About

Sturgeon Web is the original and best site dedicated to keeping sturgeons and sterlets in garden ponds. I hope you find it useful and informative.

I have a long history in aquaculture and fish farming. I studied at Sparsholt (Hampshire College of Agriculture) and have worked on fish farms, fishing lakes and in various aquatic retail shops (koi, coldwater and tropical fish) for over 30 years. I joined Orchard Fisheries in 2004 and was very privileged to learn about sturgeon from Graham, they are quite remarkable fish.

Sturgeon Web's founder moved on to pastures new, leaving the Sturgeon-Web and Orchard Fisheries web sites in my care and I hope to continue Graham's no nonsense informative pages and good service.

The Sturgeon Web group of web sites includes Orchard Fisheries and Pond life.

To Graham I would like to say thanks for everything over the many years I have known and worked with you and wish you all the best in your travels and new ventures. The fish keeping industry will miss you. Cheers!

Please take a look at the Sturgeon information on our Pond Life site and visit our online shop at Orchard Fisheries for the best sturgeon/sterlet food you will find anywhere as well as an excellent range of premium koi foods, pond fish foods, aquarium fish foods, blanket weed control, water test kits, and other selected items.

The pond life site has some more in-depth information on sturgeon species and care. There are also features on koi and other pond fish, aquarium fish, fish health, pond care, pond plants, and much more.

If you can't find what you're looking for you can join our forum for a friendly chat with us and other sturgeon, koi and fish keepers.

How I base my advice

Needless to say many people have asked how many fish they can keep in ponds and when I respond they then question my answer. To put it as plainly as possible:

• I am not thinking of you, the pond keeper, I am thinking of the fish's future (even a Sterlet will reach 3ft one day).
• Allowing for the fact that there may be a miscalculation in the pond's capacity (see working out your pond volume on the Water Quality page).
• Due to point 2 above, the filter will be right on the limit of its capacity.
• Due to point 3, the filter will soon be inadequate when the fish grow.
• If you stock at maximum capacity you are asking for trouble. Unless you have a back up system, oxygen and generator, if something goes wrong your fish will die.
• People say they are going to build a new pond soon, winter comes and that's all forgotten about.
• I am trying to save you from the possible problems of overstocking.
• And lastly, if you don't believe me don't ask.

I hope this helps people see the reasoning behind my decisions and information. If I wanted to make money out of you I would say twice as many. Then i could sell you twice as much food and when you start having the inevitable problems, caused by overstocking, I could sell you cures and potions. That's not what I'm like though so I don't. I want your fish keeping experience to be a good one.

I am not a 'yes' man. I say what I believe to be the truth, whether you agree or not. The fish come first.

Free advice

While I don't charge for my time and advice via e-mail and phone calls, I find it rather frustrating that, having offered my advice, it is then thrown in my face with "You don't know what you're talking about, my local retailer said ....". If this was the case why contact me in the first place?

People sometimes copy information/photos from the site without my permission. All content of this web site is Copyright © 2000-2024 www.sturgeon-web.co.uk and protected under UK and international law. Except where explicitly stated, all rights are reserved and content must not be copied, adapted, redistributed, or otherwise used without the prior written permission of www.sturgeon-web.co.uk.

A link to Sturgeon-web is fine. If anyone sees copies of my work on other sites please contact me (as some have already done, and thank you for this) and I will get it sorted.

Terry White

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