There are many types of fish that you are going to be able to choose from when
building a water garden. The types of fish that you will use in the water garden
will be dependent on how large your water garden is, what colors of fish that
you like, and a little bit dependent on the climate or grow zone that you live
in as well.
Two of the smallest cyprinids are the Bitterling and the Moderlieschen, Opaline,
Clicker Barb, Stone Moroko and the Belica. There fish are range from 3.5 inches
to about 4.5 inches. These small fish do really well in the smaller water
gardens because of their size, of course you still will need to limit the number
of fish in the water garden if you choose to build a smaller garden.
The Clicker Barb is a fish that actually makes clicking noises during their
mating season. The Bittling is best known as a fish of the sea as they prefer to
lay their eggs inside of water mussels when the mating season arrives. The
Moderlieschen, Opaline and the Belica are all known for their easy to damage
scales which could easily happen in you have several types of fish in the water
garden or in you need to handle your fish more often than others.
Larger fish that you can buy include Silver Carp, Chub, and the Bream. The Bream
is a flat bodied fish that will grow to be about 30 inches long. The Bream is
also best known for its bottom feeding practices. The Silver Carp is a good
example of a fish for the larger water gardens, pond, and streams. The Silver
Carp will grow to about 40 inches long and feeds on floating types of small
plants. The Silver Carp has a huge head and a smaller body that has small
scales.
Similar to the Silver Carp the Chub is a fish that will grow to be about 25
inches long. It has a large mouth, large head and a slimmer body than most fish
along with a silvery color along its scales.