I am so excited, today while we were taking a break from mowing, dh & i were by the pond watching those funny goldfish react to us sitting there, begging for food, nibbling and bumping our fingers as we petted them, and suddenly, several teeny tiny baby mosquito fish swim up! Babies! They are so tiny, I would have thought those hungry goldfish would have devoured them, but nope, all is well in my pond. I feel so honored, silly perhaps, but I am. We turned off the pump so the water would still and sure enough, we found several smaller ones, in different stages, so apparently we have had at least 2 hatches. How totally cool is that?
Babies in my pond!
About as cool as it gets, Pudgy! Congratulations! I hope to be a grandfishmother myself someday. (Haven't quite finished the pond... then come some plants... then the fish...)
Thanks Brigidlily, I hope you get to be a grandfishmother too! :~)
Congrats!!! you have a good environment for your fishies - they seem happy and giving you grandfishies, what a great find in there!
Thanks Laurrie, I think the best part is knowing they are happy, I doubt they would breed if they were in bad conditions, would they? You know how I have been with water quality here in this heat, but apparently it is only bothering me. LOL
I think it's bothering you but the fish must be content!!! sooo neat to see babies and if they have enough hiding spots they will grow to maturity too. too cool!
Goldfish can live in a VERY wide temperature range. I'm getting the bricks to finish my pond today hopefully, and then... :] I can hardly wait! I'm thinking I'll put in a molly or two just to see how they do. I like a lot of little ones. I have a koi in my tank at the office, and he's getting too big for it, so he'll go in the pond as soon as I know it's nicely balanced.
I would love to get a pic of them, but they are so tiny and when I get down to get close enough to find them in the view finder, those darn goldfish swarm me, shoving the mosquito fish of their way. LOL I tell you, I am sure that in a pitch that only dogs can hear, they are shouting HEY! Food lady, toss some of those tasty pellets in here!
LOLOL And that is another thing, I cannot believe those piggish goldfish have not eaten them! They swim around right next to the goldfish so they are not afraid of them, so maybe I have vegetarian goldfish...HA
lolol well as long as you keep them nicely fed, they shouldn't have any reason to eat the offspring!! you spoil them I can tell hahahhaha
WHAAAAAAAAAAAA, I too have baby fish in my pond! There are two kinds of babies I have found. I was walking next to the pond and thought I saw something move?? I looked down only to see some baby fish in swarms swimming together away from the lily pads! I ran and got the pool skimmer and swooped it kinda fast into where I saw the babies, but got nothing! Then, I saw the potted parrots feather and quickly put the skimmer screen under it and yanked it up and sure enough, baby fish :) I had already filled two blue kiddie pools with the pond water, so they already had a good clean pond for themselves :)
There are two kinds of babies! Some are rather long and skinny and dark, and the others are shorter and believe it or not, I found a magnifying glass and it took FOREVER, but I was able to look into the sides of the mouths of the fish AND DID NOT SEE ANY OF THOSE BARBELLS :(.... So.... guess they are not Koi babies. I will keep on looking, and oh, I am feeding all of them the freeze dried frozen shrimp particles once a day :)I have look all over trying find a pic of Koi fry, the only pics I have seen look like fuzzy grey specks??
Anyone have pics of their baby Koi? In the pond there are: Koi, bullheads(yuck), some minnows, and there used to be sunfish but I have not seen any yet this season. Someone out there just has to have some pics of baby Koi for us to see????? "PRETTY PLEASE"
Her are a few pics of a ??? Pond lily?? I found and yanked up and planted, but nothing bloomed so I yanked up more! The neck of the trunk? is the size of both my fists together!! Can someone tell me what this is??
Here is another pic of it.
The first pic is one that shows what it looks like when it gets soaked in the water and does not bloom.
Oh, and a few frog eggs I think?
Are they baby fish or frog babies? Congratulations!! Bellie
Nice, PudgyMudpies! It sounds as if your pond is developing a natural environment.
Thanks fireant, I think I am finally doing something right. I tell you, it all started smoothing out after I started using the peroxide in the water. That was the best info ever. :~) Are things going any better in your pond?
I've been tied up with my daughter's wedding plans, but I have had another lily bloom and found frogs resting on the lily pads, not just toads. I tried to get pictures, but the frogs disappear too fast. The water is still green, but I plan to empty and clean it out the weekend before my daughter gets married. How much peroxide have you been adding and how often?
I have been adding it every week. The regular sized bottles I get 2 uses out of, but the last bottle DH bought are taller and I will get 3 uses out of those. I add it after I put in fresh water, and then every week, and I don't get green water. I have had to drain the pond though, not from green water but from pollution. When the temps are 107 or higher, it is just too much for such a small pond.
I am so happy you have your frogs and not just toads. Is your daughter getting married at your house?
I think heat and sun are the major contributors to the algae. It's nice to know the peroxide will work for regular algae, not just the string kind. I need more plants, but that will have to wait until next year. I also want to get more fish, but I think I am going to wait until fall. It would be nice to have a larger pond.
She's getting married at our church, but there will be a lot of people coming and going here.
yes, I think the peroxide works well as a preventer, but not a remover of pea soup algae.
Best wishing on her special day. :~)
Thank you. The next time I empty the pond, I plan to scrub it with peroxide and also the pump parts. Then I'll try adding peroxide on a regular basis to see if I can keep the algae from taking over.
Hi Bellieg,
Sorry, I have been helping take care of my Dad so I have not been at home for awhile. But, yes, they are fish eggs, they are a little larger, but I still can't see any barbells on the sides of their mouth :( I will continue feeding them the frozen freeze dired shrimp pieces and watch them grow :) About every other day I can see new baby fish comming out from underneath the pond lily pads, so I will keep on watching and hope I can net a few :)
tootsie
fireant is it the pea soup algea you are having problems with, I have the solution My husband figured it out after 7 years of uv filters. biological filters. Now that he has figured it out i have agreed to put a large pond in our back yard 7' X 27' X 4' deep Approx. 6000-7000 gal. Our pond out front is 7' X 8' X 4' deep, Approx 1500gal. This is what he did. He bought a horse water tank approx. 100 gal. divided it into 3 sections with corigated metal. Each section shorter than the other. Leave approx 4-5" under the tallest one not touching bottom. The other 2 should touch bottom and try to seal around all of there edges. Place it on the ground and put lots of lava rock in tall one and middle, leavin the shortes one empty ( this is were you pump will go. Make a fall coming out of your pond if above ground like mine is or a stream if ground level like my new one will be ( you will have to barry the horse tank for this one). Pump the water from the short side back into you pond and let the water from pond flow into tall side. LOL he used a garbage bag for the flow out and it works very well. (temporary til new pond built.) Yes i will include a picture of the funny little thing. My pond is not very pretty this year as it is a holding tank for new one. Dont clean your pump you will need the good bacteria. Cleaning the pump real well looses the good bacteria, causes pea soup algea also ( string algea is good algea try to leave some of it in and pull out rest until it is not unsightly. In approx 1 wk maybe little more i dont remember our pond is now clear and remains that way. Also creates lots of oxygen for plants and fish this way. You will not need proxide if you do this. I really is not that expensive. I think horse tank $100, submerse pump approx $100 and enough lava rock to fill tank have full, you can add more later if need too.
another picture
the end with the pump in it
see healthy Plants
Healthy Koi, no algea of any kind and you can see the bottom.
Picture is shades by tree so sorry colors not very bright
This is our baby. A beautiful White butterfly (fantail) KOI
Now remember this is new so not pretty landscaped and just a holding area for new pond. But the system works extremely well.
OOOOOps I forgot to tell you to ignore the wire mess in the filter. It is to keep our 5 new baby KOI out of the pump, for it will chew them up.
You see the little piece of board by the fall in the first picture it also has a wire mess frame to keep the big fish out of filter this IS necessary.
While I'm at it I may as well add another picture of how healthy the plants are.
Remember now HOLDING AREA this is embarassing. no landscape cover. LOL
Oh yeah PudgyMudPies I have had several youngens in my pond over the years and it is so exciting CONGRATS. some of mine still life there others gave away.
This message was edited Jul 18, 2006 1:07 PM
It looks great. Thanks for the detailed instructions and pictures. I am planning to redo my pond, but not this year, and I'll work on gathering the supplies you've mentioned. I want a larger one, but not as large as either of yours. My yard is small. Your plants and fish do look heathly and happy.
Your holding area looks a lot better than my pond.
OK not so pretty The beginnings of the new pound. I will have a 3 tier water fall at the upper side of this picture.
See my pretty weeds on the hill of dirt from the hole. LOL.
If i would stop raining for a couple of weeks we might be able to start on it. Just as it dries up enough to work on It poors. Our last rain filled it half way up. A shame it wasnt ready for water. Doggon it
OK not so pretty The beginnings of the new pound. I will have a 3 tier water fall at the upper side of this picture.
See my pretty weeds on the hill of dirt from the hole. LOL.
If i would stop raining for a couple of weeks we might be able to start on it. Just as it dries up enough to work on It poors. Our last rain filled it half way up. A shame it wasnt ready for water. Doggon it. Now see i bet yours is prettier than this one.
I would like to see yours. Actually I would love to see everyones.
It looks like the beginnings of a great pond. It's odd how the rain is coming this year. We should get rain daily, but the clouds just pass over, stopping only once or twice a week.
rwmedic - i wish you would start a new thread so we can watch the progress of your pond. i am very interested in seeing this as it goes if you don't mind.
as requested by n2birds. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/628040/