New member's ponds!!

I am very new here but been with GW for years. My big pond was designed by a pond maker and was a gift from my husband when i was sick for 2.5 years. It relaxes me listenimg to the water from the 4 foot waterfall. It is netted 'cause I lost kois from herons and also so I do not have to clean leaves in the Fall. I do most of the work, my hubby once in awhile will clean the filters and skimmer. i am not a pro in posting so bear with me. Bellie

The netting is there to stay!! Bellie

This message was edited Jun 27, 2006 5:12 AM

another picture on a different angle

another picture!!
I can see everything even with a net!! Bellie

This message was edited Jun 27, 2006 5:13 AM

and another one!!!

And another one!!!

It is beautiful bellieg. You have a great husband!

Hi Bellie,
I'm so glad you joined Dave's I've been here for several years now...every since I left G/W...this place is so much better and the owner is also much nicer than over there...
I've seen photo's of your pond before...but I've never seen your kois...they are awesome... How big are they? They look pretty big...I wish it was warm enough to have them here...maybe someday when I can afford a heated pond and the kois .. :-)

They have heaters for ponds Jody!! honestly it is a lot of work and expensive to maintain the kois as well as added electric bill. We have a well so we do not dechlorinate the water but you can have a small preformed??. Remember I lost all my last summer O2 depprivation!! We lost power and the pond tripped !! Now we have a designated line for the big pond and I have new kois which i bought from internet after the Hawaiian vacation. They were sooo tiny but I feed them growth food so they are getting bigger fast.i like DG also but i still go to GW 'cause someone posts my new pond. Bellie

Hi Jody,
I live in NH (also zone 5) and have koi without a heated pond. As long as the pond is over 3 feet deep they get through the winter just fine. You do have to make sure there is an opening in the ice though for the gases to escape. We have a small pump that runs in the winter and that keeps an opening about 6 inches in diameter. Last winter was unusually cold and we got a layer of ice over the running water, but I put in a small electric unit that melted a hole and didn't loose any fish. They really add so much to the pond. It's exciting to see them start waking up in the spring.

Oh wow between the photo's of both of your ponds...waaa waaaa I want one... maybe next year..I've spent way to much on plants and plugs this year...no kidding!!!! 100's and 100's..I've been a bad girl...lol...I must have a pond...I must have a pond...stop buying plants...oh then I'll need water plants...hummm...still more plants to buy then...heehee

Hi Bellie! Hubby and I are new to DG too. Here is my pond. It sits in a protected corner of our yard just off the side of our deck. It is above ground--a 150 gallon Rubbermaid trough. We have several other above ground ponds scattered about the yard with the full intention of one day putting in an inground pond, but this pond in particular is all mine.

I call my pond and its immediate area my 'Serenity Corner'. I like to sit on my bench and watch the fish and other "wildlife". Very relaxing.

One of my fish in my 'Serenity' corner pond.

I really gotta get that hole dug. I'm getting a case of the "I wants" -- JodyC must be contagious...

Some of the 'wildlife' in my serenity corner. Yeah, it's pretty contagious. :-))

Edited to add the dragonfly ID--male Neon Skimmer.

This message was edited Jun 29, 2006 2:11 PM

And a side view of this beautiful dragonfly. He was being extremely cooperative with my picture-taking, so I took advantage of it.

oh how neat,......contagious yes......hehe

Hill 5422
You have a very relaxing corner. Yoiu did not post a good view of your pond though. I have dragonflies too!! Try posting your pond.Thank you.Bellie

Thank you, yes, it is a very relaxing corner. Here is a view from my deck, looking down on the pond.

And a little closer view. I actually have a water feature--a water bell--but it's filter is clogged right now, so it is turned off until I manage to clean it. When I have it cleaned again and running, I'll post that view also.

Now I see your pond!!! You also have a lot of plants and some will go to the compost soon. i keep forgetting to buy just a couple lettuce and WH. They do multiply very fast!!! Have a nice weekend!! If you like hostas go to my posts in hosta forum New memnbers hosta collection. Bellie

Nice ponds. Bellie, I like your frogs. Looks like they have lots of personality. Hill, you did a great job of camoflaging (sp?) the trough from both front and above. Very pretty.

Debra

Hill 5422,
How old are your kois?I lost all my big kois last year from O2 deprivation. We lost power and when I got up they were all floating!! I now have more and they are getting big and now have a designated line for my big pond. I have too much plants , someone mentioned trading but i have limited time right now!! I will just compost it!!! Bellie

Morning Bellie,

I am sorry to hear of your koi loss. Those are some expensive and beautiful fish. I am afraid that I have not bitten the bullet and invested in koi, though I would love to. I just cannot fathom paying the money and bringing the beautiful fish home to my little pond and having them die on me. I won't attempt that until we have our nice, deep, large inground pond built. Unfortunately, our inground pond is still in the 'dream' design stage, LOL.

I thought I would try one year to bring home a large goldfish (about 6-7 inches) to see how well he would do in my pond. Well, he jumped out of the pond and committed hari kari on me the same day I put him in. That cinched it for me--I would not invest in koi to put in my little corner pond. They will have to wait for the inground pond to be built.

So, what did I do for fish in my little corner pond? I purchased a bag full of feeder goldfish from the local pet store for about a dime to a quarter a piece. That is an investment I can live with. And you can find some really beautifully marked goldfish. I believe they are called 'Comet' goldfish. My picture several posts above is one of my comet goldfish. You asked me the age of my fish. I added some new fish this season as babies and I have other fish present that I recognize from years past and are several years old. There are none in particular that I keep track of that I know their age for sure.

Other fish that I have tried in my corner pond are mollies and they do extremely well! Again, I head off to the pet store and choose some silver or dalmation mollies of both genders and they stay busy increasing their numbers all summer long. I like the mollies because they will hang out at the surface of the pond and are easy to see and enjoy while I am sitting there relaxing. Can't always say that about the goldfish. When the weather starts getting cooler in the fall, I net out as many mollies as I can and bring them inside to overwinter in an aquarium in the house, then put them back out in the pond the next summer. I managed this for several years and then my mollie strain died out (probably inbreeding) and I haven't replaced them in the pond again.

I have also put a male betta or two in my pond for the summer. I love to see the flash of their colors in the water. They like to lurk under the lily pads and dart out for bits of food, then dart back under the pad again. They have to be brought back in for the winter also.

Yes, I compost often too--my pond is pretty crowded with plants, but I actually like it that way because it gives the fish a lot of cover and it keeps the algae blooms way, way down. I try to keep a cleared area around my water bell to watch my fish. It is nice to trade excess plants when you have the time and inclination to do so.

And thus ends my monologue (diatribe?) for the morning. :-))

Have a great holiday weekend!

I am in zone 4 , so far the ice on our pond has only been 4" . We keep a small pump in front of the skimmer agitating the water to keep the skimmer open as in the winter we pump to a second pond that runs back to the main one, That is enough to keep both ponds open..
We started with goldfish and commets. We then started adding Koi. We wound up with Koi,Commet, goldfish. That grew up to be very big an colorful. Began weeding out the goldfish. as they were eating any other fish they could get in their mouths.
Finaly ---just Koi. We have no trouble with getting the color combinations we like, with haveing the second pond. We pull the lettuce and hyacnth and putt them in another tank after a spawn.
we can then cull the little ones, and keep the ones we like. The only trouble we seem to have is replaceing the water hyacinth and lettuce in the spring, we have not been successfull in any attempt to overwinter them. The Koi as well as the hardy lilies winter just fine. With the exception of very early spring we have to be watchfull. and treat the pond for the fungi and all the other bad things that wake up before the koi really start comming out of their dormant stage.
Sorry no pics, as new computer not connected to printer yet.
Barb & Russ

I would love to see a picture of your pond when you are ready. It does not get too cold here so I do not need a heater but I will eventually buy one. I have plenty of lettuce and WH,. Bellie

Bellie; I thought I replied to this but I couldn't find it, so if you get two of about the same just chalk it up to old timers memory. If you have plenty of W / Hyacinth & lettuce We may need to go to our Sister in law's every spring. She lives in Spartenburg NC. We could then very easily, take a drive on over to Virgina Beach. Would probably have to use the S10 for that as it would be too much trouble in the car, with the amount of water we would need to carry for the plants to keep them from drying out I Got some from Florida, for postage, this year. They still haven't snaped out of their slump. Some did bloom but they just don't have that crisp texture and they arn't spreading very well. Don't know it may just be the year. as it has been very warm, then cool warm again an so on. They were niped a little in shipping temp was in the fortys when they came. and may have been a little cooler one of the nights in route. Hey that's another year. Might just have to make some plans though.
Russ & Barb

My lettuce and WH are so healthy that I am trying not to compost them. i wish I could sell some!!! My DH keeps reminding me to remove some. It is a big job to mail so I can give it waway. time is the essence.Bellie

Bellie;
I can sympathize with you on your back an the time it takes to recover.
I was 59 an ruptured a disc lower back. on a friday afternoon at work.
Saterday morning I could not walk. It was an imediate surgery to remove pieces of the disc fron the nerve canal. Yes it took 2 years to regain, a comfort zone where I could even sit for more than 5 min. It was either flat on my back or walk. It took that long to be able to lift 40 lbs. So I could even go back to any kind of work. Thank God for my loveing wife. She dressed me in the morning before going to work.
Some depression did set in. but I compensated by using a grab stick an with the crutches, I was able to do some of the laundry. Wash dishes. by leaning against the sink, not very long at a time though. I am also a good cook, so with the meal being ready when she got home; I think she started liking that part. that was then. Now we take turns with preparing the meals. :-)
I apolgize if that brought back any bad memories. Thankfully it is just that, only a memory. An hey- - - I'm not very good with this machine either.
I know shipping is a problem. Right now though, that would be the only way I could go, an that gets expensive. Then Hyacinths can't go very long without water, in delivery trucks especialy, With the heat buildup.
So as much as we would dearly love to have more W / H & lettuce right now. I think I will have to pass. I'm afraid that by the time it got here it would be close to being compost.
Your pond is gorgious, too bad about the the herons tho. But I would think that the cover you have, would offer some shade for the pond as well. That may be a plus, along with the protection against the herons.
I promise I'll Try hard to get everything hooked up so I can send some pics, of our pond.
Russ & Barb

one pic of falls

Home made island, holding tub for lotus / an put fish eggs in to keep others from eating them before they hatch

and one of an over view

and another

Whoops

and still another

Your kois are bigger than mine, i lost all my kois last year due to O2 deprivation,we had a storm and the switches tripped but now we have a designated electrical supply for the big pond.
i now have kois that I got in the internet and are growing fast with growth food. i intend to sell them to my friends eventually since I have 130 which is way too much for the size of my big pond. My sister from Rhode Island visited and took a lot of the pond plants so I do not have to compost right now. i always tell myself not to buy a lot but I had overbought again. Happy ponding!!!! Bellie

for your info!!! I have a very tall black EE and it toppled during the night. i noticed when I set it upright that a lot of the leaves were eaten which means tye kois loves EE leave. They also love frozen peas as well a water cress.Happy ponding!!! bellie

Hi bellieg - love your pond and koi!! I have a question about the netting that you have set up. Could you tell me where you purchased it or did you create this system yourself? We put in a pond this year and come fall, we're going to have a mighty leaf problem! I'm about ready to sew a tent!

Oh wow Bellie...I keep watching this thread and looking at these awesome koi and water gardens...Now..I MUST have KOIS and a Water Garden next spring...maybe I'll even get the spot ready this weekend,even if I can't start the project until next spring...then again,who know's i might get some of the basics started this fall...heehee
My BIL is letting me use his Bobcat for a few hours on Saturday...(Part of my Birthday present) and yes I pretty darn good with it..lol..
Anyway I'm going to start a large spot for my shade garden in my woods,so I asked to use it for part of my B-day present...I'm hoping for a ;load of mulch from my Sister also..at least these are the things I asked for instead of a new purse or t-shirts or something I have a hundred of already...lol..My silly sister can't understand why I like power tools either...oh well,maybe it's because I don't have a DH anymore and I like to play with Big boy toys also...lol...So while I'm knocking down sapplings and clearing brush out of the woods..I'll find a nice sunny spot in the field for a water garden( I don't want leaves in it all the time) :-o
Maybe I can at least get a pond liner started this fall... I think I'll pick out a spot and dig a pre-water garden hole...lol...I need it to be at least 4' deep right? I'm in zone 5b/6a and I want it deep enough that my Koi don't freeze solid in case we ever loose power during the winter...I don't know anything about it...Please help me out you water garden brainiacs...heehee

Jody ,
Wat is BIL?? I just finishe supervising the redo of my girlfriends pond and I know what to order . You can save a lot of $ if you do it yourself. You can certainly put a super large one, I can fly to your place to supervise!! LOL!!!! I can send you kois too LOL Bellie
Ms_Carolina,
My son designed the frame with PVC'S 1.25 inches. We just netted my girfriends pond and the material cost $259.40 plus netting. You can order nets at AZ pond which are very cheap.You need connectors. I will post how we did ours. Stay tuned!! Bellie

ms_ carolina,
These are the only pictures I could find

picture 3 yeras ago

This message was edited Jul 27, 2006 2:18 PM