Memorial Pond

[MrsE88]

This time last year I added three new babies to the pond. The two smaller ones were 3-4” and the blue butterfly is around 5”
Now they are quickly catching up to the others.
Not too bad considering they didn’t get a lot of growing time in before winter.

 

[davemal]

Lots of good info, I see vipers point lots of ponds have goldfish and koi … mine is the same. The fish are breeding so must love their home. My local lfs was telling me when he picks his fish up he sees a guy from London, who puts big prices on the bags the fish are in so his customer think they are special. Koi he sells for $10 this guy sells for $300. The point is they are only worth what you can sell them for. pond looks awsome4 can you keep orfe there?

 

[MrsE88]

Lots of good info, I see vipers point lots of ponds have goldfish and koi … mine is the same. The fish are breeding so must love their home. My local lfs was telling me when he picks his fish up he sees a guy from London, who puts big prices on the bags the fish are in so his customer think they are special. Koi he sells for $10 this guy sells for $300. The point is they are only worth what you can sell them for. pond looks awsome4 can you keep orfe there?

I could, if I can get my pond to stay warm enough in the winter. Otherwise I’d have to bring them in. The pond temp dropped to 32f last year, but I didn’t have it fully covered. This year it will be completely covered, so I’ll see how warm I can keep it.
I think it would be fun to add something unusual to the pond. I haven’t really decided what though.
For something fun I thought maybe adding a turtle next year. Not sure it would stay at the pond though. I don’t want to fence it.

 

[MrsE88]

The pond this year and last year.
I thought I’d get more time with the pond before needing to upgrade again, but my husband and I are talking about an expansion next year. We will more then double the size of the pond. We will also make the expanded part deeper. 6’ at least. I hope that will also help keep a more consistent temp both in summer and winter. The pond will also get some shade then. This year my bekko has nearly lost her black spots and got badly sun burned I started putting up an umbrella to shade the morning/afternoon sun. She is finally recovering.
Close up. You can see the bekko looks white now.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Next year for the expansion why not add: lotus and elephant ear for sun.

And some of the following as tankmates:
False map turtle (bring in in winter, maps tend to be less likely to travel away), your green terrors, some small to medium African cichlids,oscars,Showa platies,and a few hogsuckers, and some sort of hardy schooling fish such as Mascara barbs

 

[davemal]

Hope the upgrade goes well, don't rush to move the fish like I did. Deep ponds wont stop temps falling (unless you build a large lake) it does help fish feel more secure, larger nolume also makes conditions more stable.

 

[MrsE88]

Next year for the expansion why not add: lotus and elephant ear for sun.

And some of the following as tankmates:
False map turtle (bring in in winter, maps tend to be less likely to travel away), your green terrors, some small to medium African cichlids,oscars,Showa platies,and a few hogsuckers, and some sort of hardy schooling fish such as Mascara barbs

That stocking would be pretty interesting, but I’d have to be committed to brining all those inside come fall. I don’t have that kinda space unfortunately. I’ll look into the fmap turtle though. And I like the idea of some tropical plants outside. I have a banana tree out there right now has been awesome. And it is easier to bring plants inside over fish. Lol

Hope the upgrade goes well, don't rush to move the fish like I did. Deep ponds wont stop temps falling (unless you build a large lake) it does help fish feel more secure, larger nolume also makes conditions more stable.

Thank you. The security will be good. I worry when they get startled now, it only takes one swish of their tail to go across the pond. I don’t want to start having jumping issues. And the extra stability will be good too.

 

[MrsE88]

I took some koi out while doing a water change on the pond.
This one was added last fall at 3” and was almost all white as you can see from the picture on the top right.

11”

My boy Drako. 16” now. He was also added last fall.

My girl Sunshine. 19”


And lastly Olaf. She has been a disappointment this year. Her black faded and she got badly sunburned. Now she’s nearly clear of the sunburn, but her black has not returned yet the top picture is now and bottom is from earlier this year.

 

[davemal]

when you do upgrade your old pond would make a great plant filter, you could run the old pond into the new. Those fish are beautiful, do you move them in over the winter ?

 

[MrsE88]

when you do upgrade your old pond would make a great plant filter, you could run the old pond into the new. Those fish are beautiful, do you move them in over the winter ?

Thank you.
I did the first year I got them. Of course that was because I was just getting into the hobby and didn’t realize that they would outgrow my 175g pond so fast. Yes, I was that stupid.
So they spent over a year in the basement in a kiddy pool. And last winter was their first time outside. It was scary. I lost power at one point for a few hours when the temp was -30f outside. The pond froze over and I had to thaw a hole out. Thankfully all the fish came out ok.
I’m more prepared this year. I have a tarp that will completely cover the pond and a generator in case I lose power again.

The new pond will connect to this one. And unfortunately my fish shred and eat all plants that enter the water. Even my pothos in the rocks. They will reach up out of the water to grab them just to shred. It’s frustrating.

I do keep meaning to setup one of my small preformed ponds for plants. Right now I have water Lily’s sitting in a bucket waiting for a home.