumps, filters, and clarifier all on Solar power! I Have 5 beautiful goldfish which are doing quite well and growing. In the winter I take them inside to a 40 gallon tank. I am just wondering how big do goldfish get? I have 2 year olds and 1 year olds. The 2 year olds are about 8 inches long and the one year olds are about 5-6 inches long. Question will I have to add another pond as these fish get larger? Thanks

  6. I became concerned when my 9 catfish and 11 or 12 bluegill became a decent size. Feeder minnows made up a good size school as well. My pond is between 2500 and 3000 gals. My Cats are between 30 and 40 inches and my bluegills have reached 12 in. With one tip I read recommending having only 60 in. per thousand gals., I just let some friends fish out a few. No fuss no muss, and now I’m within limits. I do add Viresco algae controller and it works well. (www.viresco-uk.com)No algae problems like the old days.

  7. who determines how many is too many? The issue is when we have alot of fish we add alot of food the the algae has a feast on the nitrate. That being said you can go to craigslist and sell or give away the fish. I have over 30 years experience and will help anyone with ponds or aquariums feel free to email me cut your food by 50-75% and change the water 50% for quick results

  8. Hi Karen,
    Thanks for your offer of help. Experience really is the best guide.

    In terms of how many is too many? Well that’s a relative thing isn’t it? Much depends on your filtration system, the type of fish you have, and as you note, how much one feeds, and we certainly don’t recommend overfeeding.

    Any type of nutrient load is an “iffy” thing. Fish waste adds up, decomposing food adds up, leaves and such add up.

    I would rate your note about overfeeding right up there with the possibility of too many fish in a pond…from the folks we’ve worked with, fish (or those things that revolve around them)
    have the biggest influence on a smaller pond.

    Thanks again,
    Mark

  9. I like what “havasufred” said above regarding the 5×5 piece of netting. For larger ponds: Way back I took two golf carts and made floating paddle wheel aerators and Auburn University came down and liked the idea. In exchange he told me how to get fish out in large amounts. Put four posts in with treated mesh netting, ropes & pulleys. Feed the fish over the netting and pull it up. With a wood walkway on one side you can get some 600-800 pounds out at one time in less than thirty minutes. Oscar

Comments are closed.