first predator visit................

[SE18]

Very neat looking bird. And water setup you've got as well. Good thing the fish are safe. I have birds all day visiting my aqueduct. They take little sips and bird baths as the water isn't deep. I don't know if they eat the tadpoles or not, but most are songbirds and not the fishing type that I see. Anyway, if they ate some, there'd be plenty more.

I'm going to have to get my zoom lens out one of these days and try to capture some images like you did so well.

Dave

 

[addy1]

It is fun Dave, we have a ton of bathing birds they mainly bath in the early am or evening.

 

[pinon ponder]

Awww, what a cutie! But glad he didn't pig out at your pretty pond. In the first pic I noticed you have a Gold Bar miscanthus. Do you have it planted in the pond or is it outside of it? I just bought one yesterday and was thinking of planting it directly in the pond, on a shallow shelf.

Diana

 

[addy1]

Awww, what a cutie! But glad he didn't pig out at your pretty pond. In the first pic I noticed you have a Gold Bar miscanthus. Do you have it planted in the pond or is it outside of it? I just bought one yesterday and was thinking of planting it directly in the pond, on a shallow shelf.

Diana

They call that zebra grass here.........It is planted on the bank about 4 feet above the pond. I will probably move it once it cools here, stops growing for the winter, find that it blocks the view of some of the lilies from the house.

It would do fine in the bog, not sure how it would do in the pond. If you put it in the pond, have it so the roots are wet but keep the crown out of the water. I put some different grasses in the bog all have done well, in fact need to do some yanking, they have done too well. They make one huge mass of roots, good bio filtration. They have wet roots, dry crowns.

 

[pinon ponder]

Thanks, Addy! Yes, I believe it's commonly called zebra grass. Much more fitting. And yours looks to be very happy in it's spot.

We have a shallow shelf on two sides of the pond, maybe 6" or so deep. Just enough to hold and hide the liner excess. I will try it there. In our previous pond, I planted most things bare root on the shelf and they did great. Not a lot of nutrients in the new pond yet so I'll just keep it in the nursery pot for now. Funny how we try so hard to clean up our water while the plants are probably screaming, "NO!"

 

[addy1]

Yep I need more fish poop, next year will start with more than the five fish I started with this year.

 

[pinon ponder]

Well, you're ahead of me. I only have four. Lost two last fall. Didn't see the predator but pretty sure it was a heron. They visit here in the fall. And whatever it was, it was big enough that my cats didn't want to go outside for about a week. The old, smaller pond had a beach section and was only 2 feet deep so a heron could walk right in.

The new pond has just a shallow shelf part way around and is 3 feet deep. I don't think mr. heron will be fishing in my pond this fall. :boldblue:

Btw, was looking at your pics. Wow! Love your pond and bog! And the landscaping is so well done. Very inspiring! Thanks for sharing your labor of love.

 

[addy1]

The five have been doing the spawning thing all summer, with so few fish many of them have survived and are growing nicely. Also got some really cheap fish from wally world, they were changing out their tanks, paid 2.50 for a bunch of fish and nice ones.

 

[sissy]

well then you need to have the S.E.X. talk with them see if they listen lol

 

[CountryEscape]

LOL, good one, Sissy! I want to be there when she has that talk with her fish! I bought 2 butterfly koi at the local pet shop, and told him that I was going to have a talk with them, tell them they better not jump out like one of the last ones! He asked me if they would listen to me? I just laughed. Also splurged on a 5" fantail, white with black and red spots, very cute!

 

[addy1]

I have sissy chatted with them, but there is still pond room for more, so they are still having "fun".

 

[sissy]

tsk tsk addy these days we need to practice birth control you know .I don't see any of the babies I had they sort of disapeared not sure if it was because of the water loss the 2 times or if aggie decided she wanted a fish dinner one night .Aggie killed 3 frogs last night

 

[sissy]

I wonder if I could list her as a predator LOL

 

[addy1]

I think so sissy, you need a big sign,

Beware all that enter here! AGGIE the terror is present!

Run froggies Run

 

[CountryEscape]

OMG, Sissy, everyone says frogs will eat the fish, and your Aggie eats the frogs! How funny is that!
I have tiny frogs, probably babies of the ones I call peepers (adults are only little over 1" long), middle sized frog (thought it was young bullfrog, but same size still), and bullfrogs of all sizes. Had large tadpoles in bog, but when I expanded bog, had to dump water into the pond, so most of them went in there, maybe made food for the koi? There will be more, I suspect, given that I typically see at least 3 bullfrogs at anytime.
Added a very pretty fantail 2 days ago, still have not seen her/him, but at least the water clarity got better again .... added pea gravel and didn't rinse, so it got brown, then just dark cloudy, but clearer again, can almost see to the bottom, 4'.