Pat, i bet you were gutted about your fish, it's heartbreaking when that happens.We also lost some golden orfe once, big ones, and the guy at the fish shop (swimming ones, not eating ones...) said that it was beacuase of the thundery weather.
Dinly little fish there rannveig, and isn't your water crystal clear, how do you manage that? I can't think the last time I saw the bottom of my pond.
Pond projects
I'm sad every time I think about losing those beautiful fish, but at least their three babies survived.
The thunderstorm depletes the pond of oxygen as well as it being warm weather and the pond pump stopping, so pretty catastrophic.
Your fish are sweet little things Rann but they do grow to fit the space.
The pond does freeze, but I leave the pump running all winter and the waterfall keeps a small area ice free. I just have to make sure the waterfall doesn't freeze when it is extremely cold. I have a small pond heater which floats on the water and just keeps an air hole clear so the fish can still get oxygen, but I haven't used it for a couple of years. I reckon with the cost of electricity that just running the pump is sufficient.
My pond water stays clear most of the year as I try to keep at least one third covered by plants. The duck weed nearly covered the whole surface for a while this year - it looked more like a lawn, but I kept scooping it out and it seems to have settled down again.
How much cold can the fish take? I just have regular goldfish you buy at the pet store and thought they couldn't take temps. lower than 5°C. I was thinking of putting in a tube for warm runoff water under the pond to heat it during winter - my hubby thought it was too much trouble. Do kind of regret not putting it in though .... then I'd have a chance of growing waterlilies. I saw some koi fish for sale this summer for the first time - they're horribly expensive but they are pretty and much too big to keep in an aquarium during winter! Actually I think my pond would be too small for them anyway - they get really huge! The clarity of the water is no great achievment really - the pond was leaking this summer so I had to fill it up every couple of days until I finally fixed it - I let the water overflow a bit to get the water clean. I need a bigger pump - it clogs up too quickly.
Goldfish can withstand very cold water for a few weeks. I have never checked the temperature under the ice but I would think it was less than 5 degrees C. The recommended depth of the pond is about 60 cm so it doesn't freeze completely. They also need an air hole so they don't use up all the oxygen. You sometimes lose a few when it has been frozen over for a long time as they don't have enough reserves to keep them going until they can feed again, but usually they are quite resilliant. They can't digest food if the temperature drops much below 50 Farenheit (not sure what that is in centigrade without looking it up) so you sometimes lose some when the temperature drops suddenly as they have undigested food inside them which goes bad.
You are lucky to have hot water available which would be great if you could rig something up. What lucky goldfish - how would you regulate the temperature?
The new pump I bought has a mincer in it so it reduces the size of particles going through and doesn't clog up which is a big improvement on the old one which had to be un-blocked every week, especially when the duck weed got into it.
Whats normally used here for heating up driveways is just the runoff from the radiators - I'm not sure what the temp of that is but it's pretty warm. I read in some icelandic book that by putting similar pipes in the sand layer under the lining of the pond it could be kept frostfree during winter. We're hoping to be able to put in heat under the driveway someday - I'd really like to try that. The other option is to have a trickling of warm water run into the pond when it's cold - but then you need drainage for the overflow ..... I'm really hoping that someday I'll manage to get some kind of heating done to keep it frostfree. In the meantime - my girls LOVE it when it freezes over - so they can "skate" on it! It's not very deep now because of my three year old - I filled up the deep end with gravel - when she gets older I can take it out and then I'll have more depth to put in the waterlily I dream of!
Hi prophetfive,
I checked your profile to make sure you were still active.
I just read this thread and you mention having a fish pond and a wildlife pond.
I am interested in only a small wildlife pond. Please may I ask what equipment you use if any like a filter, skimmer or pump and what kind of plants you are using?
I have had this small pond for about a year and a half with fish, but I just found a great home for them. I have frogs, etc.. and algae including string algae which I do not mind much. I have one clover plant. The sides of the black liner have a lot of algae on them.
Should I be cleaning out the entire pond ever? I have not. I have just been replacing evaporated water with tap water and the help of mother nature.
Thanks for any help... my little pump just died.
Karen in Austin, TX USA
Oops!
I think I just posted to the wrong forum. I thought I was in the water gardening forum.
Sorry ...
LOL Lovely that you dropped in kpoore2001 :)
The conditions you have are probably different to ours as you are in Texas, but I always keep a wildlife pond as natural as possible and let nature make of it what it will. I wouldn't worry about the pump dying - there are lots of creatures specially adapted to 'non-ideal' conditions, so you may be encouraging and helping them.
You have brought up a point I did not consider! I agree and that is what I am after - natural for the critters. Thanks.
Did or do you have plants in your wildlife pond?
I just thought though what about mosqitoes (sp) on still water?
Karen
Yes, I try to stick to native plants in the wildlife pond, though go with what I can get if those aren't easy to find.
I also have the pond with fish near the house and the wildlife one further away because of the mosquitoes, but have found that here they don't seem too bad once the other creatures move in.
Another good point.
Thanks so much.
Karen
Lovely to talk :)
It's so interesting to hear what other people are doing on another continent - good luck with your pond. I'm sure it will continue to give you a lot of pleasure. I love water whatever form it takes.....
You will need lots of oxygenating plants and if you keep at least one third of the pond surface covered with something like water lillies it should stop the water going green.
I've got a large pond with fish in that has a pump and filter and a smaller wildlife pond that is still. They both get lots of frogs in. I have noticed that damsel and dragon flies like to lay their eggs on the water irises. There is also water hornwort, starwort, Bog bean and water lillies. Then there is water mint which gets a bit invasive but is easy to pull out. Have you got any pond snails, as they eat algae and should clean your pond up. There are lots of marginal plants too. There are quite a few other things but I can't think of their names at the moment.
It is interesting to see what insects and other creatures just turn up in the pond. We are lucky not to have mosquitos here, but the midges can be quite keen.
Hope that helps.
Thank you Pat.
When I set up the pond I put two snails in and have not seen them since. That's a good idea though. I will get more snails.
Question. Do any with a wildlife pond ever completely empty it to clean it? I am thinking not.
Have a great day!
Karen
Hi Karen, No I never clean it completely. If it gets a lot of leaves in autumn I fish them out with a net and the only other thing is to thin any plants out that are taking over. The best thing is to leave the pond completely alone for a while to let it get its own balance. The more you mess about with it the more likely you are to get problems.
Thanks Pat!
I think I will just put in snails and more plants and leave it at that. I know we have not completely cleaned it in over a year and the frogs seem happy. (-: