I could try sending you some bluegills. Don't know if they would make it and I don't know if it would be legal for me to send them. But then you would have hundreds of bluegills. We have a couple of fish stores that will take them. But not Wal Mart or Petsmart or Petco type stores. Glenda

LOL..Goldfish are like rabbits. You probably had a bird plant a goldfish in your pond..to begin with. Probably stolen from someone elses pond. I could tell you a funny story about pond fish sometime..lol But back to your question. Your size pond will hold about 15-30 goldfish depending on size.. I have found places like Craigslist a godsend for getting rid of fish. (I have 5 goldfish left) I know what you mean about they are pets. Most of who you find to adopt goldfish, are actual people looking for housepets..not pond pets. But you can also advertise in your local paper that you have pond goldfish for sale..depending on size, you may get a few bucks for them. I was offered 10k for my baby "Rocky" He was just your regular run of the mill comet Goldfish. Except that he was 36 years old, and 15 inches long.(God rest his little body, he passed on last year) But as to stop them from breeding..Remove all the male Goldfish out of the pond, dig another pond specifically for the Males..Done..unless another pesky bird transfers one..lol But The way you can tell them apart is by the fin..underneath, by the anal fin. The female has a concave fin, where the male has a convex. Or you can look on various websites..Spring is the time to tell the males..They get a white pimple like rash on fins and around the gills. If any problems with water conditions, remove about 10% of the water weekly, replace with clean. That way there is no shock, but your keeping the toxins down. Good luck, and if you have any questions..let me know!

Did you bring home aquatic plants from the nursery too? That is another way that goldfish magically appeared.
Its also not unheard of for people such as neighbors and relatives to slip their kids unwanted pet goldfish into your pond when you are not home.
Check with your local pet stores on their policies on taking fish. Some do it, some don't.

Another thing you can do is run a classified ad in your local papers to give them away. Most papers will run the ad for free if you're giving the pet away.

I placed an ad in craigslist for a free baby koi and received about 20 replies in one week from local ponders. Just be real specific in your ad - maybe say that the person has to be in your area and that they have to meet you at your specific location of choice. Oh, and make sure they are honest ponders and not just looking for snake or larger fish (i.e. oscars)food!!! I gave mine to the person who seemed the most passionate about fish and even sent me pics of his pond. I wanted to be sure my fish was getting a good home. BTW, craigslist.com is free.

I use Craigslist Too.. Its the best place to list things for sale or free.

www.craiglist.com

You can always take them fishing!

If you cant take your pets fishing, then sell some to local fishermen...They will buy your excess for bait...Hey could be an idea to bring in extra cash!

DO NOT sell/use them for bait or let then loose in a natural lake/pond/stream. It is ILLEGAL! They probably came in with one of the plants. Their number will level out at some point. The big ones will eat the little ones. However the bigger ones will suffer more from bad water conditions. I have thought about removing some of mine over the years...but how to decide who goes and who stays? I don't have the heart to do it.

Make or purchase 2 large spawning mops and rotate them out of the pond every day until spawning stops. Rotating them on a daily basis insures that the eggs will dry/die each day. You can also use an industrial string mops. We use them every year with excellent results.

Make your own

String Mop

We have had the same thing happen. My question is does your pond freeze solid? How far north are you? We bring ours in for winter but the little guys are nearly impossible to catch. Can they survive ice?

Goldfish can easily withstand frozen over ponds. I'm in 7b zone and temps can get down to 5 F. But my pond is almost 3' deep and it only has frozen an inch or so. It could be stood on.

My pond is only 24" deep, and my goldfish have survived with 3" of ice over it. I thought goldfish will stop growing when they reach the maximum capacity of their water environment. Currently I have 8 and they seem to be staying at the same size now, about 6-7" for the last couple of years, they are now over 6 years old.

We got 7 goldfish for our pond a year ago and just noticed the spawn behavior. I quickly google to learn what next. All of the sites said the older will eat the eggs, or they will get sucker into the filter or the fry will starve without proper food. Now I read here that you guys have too many!? Should I just leave it all to nature? Or at least try to section off the adults? I would love to have babies.

Well, what all you just said is true. Eggs will be eaten in proportion to adult population; more adults = fewer babies, but (at least at first) babies may overshoot a good population. I would guess that 7 one year olds would eat most eggs but a few will get thru and you will probably get just what you want.

Let nature take it's course. At a certain point the fish will get into a balance based on how may fish the size of your pond can support.

As long as the baby ones don't have long floppy ears .........

How do you keep the cats out of your pond?

Put water in it