My goldfish pond

[CometKeith]

okay, I see what you are saying. I'm sure the penny wart would take over your garden bed. If you look up most of these pond plants the majority of them are invasive weeds and are banned in various localities. They all look so cute in our ponds, but throw them out in a natural stream or pond they will take over and push out the native plant life. I went to the Lincoln Park conservatory a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe they had Creeping Charlie in one of their exhibits. I have loads of it that I keep pulling out of my grass every year! They did have some goldfish in some of their exhibits which was nice. The fern room was great but I didn't have much time to spend there. I definitely need to go back!

http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/lincoln-park-conservatory/

 

[dieselplower]

Addy, I'll bet that's it because CE has the same problem with floaters not growing well and she has a bog too. It's a shame that I have to keep tossing mine out. I finally put the female that was ill out of her misery. She looked awful and I figured it was better to take her out than let the bacteria or virus spread to other fish. I don't have a qt tank so that wasn't an alternative. My wife was besides herself when she heard that one of the females that got beat up by the males died from the bruises that happened during mating. First she thought the male fish raped her and she died from that, but when I told her how it happened; the fact that they they chased her to death and she got beat up by being smashed into the rocks by a gang of them, wan't much of a better explanation. She wants to figure out who the males were and get even somehow but we will see....Another reason to be mad at males and men in general I guess!

Just a few days ago I went to bed and all 3 of my big fancy goldfish in my 75 gal tank were fine. The next morning I woke up and washorrified to find my favorite fish, a big chocolate oranda, was nearly beaten to death and floating upside down. Lots of scales missing, tail shredded, soft belly. I had no time cause I had to be at work but I took my lunch break to buy a scale, additional water testing supplies, and metro meds so I could set up a QT tank and start treatment as soon as I got home. When I got home, she was dead. I wonder if she was beaten to death as well.

 

[CountryEscape]

Man, that sucks, Diesel, so sorry to hear that.
Today I saw the first dead fish. It was a goldfish, and I'm not positive, but think it was the black "Shubunkin" with the white nose. I didn't see it this morning and then wondered if I had seen it yesterday morning. Anyhow, it was floating among the plants. No noticeable damage to scales or fins, just dead. One eye was little red, but other than that, I could see no reason for the death. I buried it right next to the pond, next to some flowers, so he can help fertilizer the flowers that overlook his pond.

 

[CometKeith]

Diesel, I'm so sorry. If she was a female and rest were males it could happen. i didn't realize they go after each other in an aquarium. I thought it was more of a pond thing. For a few years in a row I had way more males than females and my females had a rough time of it because they were outnumbered. The few replacement fish I got happened to be females so it worked out better and the females weren't so outnumbered. The female I lost was probably the third most chased female of the group of fish I have, but obviously she got more beat up than the others. Last year I found a fish that must have jumped and got stuck in the rocks and died when it tried to get away. It must have been a female too.

CE, Oh that's not fun. I think sometime we lose a fish and never quite know why. I hope it wasn't one of your favorite shubys.

Sat by the pond tonight. The mosquitoes weren't bad and I watched one of my frogs catching bugs. Sometimes he just jumped at the bugs to catch them, and others times he went after bugs that were crawling around and he jumped at them and used his tongue to grab them. The frogs are smart and hang out by the lights to catch more bugs. The largest one is probably bigger than my fist now. I had coffee with that one by the pond this morning and he never moved even though I was only a few feet away. I guess he finally figured out I come to feed the fish and am not a threat to him.

 

[addy1]

I hate creeping charlie, fighting it this year, trying to get it under control. My neighbors hubby was mowing so low the grass was taken over by the charlie. He is finally mowing higher and we are spraying the yard with borax to kill the charlie. Get a good amount of grass growing to fight the charlie.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sometimes the fish mating frenzy can cause fish to jump out of pond as well. I had a nice fat healthy goldfish that jumped right out of the bottom pond last year and by the time I found her she was dried up and dead.

Kieth I love you pond lights, they look awesome! Your fish look really nice as well and anybody who buys them should be very happy with the colorful healthy bunch you have!

 

[CometKeith]

Addy, but do you ever try pulling it out? The ground has to be a little damp and then you dig down and grab one and a whole sting of it comes out! I just get it in one part of our yard and every year I spend a couple hours ripping it out.
Colleen, That's so sad about your fish. My fish are still going at it every morning. My largest orange comet is still the most chased. She has a lot of bruises but so far is fine otherwise.
Re lights. Thanks I'm going to try to get a better picture. Once it gets dark it really looks nice now. Selling them... not yet but considering I have 31 fish in such a small pond someday I'll have to face realty when they all reach adulthood!

 

[CometKeith]

Well, I tried some more night photos again. None of them are really great but I used my flash in one and got a nice shot of one of my frogs. You can see the pond from our family room at night and the lights on the pond and the sound of the waterfall are nice when we keep the patio doors open.

 

[CountryEscape]

Nice pics, even though dark, gives the idea of what you actually see at night. And, bet you're not having doors open these days. Man it's been HOT!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks CE. That's true. You just see some light on the pond from our family room which is about 25 feet away. Otherwise everything else is very dark. Last night we had the doors open. My wife likes the heat. Tonight they were kept closed all the time and the ac running! My water temperatures still feel cool because our pond only gets direct sun maybe 4-5 hours in the summer and it is shaded by our garage and has a lot of plants.

 

[CometKeith]

oh, i decided to sit by the pond tonight. I saw a glimpse of a furry animal coming out of the bushes walking to the pond. I assumed it was a neighbor's cat. It stopped right at the pond and looked like it was going to get a drink of water. Less than 5 ft from me was a large adult raccoon! At that point i decided to get up and walk away because it was way too close to me. The raccoon who hadn't noticed me until that point got scarred and ran away too!

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh my ... you should have become the huge boogie monster to that raccoon to really scare the bejeebers out of him, keep him from coming back ever again. You don't need the destruction it would have caused to your plants and fish and pond. But, funny you were sitting there and it didn't see you!

 

[CometKeith]

yeah, I think with all this scorching heat and high humidity animals are having a tough time of it keeping cool also. I think the raccoon just cared about getting a drink of water and didn't care about anything else. I have noticed a lot of different birds at the pond this week that I don't normally see. I bet they are all trying to find a way to keep cool. I know I am!

 

[slakker]

Wow... Your water is super clear, I hope my pond matures into that!

 

[addy1]

We have it growing over about an acre, my neighbors have it over most of their land, tons of the stuff. They are finally mowing higher to try and let their grass overtake the charlie. I pull it out of the gardens it overgrows, but the yard, nah spray..............Way too much it would take days to pull it. Ours came from the neighbors.

Addy, but do you ever try pulling it out? The ground has to be a little damp and then you dig down and grab one and a whole sting of it comes out! I just get it in one part of our yard and every year I spend a couple hours ripping it out.