My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

Keith, the water features at the Garden Show were outstanding! And, there is a company that brought all the koi that are in the ponds and pools, and they are all going to be raffled off at the end of the show. The only requirement is that you have to have a pond already. I was soooo tempted to put my name in at the one place as there was this beautiful butterfly fish I'm certain was a female, all fat with eggs, I'm guessing, and there was an identically marked fish with her that was not fat, maybe a male. They were pretty large, too! Someone is going to get some really beautiful fish! There were at least 2 solid black fish, both butterfly and both very pretty, too! Gin Rins, Kumonryu, Kohaku, Matsubas, lots of colors, lots of types. I felt sorry for the few fish that were in small tubs, just to show the tub off. They should have put small goldfish in there in stead.
And, I think the best deal there was a 5 gallon metal bucket, that had either a good sized round rock or several flat rocks, drilled with a hole, included pump and tubing and small liner piece. You bury the bucket, put the liner above it, have the rock on ground level (or in a huge pot like they displayed it as!) and the water bubbles up out of the top of the rock. Like the disappearing water that buy from maybe UK had on here? Anyhow, it was really cool, and all for $30! That was including everything to put it together, except the pea gravel. Very neat.

 

[herzausstahl]

Country I have seen those bucket kits (5 gallon plastic) on sale here for $100 so for 30 that would be a steal!

 

[CountryEscape]

Herz, I could not believe they were selling them for $30. I'm kicking myself for not buying one for my boss for her birthday! Great gifts, complete, just install. Makes for a fun afternoon installing one! So, if anyone is close to Chicago, I highly recommend checking these out. Also, if you have koi pond, go sign up for the raffles for those fish! There are some really nice ones, and I heard that ALL the fish at the show will be raffled off! Sure wish I was closer, as I could have signed up many times. LOL

 

[CometKeith]

Country, It sounds like you saw some neat stuff. I think it's cool to see all those flowers in the "winter" if that's what you call 80 degree weather now. I liked all the water features too when I was there, but they didn't have fish then. I was involved in building housing developments where we pushed all the drainwater into the sewers and then built a waterfeature into the project using tap water to replenish the evaporating water. Now I would use the drainwater and let it go into storage tanks in the ground and pump it back up into a waterfall or other water feature. It's a whole new way of thinking and would be going green like how people collect drainwater to water their gardens.
Re:The fake connection to a new bigger pond was an idea I was thinking about, but I am afraid the new pond will take up too much space in the yard and then it will be hard to see the goldfish because they will be in the "back" pond. I have excess liner on my pond now that goes over a hump that surrounds the pond and then is buried under pea gravel and mulch. Maybe I could dig a deeper section in front of the old pond and actually connect the two liners and get rid of the hump that would be between them. I would just have to drain some water out of the first pond so that when I make the connection I could level the area out where it would connect. The new extension area could have already been dug out and lined and ready to go once the connection was made. The finished pond would have two deeper areas. One in the middle of the old pond and the other where the extension was built. Would there be any negatives to that?

 

[addy1]

The only thing I can think of, is do you have a bottom drain? the one area would not clean as well as the other. But if you net like I do, it would be fine.

 

[CountryEscape]

If the fish can swim through the connection part, that would be fun! I only didn't want my ponds to connect because I have koi and goldfish, and now have decided I have too many of both to stay in the one pond, so my solution was to build a second pond and put all the goldies in that pond! Now, what in the world am I going to do when both sides spawn and have more babies than I can house? Nope, not build a third pond, but probably will have any koi babies in the basement pool, if I decide have the need for that in the future. At least it worked! All fish survived so I must have done something right.

 

[herzausstahl]

Keith if you could devise a way to site the second pond and connect them, that would be really cool. You can get 5' wide sections of EPDM liner fairly cheap on Ebay, just follow Addy's instructions on connecting the two sides. I did and so far so good. It would be really cool if you could watch the fish swim between the two ponds, just make the stream at least 1 1/2 feet deep I would think so you would have at least a foot of water in there and I would think they would have no problem doing it. And if you could get a decent pump, place it in the old pond and pump the water to a feature in the new one I would think you could generate a current through there too possibly (albeit a small one). Just some thoughts...

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks for the suggestions. Addy there is no bottom drain so I should be okay and actually I am shopping for nets now to do a better job of cleaning the bottom. Country, I am thinking of connecting it so it looks pretty much like one pond so it would be definitely nice to have the fish swim from pond to pond, but it may be harder to do this then I think. Re so many babies that is problem a lot of ponders have or want to have. Fish keep getting bigger and more babies then they can handle. I'm glad I have stuck with goldfish and have had only two babies in the last two years and I don't do anything special to make sure the fry survive. Also I don't buy a new fish unless I have to replace one. It has kept my fish population under control. Herz, That's a really good idea. I was thinking how do I keep it from getting stagnant if it has two different deep areas. i could pump the bottom of one to the waterfall in the other and put the pump to my biofilter from the other one. I was thinking of putting in a new pump just for the waterfall so that would work out perfect.

 

[CountryEscape]

You're correct, Keith. If I have any more babies, they will get sold. I've already connected with the local pet store, and hoping he will take my goldfish, and knowing my goldfish are way prettier than what he gets for feeders, if he has a market for goldfish for aquariums, I'll be set. If not, then I'll be marketing them on Craigs List, I guess, or putting them for sale in local paper. I'm all for the fish eating the caviar and not letting many survive, that's for sure.

 

[CometKeith]

Country, I agree. When there are too many fish it makes it a lot harder to keep the pond up. People just starting out with a pond may want your extra fish however you probably don't want to sell them as feeders. I don't know how you can really tell what people are going to do with them unless they are honest about it, but it is not a pleasant thought knowing they will be fed to another fish or reptile. I did fall in love with some fish from Blackwater Creek Koi Farms last year and it was a tough decision to either buy the watonai that I got or these. I bought my watonai from Rain Garden in Hawaii and was really happy how it worked out. Also I was in communication directly with the owner and he was very nice and made sure I received them in good health. The owner of Blackwater Koi was on the gpf for a very short time and that is how I found out about them. They are more of a wholesaler, but have some really neat goldfish. Either their Black Opal Shubunkins or their Sanke Gold Goldfish will be my next purchase if I decide on pulling the trigger with the pond expansion! Herz, by the way I went back and read your thread when you were building your pond. It was really interesting and very informative. I think you did a great job on the pond and stream!

 

[CometKeith]

I replaced my pump today. I bought a Laguna 600 gph pump. It is only 32 watts so I think it was worth the extra money to get something that will save electricity over the long run. I broke down and put in the bio-filter too because it was 80 degrees today. It's about the same temperature at 11:00 at night!

 

[addy1]

I think winter is gone for the year, but they say we could still get some frost, who knows. Good for you CK I go for the least electric usage, it does help in the long run.

 

[j.w]

My pondmaster is not too bad on electricity but could be better. Next time I'll get a more efficient one as even a little bit of usage adds up on your bill.
Winter is sure not over here..................snow is falling and building up as we speak

 

[addy1]

lmao jw you wished for snow you got it!

 

[CometKeith]

JW, sorry for your weather, but we have been enjoying the 80 degree weather again today. I spent a lot of time cleaning up the yard today which was weird to do in March. All our flowers and shrubs are 4-6 weeks ahead of their normal schedule. Addy, I felt it was worth it to spend a little more on the pump because of the low wattage. it's not something you ever really turn off. Also I think I am going to like this one a lot more than the old one. it doesn't have a pre-filter that needs cleaning. My old one was always clogging up until there was almost no water flow. This one just has a cage that you brush off.