Put in a pond?

[canesisters]

I have to toss this out everytime someone starts to consider a pond, just cause I think it's SO CLEVER. (but I'm very easily entertained)

 

[Smart Red]

That is a perfectly lovely pond, @canesisters! The main goal is to have the sound of water running -- no matter how small the pond might be.

Fish might be endangered in one so small, though. One year, DH wouldn't let me add water to the shallow pond, saying the spring rains would fill it. That was the summer of 2012 when we didn't have rain at all, not spring, not summer, and not fall. The fish didn't last three days after I put them in the pond. Someone enjoyed a lovely meal.

I filled the pond before I added new fish. Not listening to DH about shallow pond water again.

 

[Lavender2]

We had a pond at our old house. Came with the house & I miss it terribly.

Whoever dug the pond was smart enough to trench a cable out & put out a GFI outdoor outlet & box on a very short post to run power out to it. I used a trough heater from the local livestock supply company to keep the pond from freezing solid and my goldfish lived there year round. That outlet also powered the pump. I didn't have the space at the time to winter them indoors anywhere either so I tried to do the best I could for them. They survived fine and bred and produced multiple offspring for me.

You want some surface disruption be it from water falling back into the pond from a fountain or an upper portion like a waterfall or even currents created by a pump. That surface disruption helps with gas exchange for your fish and will help with overall water quality.

There are plenty of info on wintering ponds too when to stop feeding for the winter, when to resume feeding etc.

I also kept a couple large strawberry pot in the deepest parts of the pond. I sunk them to give my fish a place to hide. The smart ones figured it out and survived. The not so smart ones were bird/coon food.

There were some variegated grasses at one end and I added some water lilies to help shade it a bit. When in bloom it was beautiful.

I'm a big fan of sarasa comets when I had my pond. Gorgeous coloration, and they won't get gigantic like koi will. Ip've found them at most mom & pop pet stores even Petsmart carries them. One thing to keep in mind when looking for fish is how they will be viewed. When you look at pond fish your looking down on them. That's the view you want to see before you buy them. They may look very flashy on the side but their back can be all 1 color. So if your looking for something with a little pop or more striking be sure to ask to look at them from the top down so you get the same perspective as you will in your pond.

Most pond stores that sell fish will give you that perspective because they know how they are viewed, but placed like Petsmart will just give you a normal aquarium front on view. I always had the sales person hold the catch cup (the little clear cup they fill with water and net the fish into to transition them into a bag) down for me so I could see the markings on the fish's head and back. If I just wanted orange looking fish Id buy the 25 cent feeder fish!

I really love a beautiful pond (can ya tell?) and they are worth it. You will be so glad you did it once it's up and running and you can't imagine not having it.

Thanks for all the great info, and tips for the fish! We have an outdoor outlet on a post from the pool, but may have to change the outlet for a different type of plug, I think. With the egrets, herons, and 'coons, etc. around here, it's very good to know about cover for fish. I'm hoping that having it up sort of close to the house will help too. My son has many fish aquariums and I'm hoping he can help me out with over-wintering fish... just not sure if I'm up to the task of trying to keep them through our frigid winters.

I would love a waterfall of some sort, and I think I am as excited about the water plants as I am about a pond. Still working on getting the rest of the pool out, in between the rain and storms. The kids are coming to help this weekend!

Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement and the votes! I win! Oh, and about the bathtub... DH said no several years ago, he's just NO fun at all sometimes!

 

[Smart Red]

So DH was worried about your tender, delicate skin getting mosquito bitten. How special he is.

 

[ninnymary]

Lavender2, our realtor has a big pond that takes up half of his yard. We have raccoons here also but his pond is 4 feet deep and he says that with it that deep that raccoons can't get his fish. He's had the pond for years and has never lost fish to predators. His pond is so clear that when I look down at it, it doesn't look that deep at all.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

My BFF neighbor has a spring fed pond. The family tried several times to stock it with fish, but snapping turtles got them every year. That's been 50 years ago. This summer her son drained the pond to dredge and redo the sides. At the bottom were seven HUGE trout in a circle. . . celebrating their 50th birthday.

So, aside from raccoons and flying predators, you might have to make a lot of turtle chowder to keep them safe. M-m-m-m!

 

[Lavender2]

So DH was worried about your tender, delicate skin getting mosquito bitten. How special he is.

Yeah, my wish for the old bathtub was for water plants, had it been for a backyard spa he probably would have been all for it.

My BFF neighbor has a spring fed pond. The family tried several times to stock it with fish, but snapping turtles got them every year. That's been 50 years ago. This summer her son drained the pond to dredge and redo the sides. At the bottom were seven HUGE trout in a circle. . . celebrating their 50th birthday.

So, aside from raccoons and flying predators, you might have to make a lot of turtle chowder to keep them safe. M-m-m-m!

You know my habitat ... I would hope these guys would rather hang out in the natural pond and ditches, although I have caught them laying eggs in my vegetable garden ...

 

[Nyboy]

I remember the first time I saw a snapper in my pond, was huge like something out of Jurassic park!!!

 

[Lavender2]

I remember the first time I saw a snapper in my pond, was huge like something out of Jurassic park!!!

Aren't they cool! I see one about the size I posted (18" shell, not sure if it's the same one) almost every spring, come out of the pond to lay eggs. A few years ago I was cleaning out a garden over by the pond and kept hearing the leaves rustle... paranoid as I am about snakes, I finally had to go check it out (or run ), it was fun to see a baby snapper heading for the water...

 

[Nyboy]

He is cute!! I have a breeding population of a Blanding turtles, they are on the endangered species list. They are very shy in 15 years I only have seen then a few times. I hear them a lot when I go near the pond, there are loud splashes .