The pond dig has begun!

[j.w]

Wow CE your pond looks huge in that panoramic view and the other pond shots as well. Love all your frogs and I want to come and grab them from you,lol! Beauty of a dragonfly. Sorry you missed the lotus bloom and maybe the next one will be better for you.

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks, JW. I checked the lotus bloom this morning, and it looks 50% open, and looks like it's going to do the same thing, just die off as it opens, but we shall see.

 

[addy1]

Have you fertilized the lotus heavy ce? They like lots and lots of food

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I poured in some diluted Miracle Grow water, so maybe I need to put in a fertilizer stake, then. I was worried I was over fertilizing it, as the edge of the leaves on the water are turning yellow and then brown.
And, I just noticed this morning that I put in pieces of the tree/shrub fertilizer stakes, I hit them with a hammer to break them up, and THAT's why my lily pads are so green and lush in the koi pond, and I think I never got it done in the goldfish pond lilies, and they are lagging behind in lushness. So, I'll get that done tonight. I was worried I had over fertilized and with this heat and sun, I will burning them up, but think the reason the lilies in the goldfish pond are not doing as well is because I didn't do that pond yet! Thanks for the reminder. I'll get that done pronto!

 

[addy1]

I put in some granular fertilizer, in tp, (to keep it together) and stuff it under the kitty clay, about every 4 wks or so, maybe a tbsp full. The tp just dissolves away...

this is the lotus tank.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, Addy, I have a brain freeze this morning ... what is tp? :sad:

 

[addy1]

toilet paper......................... lol

 

[CountryEscape]

OMG, I feel soooo stupid. LOL I thought it was short for some type of dirt! Haha, I get it now "just dissolves away". Geesh ... I'll try that. Thanks.

 

[addy1]

lol ce the granular stuff is hard to get under the clay without containing it somehow. And tp just disappears. I only use one or two sheets.

 

[CountryEscape]

I chopped up some more of the tree/shrub fertilizer stakes tonight, pushed smaller chunks in all the lily pots (that I could reach, there is one I cannot reach without getting into the goldfish pond) in the goldfish pond, and put 4 chunks about the size of a quarter around in the lotus tub, pushed them into the kitty litter. The flowers have been nothing to take a picture of at all. They look very weak and fragile, not vibrant like yours, Addy, so hopefully the fertilizer will help. Lots of leaves, though, so that part is good.
I think I finally figured out where the baby bullfrogs are emerging from, maybe! I can't see to the bottom of the small pond at the bottom of the waterfall, before it flows into the pond. I wonder if there were tadpoles in there? There are plants and parrots feather in there, so the surface is pretty much covered, plus some algae. I thought tadpoles like still water, so I never thought to check in there. Also, I know there were tadpoles (big ones) in my plant bog of the koi pond last year when I reworked it and expanded it, so they were likely in there as well. Anyhow, there are a BUNCH of babies out there. All have all 4 legs, none look remotely like tadpoles, so I totally missed that part of their lives.
Tonight, I caught one of those ugly gigantic mosquito looking things. They are not mosquito hawks, I like them, these are heavier built, and different. Anyhow, there are a bunch of them, and I got one and tossed it to one of the baby bullfrogs. It spotted it and grabbed it, then sat up really high (probably to get it go down it's throat LOL) and faced me. I wondered if he/she was looking for some more free food! I noticed a lot of the medium sized frogs are really thin. I see very few bugs anywhere, grasshoppers are teeny tiny, not worth trying to catch at all. Drought has shut down all living things, it seems.

 

[sissy]

TP LOL

 

[CountryEscape]

I had a really exciting afternoon! Was in both ponds today, beautiful weather, water was nice and warm, and decided to groom lilies and take a net with me, just in case those goldfish still in the koi pond (plus the 10 or so babies that I now have to deal with as well ...) came close enough. Ended up catching 4 fish, and one of them was the fish I've been seeing (there are 2 that are almost identical) and wondering if it was a koi baby, since it looks so different than the other babies. Well, check this out! Either it's a koi, or koi/goldfish cross, but not sure if the crosses have whiskers!

In the pond, the two babies that look like the above pics look like they have a yellow or an orange head, but both have black topside of their body, with orange/yellow vertical stripes. This little guy was frightened, so blended his coloring on his body, but you can see his head is pretty much solid colored.
Just as a comparison, here are a couple of pics that I took of one of the orange/white baby goldfish I also caught today. Very different body styles, top fin is smaller on the koi baby, too. Both are regular fin, so top fin would be the same on them, I would guess.

So, I'll wait to see if someone can tell me if the first pics are koi, or if they are crossbreeds. I don't care either way, and will keep working to get the rest of the goldfish out of the koi pond. They aren't spawning any more, or at least not that I've noticed. When the water temps get cooler, they will get slower and easier to catch as well.

 

[j.w]

Don't know CE but if you have Goi as I call the crossbreeds does this mean you have to dig another pond for the half breeds?
I mean how do you decide who goes where?

 

[sissy]

can't tell either and you may have to wait and see if they get whiskers .They could be a mixed breed .My baby koi were all black and last year was the first year but not even sure they were not crossed .I lost them I guess when the dog ripped the liner .I looked long and hard for them as I cleaned and drained the pond because I had to replace the whole liner ,but no luck .

 

[CountryEscape]

Sissy, do you only have koi, and you got black babies? I have had about 25% of my goldfish babies born black, but so far all have turned orange by the time they are a year old, some within a couple of months.
The baby I'm calling a koi does have whiskers, so I would assume it is koi or at least half koi, right? Oh, and reading up on it, JW, I learned that hybrids are sterile and cannot reproduce, so no need to worry about segregating them. LOL It says the hybrids have a hump being the head, and that baby does not have the hump, or at least not yet. Wow, lots of info out there on hybrids. Beginning to wonder what I really have, since I'm sure I could have hybrids in that pond!