Pond suggestions?

This was what I did recently - my dream of having a pond.

Selected the north-east corner of our premises which is directly underneath the overhanging neighbour's tree (aegle marmelos), sandal wood tree and a couple of 'Asoka trees' lining my compound. That was the best available space, but I have to tolerate the thousands of leaves that fall directly into the pond.

Dug up a hole myself using a crowbar and a pick-axe. The dimension is about 9ft x 6ft, oblong. Almost like a bath tub. Depth is about 18 inches - thought it sufficient. There is another level around the perimeter about a foot from the bottom, mostly to keep, may be a few pots with water-loving plants.

As per my friend's advice, I removed all rocks, big roots and small roots and when the 'finish' was ready, he told me to burn dry leaves sufficiently to scar or kill the roots (from Asoka, sandal and the Aegle marmelos tree which were there not in good number). The nearest trees are about 6 feet away from the pond. It gets full afternoon sun for about 4 hours.

Then cleaned all the ash. Built a bund with mud at the brim to keep the plastic and to prevent seepage from underneath the lining. Wetted old newspapers and lined the entire area of the pond including the bund. (But I am afraid of the termites that may eat up every gram of newspaper).

Bought a (blue) sheet of SILPAULIN in 200 gsm thickness and lined it properly. Allowed water to slowly fill from the bottom and as it got fuller, tried to reduce the folds that emerged due to its oblong shape. As it was nearly full, the plastic was pressed against the bund while mud was filled on top around the edge of the pond.

To enable walking around it, placed some square tiles.

There is already a stone bench very close to it and we can sit and look at the right side.

Since there is very heavy traffic close to my house it is very dusty. Just the same night I filled water, the first rains of the summer came down and brought along with it, all the dust that had accumulated on the leaves of those trees and made the pond's water very brown!!! Add to it the leaves and little twigs that broke in the storm. That made me realize how difficult it may be to maintain a pond in such a location, the first day of its coming into being! My younger daughter had a little bath in it in the evening, just before it rained.

Will think of adding a few fish later on. I have bulrush growing in an old container and this will be in a corner of the pond. May be some water lilies. The Aegle marmelos fruit (hard shell) falls directly into the water like a bomb. I have erected a nylon net to prevent them from falling into water and we can walk underneath the net. My neighbour is showing no interest in pruning off these two branches that overhang my yard a long way.

My friend shared a few of his fish and a couple of plants. I have added a few more fish (now about 50+).

Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Will post a pic when I borrow my friend's cam. How long will this plastic last? How to maintain the pond? How often should I add water? Is rain water better than river water? It's only about 3 weeks since I put water in it and it is emanating a stink. My friend says it will go away after a few days and the water will settle. The bottom of the pond is invisible due to the dark water!

ok, just a few ?'s. Did you use river water? Did you have to? Are you using a pump, if so, how many gallons is your pond, and how many GPH does your pump do? Have you put in any chemicals? How many fish do you have and what size and kind? You need some Parrot's Feather plant. Where are you? Are you in India? Have you had any fish die? How long have the fish been in there? I'll try to help you, we dug our pond ourselves too, and used an EPDM Liner. Did you use a pond liner? Do you know what mil liner you have? Is it a 20 mil? Just answer these ?'s and I'll do my best to help.

Thanks,
Traci S

What is EPDM and Mil?

I have used a material called "Silpaulin" in 200gsm thickness and it is quite a tough plastic that is meant for using it as roofing and also lining ponds.

The capacity of my pond is about 800 litres (very rough estimate, but have to do a more serious calculation). We get river water here and it is our main source of supply.

Yes, I am in India (southern part).

The pond came into being just about a month ago. The fish I have are smallish, about 1-2 inches long and there must be about 50 in all. There is the guppy, tiger barb, yellow bard, catfish (just 2 of them, to clean), and a couple of other varieties in red and orange). I have not used any chemicals (I prefer to be organic). All the fish that I have put in there seems to have been living.

I am not using any pump.

I have taken a picture of it on film but there are many in the roll to be exposed. It will take a bit of time for me to develop it. But will try and get hold of my friend's digi cam for a picture. Let me see how quickly this happens.

Hope these info will help to guide me.

http://davesgarden.com/fp.php?pid=600113 In this picture, the pond has replaced the small area where a smaller bench is visible around the inside of the bottom-right quarter (of the picture). Hope the scene can be imagined.

I went to my 'camera-friend' but much to our disappointment, it is not reading the floppy. Have to wait till he gets it rectified.

Dinu, I think you will have trouble with stagnant water if there is no way to circulate water. The fish need moving water to supply the oxygen they need. Is there any way you could set up an electrical outlet? Even a weather proof extension cord would be enough to run a small pump and get the water moving.

If you can't get electricity out there your best bet would be to try obtain a happy balance with plants. You'll need some oxygenating plants that live below the water surface. Here, the most common one is Anarachis. Parrot's feather is another that's used a lot. Floating plants will also help. Water hyacinth and Water Lettuce are great floaters. Water lilies will help shade out the surface of the pond and keep down on the algae growth. Some aquatic snails are another critter that will help clean up debris and leftover fish food.

Another thought... if you can't have a pump... is to arrange some sort of manual trickle of water that could flow into the pond when you fill it. Maybe rig up a watering can so it sits at an angle on the side of the pond. Or a cute bucket with a small hole drilled in the bottom. When you fill it, the water would trickle out and back into the pond creating a little turbulence and supplying a little oxygen to the fish and critters. Of course, it would only work for a few minutes after it's filled but it would help. It would also create that nice trickling sound that's so enjoyable.


This message was edited Apr 21, 2004 7:59 AM

Hmmm....
One thing,
50 + Goldfish seems a bit overstocked. They have the potential to grow very large. Expecially in the nice climate of India.
Did you use a catfish that grows to be very big? I forget the name- but I think they are from India- they are really pretty silver when young- but grow quite large and ugly when grown. Predatory too.

Thank you Susan and 'crimson'.
Recently, someone told me that these catfish could attack other fish if it does not find enough debris. But in my pond there is plenty of debris to keep them busy.

I have no gold fish at present but have a few guppy, tiger barb, yellow barb, catfish (just 2 of them), and a couple of other varieties in red and orange. All of them are not more than 2 inches long. This morning I noticed a few baby fish (probably of guppy) happily swimming around near the plant.

When I add water, I use a hose pipe - mind you, the pressure is minimum and it is a small pipe less than half an inch in dia. So, it does not jet. I notice how the fish gather around the bubbles for oxygen. Susan, the trickle method is quite good and I will do it. But unfortunately, not always I can hear the lovely sound as it gets overlapped by the zooming motor engines (traffic) :(

Will come back after a while.

Here are a few names I gathered from the Aquarium that sells fish:
Singapore guppy (that eats mosquito larvae)
Yellow barb
Tiger barb
Horli Queen Molly (had two and one died)
Oh, I forgot the rest - will come back.

Dinu,
Where is the nearest river to you. Is it up[ or downstream, and could you get access to it if you needed to.

If not, this is what I did.

Whenever we put in our waterfall, we built a box shaped just big enough to sit the tub, or just a black round big bucket made of rubber and cut a whole in the box just big enough for it. Then step by step, worked our way down tio the pond w/it. It is about 9-10 steps. I have a 1900 GPH pump. but my pond is 1200-1300 gallons. If you could do something like that , then you would only need a pump. Can you get one there? Surely they have them. Ask the Aquarium guy. I'm sure it is probably hot there and you need to do something soon or I am afraid you will wind up in a mess. I know you want to go organic, but if I can help, by you sending me the $'s for whatever u can not get there I will help you. You definitely need Parrott's feather, and anacharis. LMK. If you do not do something soon, I see no way the stagnation of the water will go away, without oxygen, and your fish are not going to survive long without it either. How big is your pond again, and I can try to figure what size you need.

LMK, I have been a member of Dave's and I think we have talked before. So, for helping you, I will.

Thanks,TraciS

This message was edited May 7, 2004 8:27 AM

The other fish are:
Red sword tail
Silver Molly
Golden Molly.

Thank you TraciS. River Cauvery is the source of water supply for the entire city. A dam is built across it 19kms from here. It is treated with chlorine, filtered and supplied. Chlorine level is not high. We can smell it only when there is danger of epidemics and this is when the C-level is a bit higher (esp. in Summer and the level in the reservoir low).

The size of my pond is roughly 9ftx4ft - imagine a bath-tub of this size. It is about 18 inches deep (at the center) with a step 8 inches deep around the perimeter. Capacity is about 800 litres (roughly 200 gallons?). Very small compared to yours.

Will come back to this thread for the other points. In the meantime, do you have any picture of your waterfall idea? I tried to imagine from your description but failed mid-way.

Another couple of questions:
Frogs naturally get attracted to water bodies and my pond is no exeption. Every night more than two-three frogs croak and swim in the water. I wonder if they are capable of gobbling up the fish? Do they prefer the smaller babies that are about a hundred now? I have noticed a couple of bigger fish (2" long) missing. I was wondering if these croakers are the culprits.

I notice the dragonfly hovering on the surface of water. When it comes close to it, it flashes its tail in the water in a very quick motion- too quick for my eye to catch the action. What this may be doing?

Dinu,
I don't have a pic of this pond yet, but I plan on taking some pic's, possibly tomorrow.

OK, at our old house we had a hill that was about 6-8 ft high and so it worked out great for a waterfall. But here, the ground is flat, and no small hills or anything. So, what we did was Started out building a big square box that is about 4 ft x 4 ft, just big enough to put one of those round black rubber containers in. I do not guess you have a Home Depot, but that is where I got mine. They are pretty cheap and you cut a hole out of the top of the square box just big enough for the round tub container. Then use a drill and screw it into place. Then on the side of the container facing the waterfall, it has a lip, or (like a little spill way for the water to overflow out of the tub onto the waterfall.) For the waterfall, just imagine little steps only about 4 inches high, but, 12-14 inches long. Then cover the steps from the top so that it doesn't leak, and keep covering it until you reach the pond. We Overlaped ours on the outside, and so that it was not just open underneath the steps of the waterfall, we covered it in cedar that was about 4-6 inches wide, and ofcourse it took alot of pieces and different lengths, the closer we got to the ground. But, you could use any kind of wood you wanted to. Even plywood if you wanted, we just used the cedar, b'cause we thought it was pretty and decorative. Then, we use lava rocks as a filter in a plastic crate w/holes in it, and our pump in the crate as well, to draw all of the bad stuff to the lava rock. And at the top of the waterfall, in the rubber tub container, we also used lava rocks. It is more porus and holds more fine particles, and about every month or so, you can take the lava rock out and rinse the rocks off,so that you can get a nother 3-4 weeks use of it, and then after that you need to buy a new bag of rocks. But, always remember to rinse it off really good before you put the new rocks in.
But, keep in mind, you still have to have a pumpp foor this to work. Whenmeever you start looking at pumps, it tells you how to figure the exact size one that you need. You should be able to get one pretty cheap. I didn't pay but abboout $130-150.00 for my 1900 Gallons per hour pump, and you wouldn't need anything that big. So, I would check around!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks and I hope this helped, if not then I will get my husband too explain it better.
TraciS

I have tried to paint a couple of plants that are in my pond. Dunno their names and dunno if you can make them out from my art either (in the absence of camera).

The first one, my friend says is an oxygenator and spreads in the water nicely. I notice the fish frequently near this plant. This grows in water and spreads nicely while the second one there has curled leaves, the leaves forming a cup where some fish, esp. the tiger barbs and the young babies of the guppies like to come (in those cups). This one is kept in some sand in the step abut 9 inches deep and it has white flowers that last a day. I have kept the canna so that the roots and soil touch the water. I have kept Bulrush in another corner. I have a couple of other plants that their names are not known to me.

Tried to picturize the scene of my pond, looking towards east. Behind is my neighbour's hosue.
CB: Coffee bench
P: Polyalthea longifolia
M: Mussaenda
Brug: Brugmansia now growing (3ft.)
BG: Bamboo grass
Rocks: Arranged small rocks in whitish/orangish colour in assorted sizes.Have lined the edge of the pond with similar rocks that are flattish.

T: Clay tiles to step on around.

The arrow mark indicates the place where the overflowing water escapes out of the compound.

Bought more new fish:
Marble Molly and the one I was looking for (following this thread) - Wail tail Koi Carp. A couple of them each.

Another couple of questions:
Frogs naturally get attracted to water bodies and my pond is no exeption. Every night more than two-three frogs croak and swim in the water. I wonder if they are capable of gobbling up the fish? Do they prefer the smaller babies that are about a hundred now? I have noticed a couple of bigger fish (2" long) missing. I was wondering if these croakers are the culprits.

I notice the dragonfly hovering on the surface of water. When it comes close to it, it flashes its tail in the water in a very quick motion- too quick for my eye to catch the action. What this may be doing?

Dinu,
The frogs will not eat your fish, atleast if they are the knid of fropgs we have here, like bull frogs, and tree frogs, etc.... They will eat algae though. I bought a tadpole the other day to go in my pond and he was already starting to get legs, and it is a bull frog. And we can hear them at night too. Which I am used to it, b'cause we had a like, at the place where I grew up, and there were all kinds of frogs in there. If they would have ate the fish, would not have had any fish left! There were tons of fish, and frogs, and turtles in our lake. Some turtles as big as a round laundry basket. But the lake was over 100 years old, so, if that tells you anything. And HUGE Bass, Catfish, And lots of brim in the lake. I used to love it, whenever I was a kid and we had fish fry's out there, and had the best time!!!

Have you checked on any pumps. I ioght be able to get you a 400 gallon per hour for a good price. Email, and we will discuss it!!!!!

Thanks,
Traci S