MerryMary -
thank you - we are guessing the kohako is about 22". What is odd is that he is not our oldest fish, so apparently more then age contributes to the size of the fish.....
Pictures from my bottom drain addition
Sleeve in a chain saw-you guys scare me! It's sounds like something out of Tim's Tool Time Show!
If it hadn't been for the jacket my left arm would be shorter.
Carolyn22, that's funny about the size. I've owned one fish for about 4 years. I bought her at around 8 inches, she's maaaaaybe eeeking on 9 inches now, after 4 years. I have another I bought earlier this year as a 4 incher and it's already around 9 after only 4 months. Same pond, same food, same everything.
Hi from Phoenix. I'm new to this forum- I'm trying to build a second pond so I'm reading thru a ton of threads. So, six months later........Mothermole- how did the mud get cleaned up? Why do I need a bottom drain? Or do I? And...one of the main reasons I am putting in a second pond is that my koi destroy virtually every plant I put in with them. Yet Carolyn22 has gorgeous lilies AND gorgeous koi in the same pond. How does that work? There is a turtle in pond 1 that helps the koi destroy plants, so the purpose of pond 2 is so that I have a water garden for lilies etc. that the destroyers don't have access to. Do I have to send my koi to Carolyn's pond to learn some manners? I would really love to create a bog type area with gravel in the new pond similar to the one pictured. Did the idea for that set up come from a particular book or plan? I would really like to get some more information but could use some pointers as to where to start searching. Thanks all!
Katie
Katie -
What a nice thing to say. Thank you.
We use a layer of egg rock over the tops of all the waterlily pots. The egg rock is too big for the koi to be able to root into the bottoms of the pots. Granted, it makes for heavy pots of waterlilies when they are to be removed or put back into the pond, but we only do that twice a year.
Carolyn22,
I take it that YOUR koi don't chop off all the lily leaves and stems and BUDS and watch them float away into the skimmer while thumbing (err...finning?) their little fishie noses at you? Please send me the address for your military school for incorrigible koi.
I'm ok with the egg rock- my lilies can stay in the pond year round. I have Lemon Mist blooming in a stock tank with several wakins at the moment. There's a tropical waterlily out there too. They are waiting to move into the pond which isn't dug yet. (Yes, I know, it would have made so much more sense to do the pond before the fish but then life would be really dull, wouldn't it?) Even the wakins are apparently bored enough to be messing with the lilies so I'll get some egg rock tomorrow. The other plants waiting for pond 2 are in pots in a wading pool. I seriously need to get this pond underway.
Katie -
you are funny! I have to be honest, only infrequently has that happened with the koi. There have been more problems with hubby nutsying around with things in the pond more with the koi.
Carolyn-too funny your comment on your "hubby" ruining the pond.
Katie: I like your sass! It made me smile today!
Yes, put in the drain (with uv light and bio-filter)-make the pond simpler to clean, allows you more fish and dirt in there and less vacuuming on your part to keep things tidy, and your fish will be healthier and happier with it. I had just had a pond installed and had asked about putting in a drain and the installer said I didn't need it . . . First summer and $1500 of fish dying and another $1000 or so in medicines to cure what was killing them and it all came back to the stupid drain that I should have insisted on them installing in the first place. The next year I had the pond re-dug deeper and added not only a drain but one with aeration. The bubbler is always running-even now in winter. My fish were disease free and growing quickly. It cost me a lot of money to reline the pond and add this stupid drain ($ about $7000.00-with fish deaths and medicines and liner and biofilter and uv light and the labor). Live and learn but insist on what you want. I learned the hard way.
BTW: My koi don't eat my plants either but are small probably compared to yours in your warm climate. I always cover my pots with heavy rock and some in netting so that they don't root around in the clay-dirt. My koi are between 1-3 years old.
I'm pretty sure now that my fish are misbehaving so that I will send them somewhere else where they will have a nicer place to live. My dogs act out when I leave them alone for longer than they feel they should be- so why not the koi? The thing is, the fish AND the turtle are rescues. I'm not a collector, I have no intention of encouraging fish reproduction of any kind, I have no idea what kind of koi they even are. You all are clearly much more knowledgable and take far better care of your ponds and your fishies than I do! I suspect that the only reason mine are still alive is dumb luck.
So...about plants and ponds with plant shelves...
Carolyn22, I just found a photo of your emptied pond. Do you by any chance have more photos showing how you made the "troughs" full of pea gravel? That's what they look like to me....like a standard sort of right angle plant shelf at the top of the pond wall with a wall of rocks on the "inner" edge that keeps the gravel from dumping off the ledge and into the pond proper. Is that right?
And mothermole, you mentioned plant shelves and not being able to see where to put your plants when the pond was all muddy. Do you perchance have more photos now that it's cleared up?
Here's a photo of my little pond before the critters ate everything but some elephant ears and the yerba mansa.
and one more
Very pretty, Katie!
believe me, it's not as pretty after the koi shred all the plant material. I've been wishing for a leaf/twig shredder to help with composting. maybe I could train the koi somehow...I really don't think they are eating the plants nearly as much as they are just tearing them to bits and watching them float away.
How much do you feed your fish each day? I'm curious if they may do better with more food. Also, how many gallons in your tank - how many fish and how large in inches are the 3 biggest? I wonder if the fish are just bored - maybe too big for a small space and out of boredom they chew (like my naughty dogs do . . .)
Funny how dogs act out when their "patterns" or expectations of how their life should be. For example, my youngest dog, he was used to going with me everywhere in the car but then I had to do some work for my husbands business last year and it wasn't appropriate to have him in the car. I left him at home with our other dog, my husband working in his home office, the enclosed dog room is my laundry room (it's a huge nice room) and also has a doggie door and the dogs can come and go and roam the 1/2 acre enclosed in the dog fence. Was he happy? NOOOOOOOOO! Everyday I found my underwear and bras and shirts all over the yard. The underwear chewed up. I wasn't a happy camper! it took me 8 months to catch him in the act of carrying clothes outside to be able to effectively reprimand him. He's improved a ton but is still a little evil . . . LOL!
Sorry got off subject. I can't imagine your koi acting up but what was the rescue situation like? Did they come from some amazing pond and not they want revenge like my dog????? LOL!
Katie
Not sure if this photo shows how the shelves are set up. Yes, they are more troughs than shelves. When we were enlarging to this pond, hubby foamed in the rocks in an upright position. When the foam was dry, he put in bag after bag of washed pea gravel. We planted our marginals in the pea gravel and they pretty much have taken on a life of their own, however, the are contained and not allowed into the rest of the pond. In the larger shelf/bog like area, we have a small pump running - I cannot remember if it is 500 gal/hr or 750 gal/hr, but it helps with the filtration in the pond. Also, the roots of the plants growing in the pea gravel help with the filtration.
The sides of the pond are almost straight down from the edge of these shelves. They are at a slight angle so that the dirt would not cave in when we were digging the pond, but the straighter sides help as it is more difficult for pretators to get at the fish.
I have tell you, this set up has worked well for us.
Linda - too funny about the dog. Seems he was only interested in YOUR garments. I think he is trying to tell you of his displeasure with you. I must tell you, my long haired cat finds my socks and drags them all over the place. I have even found one of my socks in her water bowl...... I wonder if she was trying to tell me that I need odor eaters or something......
Carolyn: My cats carry our sons sock around the house, nerf bullets are in their mouths a lot as well (it looks like they are smoking orange cigarets) and marbles. They pick the marbles up in their mouths, walk over to the basement stairs and drop them down and then chase them. I guess they are having their own fun!
Carolyn-how often do you empty out your pond completely and power wash it? What do you do about the plant shelves? Do you empty them as well or leave them?
Just curious.
Linda
There really is no set time period in how often we drain the pond completely. If I were to guess, I would say we may average every other year or so. This past year was bad with all of the rain. The pond never had enough time to take care of itself. I am really hoping this next ponding year that things go back to normal.
The plants on the shelves pretty much take care of them selves when we empty the pond, however I do think I lost one of my new arrowheads with this last draining of the pond. When we drained the pond this last time, the waterlilies were pulled and I cut them all back. Because it takes so long to fill the pond, I put the waterlilies in the shade and I put wet newspaper over the top of them and sprayed them down periodically.
We vacuum our pond with one of those wet vacuum things that works while the pond is full. We do this in the Spring and in the Fall....
My stream gets so much gunk in it that I tend to vacuum the pond and stream periodically as needed. When the leaves fall I use the vac a lot on the stream. . .
I wish we had a stream. We had a stream in the previous pond, but just do no have the room here to have a larger pond and the stream. Perhaps in the next one. We are talking about moving when we can finally retire and of course, we have to have a pond.....
If I could have my dream pond the stream would be deep enough for the fish to actually swim through with a current for exercise. I would love to have multiple ponds with underground tubes going under the patio connecting and deep water stream for them to swim around the property. This of course is if I win the lottery . . . LOL!
Linda
that is a really neat idea!