How Can I Make A Pond More Exciting?

[lil-x-me...x]

hiyaa,

My dad is now alone and he's getting on and is sitting round the house doing practicly nothing but watching tv, as they do. he has a pond in his back garden and he has no fish in it what so ever. this summer if its nice i want him to get out more, something more intertaining to come home to. he has dogs, and a cat and he has an available pond.

now i have no idea of the expence of a pond, how much work has to be put in it ect ect. but this summer if he wants id like to try and get him going with this pond, keep him entertained and happy.

at the moment its full of tagpoles.

any ideas at all where i can cheaply buy things for his pond and fish ect. any ideas how i can make him interested again?

how much does it all cost is my biggy. he doesnt have much at the moment and niether do we.

thanks x

 

[saltynay]

First thing how big is it?
What plants do you have?
Do you have any friends with pond plants to pinch cuttings from?
Any extra details about the pond; is it filtered, does it have a waterfall, is it sited in a sunny area of the garden?

I am currently redoing my pond and its only costing me time atm. I have established lillies and elodea which I mainly want to aquascape it with so I merely waiting for the elodea to grow out in my fish tank so that I can plant the cuttings in the pond. I don't have any electricals with my pond just mother nature to filter aerate ect. Today I actually cut my two large lillies into 6 smaller plants and placed them around the pond so hopefully by the summer they will be flourishing again. I started off with 8 goldfish 2 of each variety I could find 3 years ago and currently I have 6 adults at 6-7", 4 teenagers at 3-4" and 20 plus babies at 2" from last summers spawn. I have sold around 50 babies to my LFS over the last 2 years and will do the same with the current lot once they colour up so that I can actually tell what species they are so all costs really have been voided. I also have frogs, common and great crested newts which claim the pond each spawning season so there is no shortage of life.

 

[Davo86]

a photo of the pond in its current state may be a good starting point for us to make suggestions

 

[saph.st24]

lil-x-me...x
that really nice idea
look for second hand filters but try to buy a new pump and media for the filter on and a uv
length ,width and depth of your pond so we can work out the total volume of water and pics would be nice

 

[simonas]

to make it more appealing for your dad.?

You could get him a comfortable chair next to the pond, a few cans of fosters and a barbecue to make some burgers that'll makehim spend more time next to it!!

but seriously details of the pond allowing.. some fish would do the job, goldfish are usually pretty cheap some pond fish food and ponds usually become quite magnetising with people wanting to look in and see the fish. That should get him interested

good luck and a nice thoughtful post by the way