Differences Between Species of Fish in Lakes & Ponds

A pond is man-made whilst a lake is naturally occurring and tends to be larger than a pond. Due to inlets, lakes will have a constant supply of fish who survive naturally together. A pond may have more fish stocked in it purposefully at the beginning but it will become fished out quicker due to there being no naturally occurring inlets to restock its fish supply. All sunlight will usually be able to reach the bottom of a pond whereas a lake will have areas where the sunlight cannot reach the bottom leading to there being no plant life there.

  1. Fish in Ponds

    • Pond animals include turtles, insects, frogs, fish, birds and crayfish. The wind also carries in organisms, seeds and eggs to a pond that develops into different life forms. Popular outdoor pond fish include comet goldfish, the Fantail goldfish, Shubunkin goldfish and Koi. These are mostly cold freshwater fish.

    Fish in Lakes

    • Larger cold freshwater fish like trout and salmon live in lakes and warm freshwater fish, like bass and catfish live in warmer lake temperatures. Great lakes fish species also includes the Chinook, Steelhead, Walleye, Sauger, Crappie and Yellow Perch in North America.

    Lake Temperature Variations

    • Temperature variations exist in a lake but not in a pond, leading to a greater variation of fish that can live in a lake, for example Brown Trout will live in temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees F, while a White Bass prefers temperatures of 65 to 75 degrees F.

    Fish not Recommended for Ponds

    • Some fish are not recommended to be put in ponds. This includes Common Carp and Yellow, Brown or Black Bullhead fish as their bottom-feeding and spawning activities continuously bring up mud from the bottom of the pond, making the water muddy for other species. Green sunfish out-compete other fish like small large-mouthed bass due to its large mouth-size and specie numbers soon become too great.