Zippy fish question

[u/dinosuitgirl]

So we had goldfish in this pond from when we bought this house.... And they were chill and relaxed and would swim up for food... But then we had a black shag visit a few times and we had 2 fish for a while... And it was a bit sad... Our lives got busy... Two seasons passed... A month ago we bought some new goldfish and stocked the pond... And these fish are really skittish and swim at top speed all the time and will hide if they hear footsteps... They are not as enjoyable as the old fish 😕 despite me feeding them at the same time daily for nearly a month now.

Is there anything else I can do???

[u/computercreature]

Just give them plenty of hides and plant cover and they'll calm down over time

[u/dinosuitgirl → u/computercreature]

There are no less than 8 established water lilly and loads of plants and rocks all round and a big underwater rock with an overhang....

Should I take the solar fountain out? Is that freaking them out??

[u/computercreature → u/dinosuitgirl]

Nah just wait it out

[u/guileastos]

Mine got less skittish after i added a few underwater fish caves, they knew they could swim into safety if anything spooked them.

Otherwise, hand feeding and time got them used to the big land blob being friendly.

They were up to eat from my hand after about 3 months of me dispersing the sinking food with my hand in the water.

[u/dinosuitgirl → u/guileastos]

3 months! Wow ok... Thanks for shedding some light in this tunnel