My Pond Diary, With Pics :) !

[what a load of pollocks]

there no damage to the fish they both ok and the pond fish is now calm since takin them 2 out, forgot to mention it happen before in my old tank the 60gallon dont think it crowded but didnt have many that time, btw 17 not alot as have work out before purchase the pond as if stay under 6" then u ok as did ask the seller how many can have in Marlin pond as work out that can have 22 in 6" size but i aint going to get 22 as happy with 17 had no death yet all doing well, plus for the first time over the weekend have clean the filter and the pump since been set up in late may, so it clean for winter period as doubt be cleanin again till next year

It could have been too crowded for the fish and thats why they started fighting or it was breeding behaviour. What damage was done to the fish? 17 fish in 250 gallons is a lot of fish.

 

[black angel]

So when they get past 6 inches are you getting a bigger pond or trading them in for smaller fish?
I know if i purchase any pet its for the whole of that animals life and accommodate it as such. The fish you have can easily get to 12 inches.
You have given each fish roughly 14 gallons each which is just not enough.

Ive never listened to anyone in a pet store/garden centre that sells fish as they usually dont know what they are talking about.

 

[what a load of pollocks]

btw it not a garden centre, it well know Blagdon water centre,

 

[black angel]

You didnt answer the question.

Sorry for hijacking the thread Tokis, maybe a mod could split it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

WOAH....Been such a long time since i updated this thread- i appologise that i so seriously neglected the updates, i'm so terrible at doing diaries !


Its been over a year now, and still no fish in the pond.


Basically, we had a terrible summer this year. Early on the year in spring my plan was to move the goldfish out into the pond in june or july, we were all thinking "this summer is gonna be soo hot this year!" after having a very hot start to may with lots of barbeques and flip flops and shorts.

But so wrong we were...This summer was so cold, i am not kidding you, it rained almost constantly during june and july, there wasn't even one dry week, the country in general suffered massive flooding. We were lucky, we had installed a drainage system at the bottom of the garden at the edge of the pond to deal with over-flowing and general flooding of the garden, but the pond temps dropped dramatically during june and july, and have never really been warm enough since (the warmest they ever got to since july was 18degree's, which is too cold for goldfish which live in a 23-24degree C warm tank to deal with in one day).
So the goldfish are still in the tank (they seem happy enough though) .

However, i was able to still do work on the pond and garden in general in the rain and few dry days we've had, and the pond has really matured. I've spent thousands of ponds since this pond started, but it seems to really be paying off- i got a kick ass 6x2x2ft filter for the pond too, so the waterfall is up and running too .

(continued in a mo)

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Pics;

I got a proper bridge for the pond (beats having to walk over a couple of planks lol), it was called a "polish style" bridge in the catalog however to me it really looks japanese, which is just how i wanted it to look. It originally came in a much lighter colour though and wasn't waterproof, so spent quite a few weeks in the summer house getting layers and layers of dark varnish and stuff applied to it until i was satisfied with the colour etc .

We also created a new path way snaking through the garden, it is lined with a weed-proof layer and topped with slate shingle to match the slate rocks and slabs lining the pond and waterfall.

Plus i have bought so many plants...Most of the plants i have got are big leafy ones like giant grass plants, in particular i bought a lot of the plant called "yellow wave" to help match the plants in the pond and so help make the flowerbeds surrounding the pond and the pond plant ledges in the pond merge together in a more harmonious way.
I also planted a heck of a lot of bulb plants, which have been coming up every month, so there is always a little colour (but not too much) in the garden to please the eye .

I've bought one maple tree, i want to get a couple more, and i will probably continue planting and working on the garden in general throughout the year, no matter how cold.


Oh yeah- we planted a new lawn. Completely ripped out the old one, which was more moss and weeds than grass. Now we have a new lawn, it is soft, green and thriving and is more suited to the light levels in our garden .

(continued in a mo)


More pics;

The waterfall;

More pics;

(more pics in a mo)

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

My big ass pond filter (its 6x2x2ft big !);

Right now its the sore thumb in the garden, so my plan is to create a screen of bamboo plants to help cover it up, so far i have one bamboo plant, its a very hardy variety which should grow up to 30ft tall (yay), so should help shade the garden, create a wind sheild for the garden, cover the filter and just help generally make the garden look better .

Hope you enjoyed the pics . If i get a fine day out in the garden, i will see if i can take some more pics .

 

[smithrc]

wow - that looks really nice and well established...

Mind you, it doesn't seem like it was last summer that you were building it!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

wow - that looks really nice and well established...

Mind you, it doesn't seem like it was last summer that you were building it!

Thanks - lol i agree though, time has flown by since i started this pond project .

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh- i also worked out the gallons of the pond, its more or less 3200gallons .

 

[Genesis]

How's it coming along?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its doing good . The pond is unfortunately still way too cold to move the goldfish into it (its only 11degree's C warm), really need a good week or two of solid warm sunny weather to really start boosting the pond temperature- when it gets to 19-20degree's i'll move the goldfish into the pond .

The garden in general hasn't changed a great deal since October since thats when i last stopped doing gardening due to the undesirable weather, and its only been very recently that i've started doing garden work again, but i did 5hrs of work on the garden today and its looking mildly tidier now- so much work still needs doing though, meh...Anyways, i've got a lot of plans for the garden and pond and i'll be working on it most days, more planting is to be done around the pond, will get more slate slabs, tidy up the pond plants etc. When i've made more progress on the pond and garden i'll take some new pics and post them here .

 

[Breedon]

What have you stocked your pond with.
i had an orfe but it's a nervous type of fish it scare's the other fish and they dont get tame, so i took it to my lfs and within days they where coming to the surface every time you went near.
Temp of my pond is 8.4c as of today and ive seen great looking ghost koi

 

[dreamermama]

Hi, since you're helping me in the other thread I thought I'd take a look at your pond and WOW, that's not a pond, that's a Vacation!

Really amazing and inspiring...belongs in a magazine....

I hope you can enjoy fish in it this spring!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What have you stocked your pond with.
i had an orfe but it's a nervous type of fish it scare's the other fish and they dont get tame, so i took it to my lfs and within days they where coming to the surface every time you went near.
Temp of my pond is 8.4c as of today and ive seen great looking ghost koi

No fish in it yet, the main priority fish are my indoor common and comet goldfish, i i think i will add some Orfe and some Tench at some point and possibly a few ghost koi (as they don't grow as large as standard koi), but the main focus in the pond is going to be on the goldfish . Some of my indoor goldfish (unfortunately just old pics- i need to take some new ones at some point);

They're all in their 125gal tank, they haven't outgrown it yet but i do want to keep them into their pond as soon as possible as i'm sure they will really enjoy all the space .

Hi, since you're helping me in the other thread I thought I'd take a look at your pond and WOW, that's not a pond, that's a Vacation!

Really amazing and inspiring...belongs in a magazine....

I hope you can enjoy fish in it this spring!

Thanks !