Newbee Scotland UK.

[Gavin Orr]

Hi Guys, I am new to this site, and new to the pond hobby.
I hand dug my pond its approx L=3.5m x W=1.3m x D= 0.8m.
I added 10 fish, goldfish and shabunkins, and lost two very quickly, however the rest have been fine for 2 months, although I did find a bull frog in my garden the other night, that looked at me as he liked his lips, not seen one shabunkin since.
I am very impressed with this forum and can see that it will be a great help to me in future with my new found hobby.
Here is a couple of pictures of my pond( a few months old, will update soon).
I also made the water feature myself from a 2m length of bamboo, really pleased with it even though I say so myself.

 

[Becky]

Welcome aboard Gavin! Great to have you here. That's a lovely water feature!

 

[CeeJayH]

Welcome Gavin,
it looks great, and the sound of running water is very relaxing.
Enjoy the forum.

 

[sissy]

Welcome and gosh your landscape is neat as a pin .I love the bamboo water feature

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! I've always wanted to visit Scotland!

Your pond looks very nice, but I can promise that you'll be wanting to enlarge it soon enough! There's too much open area just begging to be utilized, LOL! Ponding is an addictive hobby!

Stay tuned for lots of helpful information! Oh, and more pictures when you can -- we LOVE pictures!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

 

[Big Lou]

Really good looking pond Gavin. Welcome to the forum.

 

[tbendl]

I love the bamboo water feature, it looks lovely. Welcome!

 

[Dave 54]

"THE BRITS ARE TAKING OVER THE FORUM" welcome from Plymouth Gavin glad you like the forum.
Weve been in the hobby 29 years now but are koi keepers .
When you say shubunkins which are you talking about Bristol or London Shubunkins ?
If your unsure check out the link and it will explain :-

http://fullserviceaquatics.com/pond-fish/poor-mans-koi-aka-the-awesome-shubunkin/

I must say what a stunning pond very Zen...

Dave

 

[Gavin Orr]

"THE BRITS ARE TAKING OVER THE FORUM" welcome from Plymouth Gavin glad you like the forum.
Weve been in the hobby 29 years now but are koi keepers .
When you say shubunkins which are you talking about Bristol or London Shubunkins ?
If your unsure check out the link and it will explain :-

http://fullserviceaquatics.com/pond-fish/poor-mans-koi-aka-the-awesome-shubunkin/

I must say what a stunning pond very Zen...

Dave

Hi Dave
I bought the Shubunkins from the local pet shop, looking at the shape of them I would say they are more akin to the London Shubunkin. Would you say one was better than the other for a beginner. Come next spring it is my intention to add a number of shubunkins, probably 10 to 15, pond is about 3000 litres , I just think they produce lovely colours .

 

[sissy]

They do but just be careful because they do have babies and I found out they like to jump out of the pond during spawning .I lost my first fish to that happening early one morning 10 years ago .

 

[Gavin Orr]

They do but just be careful because they do have babies and I found out they like to jump out of the pond during spawning .I lost my first fish to that happening early one morning 10 years ago .

Thanks for the info Sissy, our pond has been getting a lot of interest from the pesky magpies, so I think I may have to put a net over it next year, hopfully this will keep the jumping fish in the pond.

 

[Mmathis]

"THE BRITS ARE TAKING OVER THE FORUM"

Dave

As long as we remain allies......

 

[Dave 54]

Hi Dave
I bought the Shubunkins from the local pet shop, looking at the shape of them I would say they are more akin to the London Shubunkin. Would you say one was better than the other for a beginner. Come next spring it is my intention to add a number of shubunkins, probably 10 to 15, pond is about 3000 litres , I just think they produce lovely colours .

When you do try to sex them first Gavin get the ratio of male to female wrong and it will get very stressful for the females that could well lead to them suffering from stress, exhustion and being injured .
Myself I used to keep bristol shubunkins before switching to koi .
I take it your a firefighter yes ?
Did you ever hear of the Aircraft Carrier HMS Bulwark's major boiler room fire in 1980 just prior to us sailing from Philadephia in the US it bacame a hydrogen fire that took us and the US firefighters seven and a half hours to put out .
I used to work at the Chatham Naval base fire school and was due to join the Devon and Corwall fire service in 1983 but suffered what was a life changing motor bike crash .
Are you retained or regular by the way ?

Dave

 

[Gavin Orr]

When you do try to sex them first Gavin get the ratio of male to female wrong and it will get very stressful for the females that could well lead to them suffering from stress, exhustion and being injured .
Myself I used to keep bristol shubunkins before switching to koi .
I take it your a firefighter yes ?
Did you ever hear of the Aircraft Carrier HMS Bulwark's major boiler room fire in 1980 just prior to us sailing from Philadephia in the US it bacame a hydrogen fire that took us and the US firefighters seven and a half hours to put out .
I used to work at the Chatham Naval base fire school and was due to join the Devon and Corwall fire service in 1983 but suffered what was a life changing motor bike crash .
Are you retained or regular by the way ?

Dave

Hi Dave
I have found a good local supplier and he is going to select the correct type and ratio for me, he is really helpful so hopefully all will be good, so you suggest the Bristol shubunkins are best ?

I'm a whole-time Watch Manager, currently working in the Scottish Fire and Rescue National Training College as a breathing apparatus instructor. I have been in the service 21 years. a few years ago I went to The Fire Service College in Morten on Marsh for a Marine Firefighting course, and we did look at the HMS Bulwark fire but not in any great detail, however we did have the massive privilege of a guided tour of HMS Daring and more recently the new aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, really interesting.

HMS Bulwark before decommissioning in 1981.