Hey folks! As I get closer to putting water in my first pond, I came up with a question. I have a bunch of pond books and have not seen anything about this.
My pond is a 9 x 12 pond for any critters who want to visit. I'm going to have a few goldfish and I imagine the local wildlife will help keep the population in check. Ideally, I'd like the pond to be mostly self-sustaining, with the fish eating bugs and algae and such, rather than me feeding them. The pond walls are lined with rock to encourage a healthy biofilm. I'll have plants in pots and some well-behaved marginals planted in rock on the shelves. I know I will need to feed the fish initially, since the little mini-ecosystem will take a while to get going.
Do any of you have ponds that thrive this way - with Mother Nature doing the feeding? If so, I'd love to know how to go about that in a way that will be good for the fish.
(PS -- I have a waterfall filter and a skimmer.)
Thanks for your help!
My pond is a 9 x 12 pond for any critters who want to visit. I'm going to have a few goldfish and I imagine the local wildlife will help keep the population in check. Ideally, I'd like the pond to be mostly self-sustaining, with the fish eating bugs and algae and such, rather than me feeding them. The pond walls are lined with rock to encourage a healthy biofilm. I'll have plants in pots and some well-behaved marginals planted in rock on the shelves. I know I will need to feed the fish initially, since the little mini-ecosystem will take a while to get going.
Do any of you have ponds that thrive this way - with Mother Nature doing the feeding? If so, I'd love to know how to go about that in a way that will be good for the fish.
(PS -- I have a waterfall filter and a skimmer.)
Thanks for your help!