Hi! We got a pond full of lovely goldfish, both orange and black somehow (they’re not juvenile goldfish). Thing is, we want to rebuild our pond, but the fishes gotta go. My questions are 1. What is the best way to catch the fish without stressing them out too much or making them too wary for the net and 2. Where to “get rid” (sorry for phrasing) of the black goldfish, as I assume that not many people would want the black ones (even for free) and releasing them is a bad idea per definition.

why-animals-do-the-thing:

I don’t really know what to do with the black fish, sorry! I’d suggest asking fishblr. (@scalestails, @bettablogging). 

Catching fish is not my expertise, so defer to fishblr on this, but I would think you could use a larger long net to herd them into one area where they’ll be more likely swim into the smaller net naturally. If they’re in a smaller area, even if you do have to pursue them with the smaller net, it would assume it would be a lot less stressful because you’re not engaging in an entire chase scene. 

You’ll probably want a seine net to corral the fish into one area of the pond. Google it and you’ll see what I mean- it’s a long net that you stretch between two poles, and you could try to catch the fish in it, or just use it to herd them into and fence off a small area of the pond to catch them in.

Ask at your local pet store (non-chain ones are best) if they’ll take the fish and re-sell them, ask a local garden center with a koi pond if you can add your goldfish, or see if there’s a local pond+aquarium forum where you could post and see if someone will take them. If all else fails, there’s Craigslist, though do ask potential takers what they plan to do with the fish.

If you just need to take the fish out for a little while to rebuild the pond, some heavily-filtered rubbermaid tubs with established filtration media and a ton of pond plants could work as temporary holding tubs to keep them in until the pond is up and running again.

If they’re the fish-shaped goldfish and not the fancy kind, you have black ones because goldfish are just a type of carp that have been bred to be shiny. Sometimes they regress to not being shiny. 

Kudos for not releasing them!