The Conservative Cave
Interests => Hobbies => Topic started by: whiffleball on May 01, 2011, 05:12:24 PM
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We've just gotten a small pond/water garden started. We were lucky enough to have had enough rain of late to get it filled without using tap water. It's kidney shaped about 15 feet long, 4 feet wide, 18 inches deep midpoint. No electricity run to it just because of the cost.
I've put in a few water lillies, floating planter, barley ball for cleaning and some underwater plantings. I introduced 10 common goldfish and 2 shubunkins yesterday. We're located in a semi rural area and hope the local critters don't decide to dine on the fish before they grow up.
This is our first foray into fish keeping and water gardening, but so far it's very enjoyable (after the initial dig). If anyone has ideas or tips on what to expect, what problems might arise, I'd love to hear them. I'm especially curious about the shubunkin if anyone knows. I haven't laid eyes on them since putting them in the water.
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I have a little one like that and have realized I should have put it in the shade! Alge is killin me even with filters and chemicals. Even though it has been there 4 years and the fish reproduce every winter. But it is a never ending battle. Shade?
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Funny you should mention local critters, whiffleball.
Yesterday another crane/stork/great blue heron/some-kinda-bigassed-bird-with-long-legs visited our pond again. We have a couple of grass carp in our pond -- well, we might still have a couple of grass carp if the heron hasn't spotted 'em by now -- but I can well imagine those redheaded fish would make an inviting target beyond a rather dull carp-like finish.
I think our heron goes after frogs, of which we have plenty.
At least that's what I'm gonna keep telling myself.... :lmao:
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I have a little one like that and have realized I should have put it in the shade! Alge is killin me even with filters and chemicals. Even though it has been there 4 years and the fish reproduce every winter. But it is a never ending battle. Shade?
Am I glad to hear this! All I read about ponds kept saying to put it in full sun. Even the plants instructions say to put them in full sun. We had no choice but to put ours in part shade. There are just too many trees, so we worked around them. It does get some sun, filtered and dappled. I thought we'd be the ones to have algae trouble.
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Funny you should mention local critters, whiffleball.
Yesterday another crane/stork/great blue heron/some-kinda-bigassed-bird-with-long-legs visited our pond again. We have a couple of grass carp in our pond -- well, we might still have a couple of grass carp if the heron hasn't spotted 'em by now -- but I can well imagine those redheaded fish would make an inviting target beyond a rather dull carp-like finish.
I think our heron goes after frogs, of which we have plenty.
At least that's what I'm gonna keep telling myself.... :lmao:
I'm so hoping to attract frogs. Ours is such a small pond I doubt we'd get herons, but we can hope. Let me know if you spot the carp.
Plus, did you put the carp in and how big were they when you did? I don't know how many fish our pond can sustain and am wondering just how big the goldfish will get.
I saw only one little goldfish this morning hiding under a lilypad. Still haven't seen hide nor hair of the two bigger shubunkins. I guess a raccoon could have already visited and wiped them out. I did smell what I took to be fox musk, but I don't know how deep a fox, or a coon for that matter, would fish.
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I'm so hoping to attract frogs. Ours is such a small pond I doubt we'd get herons, but we can hope. Let me know if you spot the carp.
Plus, did you put the carp in and how big were they when you did? I don't know how many fish our pond can sustain and am wondering just how big the goldfish will get.
I saw only one little goldfish this morning hiding under a lilypad. Still haven't seen hide nor hair of the two bigger shubunkins. I guess a raccoon could have already visited and wiped them out. I did smell what I took to be fox musk, but I don't know how deep a fox, or a coon for that matter, would fish.
Our pond is quite large -- 18 ft. deep in the deepest part, though the shallows invite lots of algae growth and various types of plant growth (*sigh*). The grass carp were maybe 6 inches or so when we put them in - I think it was last spring - but we haven't seen hide nor scale of them since then. Not surprising when the water is so deep AND the very real possibility that they got snagged by either the heron or our resident snapping turtles (both have died and Lexie, our mutt, snagged a baby snapper over the weekend and killed it).
I've always read that goldfish will get as large as the vessel that contains them permits. In other words, they'll get only so big, and not any bigger, depending on the size of your pond and the number of fish in it. Food availability is key, I suppose.
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Am I glad to hear this! All I read about ponds kept saying to put it in full sun. Even the plants instructions say to put them in full sun. We had no choice but to put ours in part shade. There are just too many trees, so we worked around them. It does get some sun, filtered and dappled. I thought we'd be the ones to have algae trouble.
Get some snails from the fish store. A dozen should be enough as they rapidly multiply, but tell the person at the store how big your pond is, and they can tell you how many you need. We had one that got full afternoon sun, and was 3 levels, even though we had a pump, the upper level which was pretty shallow was like a algae magnet, and the snails helped a bunch. I also bought 3 or 4 fish that were algae eaters for the lowest level that was about 3 feet deep at its deepest point. I don't know what they were called, but they are often used in aquariums. They did a good job too, until the heron got them. The lake was about a half mile from us, but the damn heron found all my fish. I had some really pretty goldfish that were a good 6-8"..... :bawl:
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Sounds like the perfect spot. You may need some sort of water feature to add oxygen to the water, especially during the summer so your fish won't die. Our pond was small yet a heron got several of our fish over a few years.
It's really a fun hobby. Good luck.
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We've just gotten a small pond/water garden started. We were lucky enough to have had enough rain of late to get it filled without using tap water. It's kidney shaped about 15 feet long, 4 feet wide, 18 inches deep midpoint. No electricity run to it just because of the cost.
I've put in a few water lillies, floating planter, barley ball for cleaning and some underwater plantings. I introduced 10 common goldfish and 2 shubunkins yesterday. We're located in a semi rural area and hope the local critters don't decide to dine on the fish before they grow up.
This is our first foray into fish keeping and water gardening, but so far it's very enjoyable (after the initial dig). If anyone has ideas or tips on what to expect, what problems might arise, I'd love to hear them. I'm especially curious about the shubunkin if anyone knows. I haven't laid eyes on them since putting them in the water.
You'll want to use some kind of system to circulate the water. Nothing fancy, and it can be on a timer so it dosn't run 24/7. There are plenty of DIY "systems" on the innerwebs.
At 18" deep racoons (+ the birds) will get the fish, if they don't have somewhere to hide, usually a piece of pipe (clay) in the middle.
If you have too much sun you will get a bad alge bloom, and it'll choke out the whole pond.
Usually, like a salt water aquarium, it's best to let the pond "settle in" for a few weeks, so you can see how it's going to react to it's position in the yard (sunlight, plant coverage to control alge, etc).
Once it's balanced out then I would have added fish. You might be repalcing a few till then.
I studied the hell out of making a backyard pond and then said..........screw it. :-)
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You'll want to use some kind of system to circulate the water. Nothing fancy, and it can be on a timer so it dosn't run 24/7. There are plenty of DIY "systems" on the innerwebs.
At 18" deep racoons (+ the birds) will get the fish, if they don't have somewhere to hide, usually a piece of pipe (clay) in the middle.
If you have too much sun you will get a bad alge bloom, and it'll choke out the whole pond.
Usually, like a salt water aquarium, it's best to let the pond "settle in" for a few weeks, so you can see how it's going to react to it's position in the yard (sunlight, plant coverage to control alge, etc).
Once it's balanced out then I would have added fish. You might be repalcing a few till then.
I studied the hell out of making a backyard pond and then said..........screw it. :-)
I wish I had done what you did and just didn't do it! It's been nothing but trouble.
All the fish are goners due to one reason or the other and the water is black. It's not green, it's black. Apparently, a lot of the soil I used for the ferns and stuff around the edge of the pond washed into the water and won't settle. Plus, we haven't had any appreciable rain for a couple of weeks and it's really starting to show.
I did get a little solar fountain pump thingy and put it in the middle, but I don't think that's going to help much. I just hated having to go to the expense of running wire. Looks like if this is going to be a success we'll have to plunk for it.