My goldfish pond

[j.w]

Ha Ha glad your dear wife didn't cull you Keith and glad you let the poor thing enjoy the rest of his life in your nice pond

 

[taherrmann4]

Thanks again for the complements. We live in a very urban area and it's interesting how even a small pond helps support the wildlife. We have chipmunks, squirrels, and other creatures that come to the pond everyday to drink water. The bushes behind the pond support nests for dozens of sparrows and also a nest of brightly colored finches. There is a robin that comes everyday for her morning bath and she decided to make a nest on one of our windowsills and we watch the babies every day!

I think robins must be the cleanest birds because they are always taking a bath either in the morning or night at my pond. Looks great.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks JW. I have been close to being culled a few times in the last 21 years! I have thought about doing something with some of the two year old babies because I have an army of black ones. You can see a little orange tint on some of their fins so maybe there is still hope they will change color someday. My favorite of the lot started out black and then went to an ugly salmon color and now it has a white background with very vivid orange spots in an interesting pattern. .Addy that makes me feel better that you don't cull either.i had the impression that a lot of people do it and just don't talk about it. I just don't have the heart to put one in a baggy in the freezer. I don't know any other humane way to do it.

Thanks Tmann. I agree. The robins are the first birds out by the pond every morning taking a bath.......but maybe its so they have an excuse to get away from the nest? We have a robin's nest by one of our windows. The babies wake up about 5:30 and don't shut up until they are fed!

 

[addy1]

How neat Keith! We have tons of robins in the spring, then the numbers drop down, but they sure do love the bog for bathing. I always leave some plant free areas for the birds to enjoy. They really like it right near the waterfall rock, I think they like the good water movement.

I don't cull for two reasons, one they made it for egg to fishy size, good survivor ship, two almost impossible to catch. Even if I could catch them I won't.

 

[j.w]

No culling here either and I still have a few black ones that have been that way for many years. They can just stay that way as I find them all interesting in their own ways. I've never had to give any away YET but I suppose I may have to someday as the population is slowly growing.

 

[CometKeith]

Addy, In my pond they would be easy to catch,but I have leaned against it even though my fish population almost tripled in size since a few years ago.
JW, good to know yo don't either. I always worry that the bio-load is going to be too great, I don't really want to cull the natural way with high ammonia or nitrite killing them.

I tried something new this year because spring is always a rough time for my fish. I kept my pumps running all winter to keep the water moving. Then I connected my bio-filter in April like I usually do but did not plug in the uv light until early May. I have heard that beneficial bacteria might do better without a uv light. Is this true? or that killing the single cell algae too early in your pond might make it harder to get rid of high ammonia levels during the time the pond has not cycled yet. I don't know why but I sailed thru spring without a single sick or diseased fish this year. When I finally plugged in my uv light the pond cleared up in 3 or 4 days and the fish are all doing fine.

 

[CometKeith]

These are some pictures from one of those cold days from last week. It has been either 40's or 80's here and mostly 40's or 50's until just a few days ago.. Our ornamental pear is dropping it's blossoms and you can see some petals in the pond. The hat palm is just starting to take off but is mostly bare in these pictures. It seems like most the plants here are about a month behind because of the chilly spring we have been having. I just started feeding the fish every day now that the water temperatures are a little warmer. Also the fish are chasing each other on the warmer days. It seems like the pond has cycled because all the fish are doing well. Also you can see one of our green frogs in these pictures.

 

[haver79]

Nice clear water!

 

[CountryEscape]

Love that crystal clear water, Keith! And, what is a hat palm? Is it a pond plant, or ground plant? Anytime a plant has "palm" in the word, I want one, and since you are north of me ...
I have never culled a fish either. I keep saying I need to sell a few koi, but have never taken the time to try, as I would need to catch them ahead of time because no way can I catch them while people looked and chose! And, last year with the fields getting sprayed by plane, that took care of any issue with overpopulation in the goldfish pond! Sadly, I lost some of my favorites, but now have new favorites. None are being named this time. lol

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Haver. My water started out brown in the spring from all the leaves but it finally cleared up after a lot of partial water changes. CE, thanks. It's definitely a pond or swamp tree. It's called dwarf cypress or hat-rack cypress. I bought it 5 years ago at a garden shop and it keeps chugging along slow but sure. It is super slow growing so I'm not sure what a cutting would do for you. They are relatives of Sequoias and cypresses can live up to 500 years! Usually I put it in the bottom of my pond for the winter but didn't do it last year because when I re-potted it I loaded the planter with pea gravel and it was a little heavy to start moving around. When I bought it they told me it would last just one year in this climate. http://www.nativetreesociety.org/species/dwarf_cypress.htm Now I would never spend that much on a tropical but at the time I didn't know that much about what plants to get. Luckily it worked out! Sorry about you losing some of your goldfish. I never name mine because it makes it harder for me if something happens to them. It's funny the two fish I was thinking of culling are doing better now I think. I don't see the little black one that couldn't swim and think it may have recovered and the shubunkin without a tail may be trying to grow it back now.

 

[addy1]

Nature culls mine, anything not strong enough to survive doesn't if it is strong it does.

 

[CometKeith]

I have never culled either but I guess I have been concerned ever since I had over 20 babies 2 years ago that it would be too many fish for my pond as they would grow. I still have the vast majority of them 2 years later so so far so good. Plus I have all the original adult fish since then too. I have added more water flow since then by adding a second pump just for my waterfall so maybe that has helped. Also I doubt I will get any more babies any time soon because there are too many fish hunting for eggs and fry.

 

[addy1]

I let them go hungry when they start the chasing, they want to eat up those eggs and quickly

 

[j.w]

Yep if I don't feed mine the population stops pretty much.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, question. My sister, the one that lived in AZ, moved to WI, did a hurry-up-and build-a-pond last fall RIGHT after they bought house and moved in. Now, this spring, the 6 large koi she had shipped form AZ (to the tune of well over $1,000 just to move them ...) plus the 12 or so smaller koi she bought "to cycle the pond" last fall, are disappearing. I told her it's a heron, since she saw one in a neighbor's yard. She thinks it's the raccoons. Then she said maybe it's a peregrin falcon, or a hawk. IMO, the only one of these that's likely is the heron. Let me describe her yard (and subdivision that she lives in) . ALL the yards have huge very mature trees, probably 50 years old or so. Her back yard where the koi pond is has almost 100% shade coverage from huge pines, spruce, and hardwoods. The koi pond is just off her back patio, which is attached to the house. So, I don't see any hawk or falcon "diving" for the fish, as she seems to think they are. And, I thought raccoons only fish in shallow water where they can corner their prey. She is down to 1 large fish and 2 small ones. I told her the predator will not stop until they are ALL gone. She says no more koi "but we may get some shubunkins, because they are pretty, too!" I asked why not put up a fence, she said, "We want to see our pond, no look through a fence." So I told her no more fish then, if she can't keep them safe.
Your thoughts?