My goldfish pond

[j.w]

Looks like you had a wonderful visit CE and can't wait to see you next year! Hope it's not raining.

 

[CometKeith]

Lisa, I don't think the cat was pet material but thanks for the suggestion . I never loved having cats hang around the pond a lot because I am always worried they will nab fish. I did have a least two fish go missing this summer. One was sick from getting nicked up on the rocks during spawning and the other one was a shubunkin I bought a few years ago. I had bought antibiotic food for the sick fish but never had a chance to give it to her before she disappeared. I put two of the fry from my little bowl in the pond today. I had found them in some buckets that were supposed to have tadpoles. I found another 7 or 8 rosey reds and put them in my bowl today until I get ready to release them too. I noticed some other tiny fish in the bushy area of the pond when I put them in the two guppies. Well I finally spotted two goldfish fry in the pond, one yesterday and one today. They were both a little more than an inch. One was all black and the other had a white nose and maybe is a shubunkin. Yea, but first baby goldfish in two years!

 

[j.w]

Congrats on all your new additions Keith
I haven't seen one baby in my pond this year and usually have a few.

 

[ZmanArt007]

I currently have 4 cats, earlier this summer we had 12 because of the kittens. They have never tried to nab any fish. They watch them and drink from the pond but I think to the cats the risk of getting wet deters any desire to pounce.

 

[j.w]

Same w/my 2 cats, they have never even tried to get any fish. They just drink but once my little one fell in. She was not a happy kitty when she flew up outta that pond. She licked herself for hours

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks JW. I think the fact that I have so many perennial plants in the pond now is helping give the new kids places to hide. Also i leave those areas alone and don't clean them and there is a lot of hornwort and anacharis giving them protection. I just planted the parrot feathers I got from CE and so far that looks good. At one time I didn't want any more babies but have realized that my pond can handle quite a bit more fish than it currently has right now. Zman I'm sure your right but it makes me nervous to see cats watching our fish. We have quite a few housecats in our area that are let out at night and they love to come over to our pond to watch the fish!

 

[addy1]

I usually find some fry every year, not a ton, but we have the water room. Lots of shubbie fry this year.

 

[CometKeith]

Well addy that works out well that you have a big pond and only goldfish and no koi. With all the babies you have had in your pond if they were koi your pond would be bursting at the seams. My fish are all goldfish and it has worked out well for me. When I tinker with my pond it's usually because I want to....not because I have to!

 

[ColleenMRowley]

Ah I love your pond love it love it love it so cute reminds me of mine how big is it?

 

[ColleenMRowley]

And on the frog note I have around 100 tons they are everywhere! Ya have to watch every step you take. They rule the roust, they will just hop on over next to you on the deck and chill with ya

 

[CountryEscape]

Where are you located, ColleenMRowley? That's fun that you have lots of frogs. Have you ever fed them any grasshoppers or crickets or any nuisance bugs? I find it fascinating to toss bugs in, and if the bug makes it back out, they win. If the frog is faster, the frog wins. I try not to be cruel, just like to give nature a "push". LOL Lately, the grasshoppers have been winning.
No baby fish here last year or this year so far, which is fine with me, but it is fun to watch the babies grow up and change colors. My 4 two-year-old koi are about 7" long this year, and getting prettier each year. Always fun to have goldie babies, too, and see the pretty colors that appear.
Now that I have some anarachis and hornwart from you, Keith, I'm hoping that will grow and create more shelter and cover for the fry, and then maybe a few will survive each year. So far the starts are doing well, as are the water hyacinths and lettuce! I put them in a large pot that had some leftover kitty litter in the bottom. I just left that in there, thinking maybe that was what they liked before, and they are doing super so far. No blooms, but beautiful green plants! Thanks again!

 

[CometKeith]

Hey Colleen, Thanks, my pond is 9x9 but it is very shallow in the front end. Basically when I redug my pond a few years ago I left a lot of extra liner folded up on the front edge that I buried. The long and short of it is....when my better half wasn't looking it slowly grew in size! I think it's 600-700 gallons and about 4.5 deep in the middle. I feel surface area allows more bio-load than just the sheer volume in gallons so I'm happy with how my pond turned out. if I had dug it out about 3.5 ft down all around it would be about 2000 gallons, but I'm not sure that would support more fish than what I have. Personally I like the look of having a lot of plants in my pond so it has been an easy choice sticking with just goldfish and none of the plant eating fish (Koi).
CE, Good luck with the hornwort and anacharis. They are both oxygenators so if you find a way to stick the ends of them down in your pond you will see a steady stream of bubbles when they are in the sun. My parrots feathers are doing great. I put them in some rocks in the far end next to my waterfall. I divided up the pennywort and put two bunches in the rocks and planted the rest in a pot with some pea gravel. The water lettuces won't flower but they have really tiny flowers in the middle if you look closely. The water hyacinths will flower if they are stressed. So if they are sitting in a bucket they are probably very relaxed right now! Re frogs, My big green frog is still its lonely self. He doesn't even croak any more. I hope his missing frog friend comes back in the fall!

 

[CometKeith]

View attachment 74398

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon. I have taken out most the water lettuces and water hyacinths because the pond was getting overcrowded.The lilies really took off this year. All the fish are doing well. I have found two baby shubunkins and one black baby comet recently.

 

[CountryEscape]

I smile every time I look at the water hyacinths and water lettuce from you, Keith. I keep hoping they do well, and don't die. I know the cold weather will eventually do them in, but for now they are huge and green and healthy looking! Time will tell if the WH bloom or not, but they fit in the big pot perfectly, so that's all that I care about. Thanks again! I'll try to remember to take a pic tomorrow to show you.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks CE. Good luck with the plants. The plants I got from you are doing well. Thanks again!