What a life!
Happy Ponds- the upside of ponding
Can't forget our fishy friends.They were munching on the parrot feathers
And two water lilies looking so lovely today.
Blooms finally on my water Canna
Grinning ear to ear!
Enjoying life in the pond.
Look deep into my eyes!!
Love the fish picture update! :)
MerryMary, What a lovely thread,
I have very few froggie pics this year as they are very shy. Much like you my small ponds are overwhelmed with plant life. I know there are a few fish in under that foliage but hard to find as well. I did have a very small turtle but I haven't seen him at all for quite some time now so I'm not sure if he is still living in there anymore.
Beahive, Your pond is lovely.
Rjudd, I have a very large african cichlid and was thinking about putting it out in the bathtub pond as I thought it would be a rather warm pond but I decided on a few fantails instead. I am planning a small water garden for in the GH when we finally get started on it. I would love to try a few tropical water lilies.
One of the big surprises for me is the Purple Taro (at least that is what I think it is). It sent out several very long shoots that laid in the water and have rooted. One of them also made what I would describe as a corm with new leaves.
This pond also has a pretty little water lily that just keeps putting out one bloom after another.
HollyAS....I have 2 different purple stemmed elephant ears. One is a colocasia, which has a dull leaf. The other is an alocasia with a shiny leaf, which I love much more. I don't know the official name of either. It looks like you have the shiny leaved one. Alocasias can't take as much water as the colocasias, so I'm glad to see yours are alive and well!
I really like this plant, here is a little closer look at the leaves. They are somewhat mottled with a lighter and darker green. Purple veins and leaf edge. All makes a rather attractive plant. I will need to pull it inside for the winter and not quite sure if I should try and let it go dormant (like I do with my caladiums) or keep it growing. I haven't had the best luck in trying to keep them growing over winter. Most of my house plants are outside for the summer and it will be close quarters when they all come back inside. The pot doesn't sit deep in the pond but the dirt in the pot is pretty much covered with water. It sits in the water to the edge of the pot, sometimes just out of the water or in depending on rainfall.
I have that one too....I think that's an alocasia. I can't remember the name though. I'm in zone 9b and leave mine drier in normal potting soil for the winter. They go dormant a bit (occassionally holding a leaf or 2, but sprouting no more growth until spring) but I've never had their roots in the water for the winter.
This guy is always smiling!
This one is spread eagle between two hyacinth leaves.
Front view.
This one is very dark green. Guess he is not using sunscreen!
"This one is very dark green. Guess he is not using sunscreen!"
LoL that was very cute... Nice picture too..
I don't know, he looks more to me like he is just the dark and handsome type lol
We've had more than our fair share of cold weather this year. I know it's not like our friends up north, but we ( in Florida ) are not prepared for what we have been recieving. My ponds are much more shallow that the rest of yours, I've never had to deal with freezing temps, only extreme heat. Usually we have a week that has frost....this year we've had almost a month of night time temps around 30-35 degrees. A few of my larger fish are showing signs of stress. They have a few body sores, which I've never had to deal with before, so today I up'd the level of salt. Bacteria and enzymes won't do too much with the water this cold, but hopefully it will warm up soon, at least enough to add some.
Oh Mary!
Body sores? You mean like ulcers? We have had that problem a couple of times. Seems like the triple antibiotic food did us more good than anything else, but the water needs to be warm enough for that too.
What are your water temps now? When is it supposed to warm up?
This morning the water was around 56, which is much better, although not close to normal. I've been trying to not feed too much while the temps are chilly, but I think medicated food may be the way to go as well. I'm keeping a fairly high salt level as well. I've pulled a few fish, swabbed their wounds with Potassium Perm and sealed it with BioBandage. I don't want to treat the whole pond and kill off the good bacteria that may be surviving the colder weather. If it warms up a few more degrees I can add more Good Bacteria/Enzymes to keep the infections down, but most dont work well in cold water. The night time temps will still be in the upper 30's this week.
Mary
keep us posted and best of luck.
Love is in the air! Its almost spring! One of the first frogs to come out of hiding. He is a bit confused about the ceramic frog however.
Interesting pose shot!
The Koi are starting to beg for food. They will need to wait just a bit longer for water to warm up.
Beahive-love your pictures-My fish are still very, VERY dormant on the bottom of the pond. I can't wait for them to start begging.
MerryMary
How is it going with your fish? Are your temps warming up yet?
Thanks for asking. The water temps have been high 50's to low 60's. We're getting a warming spell this week, so even if it doesn't last long, hopefully it will warm up the ground to keep the temps consistant. I did a 25% water change and up'd the salt. We had 5 inches of rain the day before yesterday, so the water was once again changed by mother nature. .Knowing the salt is now diluted, I'm going to add some good bacteria and enzymes, to keep the aeronoma's under control. The same one fish with the ulcer still has it, I keep treating it, but he looks otherwise healthy and he's eating.
MM
is the ulcer on that fish getting any better? I know when we had that problem, it did seem to take awhile before we saw a turning point.
Pond clean out tomrrow has been scheduled. Hope these guys do ok living in a large tube for a few days.
My frogs will need to hide for a while during the clean out. 3 so far have been spotted. Here are two that seem to hang out together most of the time.
The third hiding in the plants.
Hi Beahive, your frog is gorgeous. What are the plants in the picture? Sharon
Sharon, the plant is myosotis scorpioides or water forget me nots. They will have the little blue flowers soon. They have moved from the top of my falls to pond on their own. They are a great water plant but must be thinned often to keep them in check. Your pond and its surroundings are just beautiful.
Beautiful pond pictures I must clean out my small pond soon. My pond doesn't look very good right now it froze over this winter and so far I've removed 4 dead frogs and a few fish. I don't see any life in it yet and I should be seeing fish moving around. It has been raining for the last couple of days and it is looking pretty good right now but they are calling for showers and the ground is pretty wet so I was thinking today might be a good day to drain the pond and get it cleaned out.
Well the pond clean out was a huge success. Here is my pond empty with the wonderful young men at work..
This the son of my pond guy. He was catching the frogs and relocating them to nearby flower beds during the clean out. Sweet kid!
The frogs however kept coming back and jumping in. This one was really surpised when he jumped in and the water had all been drained. I think was expecting a splash!! Rude awakening!! He quickly hopped back out and went to hide.
