I have always loved goldfish, and would love to have an outdoor pond with some larger goldfish in it. I think that they are not nearly as expensive as the koi fish are, and they are very beautiful as well.
When I was growing up, we had a big laundry tub outside in the back yard, and my mom had several of the larger goldfish in there. They were at least 6" long, and we had some seaweed and other plants and rocks in the tub for them to swim around and hide in the weeds.
Once, when my kids were younger, we had some goldfish that we got at the pet store, and we kept those outside in the summer in the horse trough. They did great in there, staying near the bottom where it was cooler during the heat of the day, and then coming up in the mornings and evenings to eat the bugs and mosquitoes that fell into the water.
