Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

Haha, the frog got outa there fast. This morning, saw another of the large goldies in that same area, but now realize there is a rock "bridge" on the left side of the skimmer, and if that big guy tried to get back out on the right side, he had to go OVER the rock. Suspect that's how he got caught up. Frog was fine, that was him in the other pic, or so I assume.
This morning, my smallest fantail, an orange and white one, is "snuggling" with one of my huge Comets in the pond. Noticed several others doing the same, getting ready to spawn. I really want to see some babies this year, but have nothing in the pond for them to lay eggs on, or hide around if any fry to hatch. Thinking of buying a few old string mop heads to put in there, just to see if any survive. I have not seen a baby the last 2 years. I don't want 100 to survive, but it would be fun to see a few in each pond. Any other suggestions for things to put in there for spawning on? Maybe my floating net circles?

 

[addy1]

My fish like the roots from the plants hanging into the pond, they dump eggs there. I don't get a lot of fry either. Think all the eggs get eaten.

 

[callingcolleen1]

lol callingcolleen, thought you were a wino not a vodka tipper! BTW my two fav drinks when we feel like having some drinks.

Ran out of my favorite red wine so had to drink hubby's vodka and I had cans of pure sunrise orange juice in fridge so that went down well instead!

 

[callingcolleen1]

CE I think your pond probably has lots of dragonfly nymphs lurking in marsh like my ponds. The very first couple of years way back long ago, I had lots of babies but then the pond matured and dragonfly nymphs moved in. I only get the odd very tough baby goldfish each year. No sickly nothing cause they get eaten first!

If you do find eggs take them in house and hatch in old aquarium.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, I don't want babies that bad, to move the eggs, it's just fun to spot a baby later in the summer, and realize that it made it through the pressure of all those hungry mouths! Fish are all chasing this evening, won't be long now and there will be eggs in the ponds, yummy caviar for those hungry mouths ....

 

[callingcolleen1]

And they probably enjoyed making them babies too! He he.

 

[addy1]

humm don't think it is that much fun..............female gets chased until exhausted, male drops his contribution on the eggs................

 

[CountryEscape]

Nope, would not work in the human world, I don't believe. LOL What is adorable is my smallest fish is the orange and white fantail. From the day he went into the pond, he was a "snuggler". Today, he was right in there, chasing one of the large female Comets. He's going to be a go-getter!
OK, so just last night I made comment about babies, and this morning the fish were chasing like none other in the goldfish pond. I got a great video, but for some reason it doesn't show up in my folder when I click on "upload file". Not sure why! I've posted them from YouTube before, so guess I will try that again.
Here's a pic of a sneaky snake in the goldfish pond this morning. I got pics of him several times, but only his head. Hiding by/under/next to the skimmer, and for the life of me I have no idea where the rest of his body is. Maybe under the skimmer there is a pocket. Anyhow, he would watch me, and if I moved, under he would go. Pretty sure it's a brown water snake, not poisonous, but may be in there for the fish. Frogs were all AWOL this morning, but this evening they were all back on the lily pads and so forth. Water this evening had recently been stirred up, so wondering if he's still in there and on the prowl! Pretty sure it's not a garter snake, since he was staying under water 10-15 minutes at a time. Do garter snakes submerge for long periods like that?

 

[callingcolleen1]

I get garter snakes too, and they slither around the pond and plants, lurking and I have seen them snap at passing goldfish as well. Not to much can be done about them and they will eat what they can. I have a hard time catching them, and so I don't worry too much about the odd missing goldfish, cause not too much I can do about that. The snakes are good and do eat lots of bugs as well.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm not afraid of it either, so that's a good thing. I guess I have to share my fish and frogs with the snakes. LOL Also, this morning, after I spotted the snake, noticed Speck, my large black spotted fantail was not around. Finally after watching for him for 15 minutes or more, checked in the skimmer and there he was.

 

[CountryEscape]

This big fella was sitting in the end of the stream ALL DAY today! I took these pics around 8 and then 10 this morning, and when I came into the house at 7, he was still there! I even spread mulch, my hand was within 15" of him, and he didn't budge. I talk to them when I am close, and they seem to understand I mean them no harm ... or he was just too lazy to jump! LOL I like the reflection of his eye in the water on the first pic. Looks like he had a long night, eye looks very bloodshot. You can see the parrots feather beginning to come to life.

At the same time this guy was in the stream, this pair of smaller bullfrogs was "hanging" out on the lily pads on the other end of the goldfish pond.

 

[sissy]

great pics but snakes are not welcome here and if i see one it is banished from my yard .No matter what kind of snake it can go visit the neighbors .

 

[MitchM]

Wow, very cool, CE.
I would love to have the pond life diversity that you have.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, Sneaky Snake has been relocated back to the pasture pond! I spotted it again this morning, but I was NOT ready for the size of her! (I am calling it a her, because it was pretty big around ... maybe it just had a few fish and/or bullfrogs in it's belly. LOL) Saw her head sticking out of the skimmer, and realized I needed to act quickly to net her before she decided to come out. Netting her from the skimmer should be easy ... at least I thought so!

I opened the lid of the skimmer, and squealed and quickly put the lid back down! She completely took up the space above the basket ... an area about 16x8" by about 12" deep. I was NOT ready to see that. Finally poked at her enough to let her know she was not welcome in the skimmer, and needed to come out. Glad I have a large net!

She was heavy, so thought I could let her down about 40' from the pond, and "chase" her to go away. Nope, she came right back at me! That got the blood pumping ... again! As soon as I quit smacking the ground with the net, trying to force her away, I relaxed, and so did she. We had a standoff.

This is what I remembered seeing of her head last week when she first appeared in the pond. I thought any snake head that had the shape of a triangle, was poisonous. I was told she most definitely was not poisonous, likely a common brown water snake, so I had the guts to move her.

She is back in the farm pond out in the pasture. She was minimally 4' long, maybe longer, and quite heavy! As you can see, the net was really sagging with the weight. She was a beautiful snake, and although something about her looked dangerous, once we both quit moving, it was nice to study her patterns and colors. I do NOT like water snakes, but more important than that, she came to my backyard because I built a nature area there. I could not fault her for showing up when that's what I wanted was for nature to come! Honestly, a snapping turtle would be more scary to me than this snake, once we had that understanding.

 

[addy1]

What a cutie! I love snakes they eat up the moles voles mice

Used to catch them as a kid and scare the other kids................