My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

I totally agree about the fence, as I mentioned above. I don't worry. If he leaves and wanders away, another one will come and take his place. Last year I had 3 at one time, one that was about 6-7" long, and it stayed a couple of months. I have never seen them chase the fish, but maybe they do it at night. I just see them swimming among the fish, neither seem to be worried of the other, and he comes out when it's feeding time. I think in the wild the painted turtles are vegetation eaters, but I may be wrong. I'm not concerned if he eats babies, but if I see tails being bitten, I will have to rethink the situation. I've had them in koi and goldfish ponds, and have never noticed any tails or fins cut or missing. I guess I have mild natured painted turtles that visit my ponds. :blueflower:

 

[CometKeith]

CE, thanks for the info. I have read a lot of pros and cons. My family really enjoys our frogs so I thought it might be fun to have a turtle also. It seems that the younger turtles are both meat eaters and vegetation eaters, but the older ones only eat vegetation. I think i would be too upset if a turtle took a bite out of one of my goldfishes tails or ate my only minnow. Also the fact that I am facing impending doom at some point as all these fish get bigger for my small pond and I probably shouldn't add another species that will produce a lot of waste. Your turtle sounds like a lot of fun. Unfortunately a turtle by me would be facing a much different/urban environment and would not really have any options about where to go unless I fenced him in. Also I wonder how squirrels would interact with them. It seems like we have been overrun with them this year. We have a large silver maple that produces those helicopter type seeds and I guess because of that the buffet is always open for them!

 

[addy1]

We have land turtles, the small ponds are now fenced to keep them out so they won't drown. Just a short piece of chicken wire. So far so good.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, that's why I didn't say I thought you should get a turtle for sure. I would hate to have a fence around my pond, just seems to take away the pleasure, BUT I sure will when/if the heron or anything else decides to come use my ponds as a buffet table. I wonder if all the spinners I have in my landscaping has helped keep those things away? I know the fact I'm not near any woods for over a mile sure helps with the raccoons and oppossums, but my dogs still find them wandering around in the fields at night. I know they DO travel far and wide to locate food. The heron comes to my farm pond, and although I've only spotted it there a handful of times, I'm certain it comes while I'm at work, too. I guess I can just keep crossing fingers that the dogs are in the yard when/if it ever does decide to sample my pond menu.

 

[CometKeith]

Yup, I'm going to leave well enough alone, but it does sound really neat about your turtle CE. Addy that would be cool to have land turtles here but we are too far away from the nature preserves. Though I have seen a few adventurous deer crossing the streets not too far from here lately. I picked up some duckweed this morning and threw it into the pond. I expected all the fish to go crazy. A few tried it and spit it out. This group is really spoiled rotten. This year no raccoons. I solved the problem by not putting in trap door snails!

 

[addy1]

I hate fencing too ce, but even hate more to find a dead turtle. The anti turtle fencing is real low, around 8 inches tall, just enough to make them go somewhere else. With the wide space chicken wire it is not real noticeable, also frogs and birds can hop right though it.

 

[CountryEscape]

Great idea, Addy, and I totally agree. When I was a little kid, maybe 3rd grade, I found a box turtle, and mom let me put it in the pen with our dog, Kip, who was a Boxer. That turtle climbed the 5' tall woven wire fence, and twice I found it nearly at the top and "rescued" it back into the pen. The next day, it was gone, obviously made it over the top and to freedom. I think your idea of wide open is what is keeping them from climbing it. Smart!

 

[CometKeith]

Here are some pics I took today. I copied someone else's idea to put moss on the rocks. I'll see if it holds up. I put it on the wettest ones. Also played around with the plants and re-potted some.

 

[CountryEscape]

Love the moss on the rocks look, Keith, and since those rocks stay wet all year with the waterfall splash, you may have really started something cool! Your plants look great, and fish are beautiful in that crystal clear water. Hey, is it me, or have there been far less concerns with murky/green water this past spring? I only follow certain threads (too many, actually) so maybe all of them are experienced ponders now, and that's the reason. Or, maybe our spring was better weather for getting ponds going slower than last year that came far too fast and early, and ponds struggled to keep up with the growth of algae.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, i agree!

 

[CometKeith]

Hey CE, I think last years fast warm up in spring and cold April caused problems for a lot of folks. This year everything is perfect because it was a much more gradual warming. Our spring lilies are just beginning to bloom, I don't think I got smarter in just one year so I think we can all thanks the weather!! lol.. Some more fish pics. Also suddenly my wife is in love with our frogs and the pond! I think an expansion is forthcoming!

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I really really REALLY like the first top right side in first pic, with the red/white/red/black/white color combo! I always go with fish that are "different" now when/if I buy any goldfish or fantails. I don't need any more fish, so they have to be special. I have not seen the new Shubunkin I put in the goldfish pond last week, so wondering if he/she didn't make it ... darn it! It was only 75 cents, but still ... really cool markings.
Yippee for your wife getting into the pond and frogs! If you had known she would love the frogs so much and thus the pond, you would have gotten them sooner!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks CE, I agree. That is my favorite colored fish of all the babies from last year. It is a really feisty fish. For about a week or two not too long ago it decided to pick on all the other fish in the pond including the adults. It was pretty funny to see it picking on a fish 8 or 10 times its size! There is another one I really like a lot too. It started out having a white stripe around its middle and now has a gray patch in the middle and orange in the front and back. It's in the fourth picture.
I hope your shubunkin is still around. That's a good deal for 75 cents.
Almost all of these were born in the pond. I explained to our 19 year old daughter how people cull their fish to keep the best ones. She couldn't believe that people would kill the inferior ones! So far no culling here.
Yeah we had a frog before but she really likes the green frogs. They are a lot friendlier and more fun to watch than the bullfrogs. She took a video of one today that was jumping and tried sending it to one of our daughters that lives in D.C. today.
We both fell asleep in our den last night after the Black Hawks game listening to the waterfall and discussed retiring in central america or some other place like that that is warm and cheap when the time comes. I told here where ever I go I must have a pond!

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, that fish in the 4th pic I wondered if it was the same as in the first, but then figured the black would have shown through at the base of his tail (it's a reverse side of 1st pic fish). I wonder if that gray spot is going to turn black! You sure have the tri-color stuff going on. I'm hoping for some babies with more Shubunkin colors, all 3 colors. I sure have added enough of them to give me a fighting chance anyhow.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, I think shubunkin babies are the most interesting because you never know what color they are going to be. You can see the very dark shubunkin in the middle of this picture. It is mostly black and has an iridescent blue calico pattern. Last year this female was being chased like crazy by all the other fish so I'll bet she produced all these shubunkin offspring. It's funny but there are three other females being chased this year and they are leaving her alone. My large orange comet has gotten pretty beat up because she is the one all the males are focusing on. All the females being chased are comets so if I have any babies they probably won't be shubunkins. I only had two baby fish the first 3 or 4 years and then last year I had a population explosion. I like the babies, but I'm hoping the tadpoles keep things in check this year.