Fred was that your motor home? We have a Monaco. We love touring around the country in it.
Your pond looks great!!!! Those fish are beautiful. Have you named them all yet? I love your hibiscus. What is the name of the first one. Will the minatures stay that small? I've never seen that corkscrew grass I like it better than the fiber optic grass. Sorry so many questions. LOL It sounds like a quiz.
Jeri
babies have arrived
Yes, that's our coach back there in one of the pictures. We usually travel about three months during the summer but now that we are planning to settle here in FL full time we may do this in smaller stages. I hate being away that long from my paradise here. :-)
I haven't had much time to name the fish except for big momma (the red and black masked ranger momma)
The hibiscus are new as far as I know. Some kind of new strain that stays small but blooms profusely. I got them at a nursery which buys all its stuff in Homestead, FL. People ask about that funny grass. It's like antelope horns in green.
All the grasses are growing nicely. The miniature papyrus is also doing very nicely. The big ones are just now getting used to being in the water. New growth is coming out of the water.
Fred
Looking good!!!! Did you find any of the babies? They hide in the plants in my pond so that you almost have to be looking straight down or you miss them. Like snapple45 said if you lost these there will be more.
I can't figure out the minnow thing. Are they the fry of koi and goldfish? If not where do they come from and where do they go? I've had my pond for 12 years and still have questions.
Jeri
When I first saw the handful of little fishies, I was in the water pruning dead brnaches from the lilies. They were hiding under the leaves. I've not been in the pond since. Maybe they are still there and I'll see them if I go in to disturb their hiding places. I really would have liked to catch a couple and move them upstream to see if they stay there until they get bigger.
Fred
I hear fish fry are eaten by a number of things including dragonfly larvae. If there are plants fry are excellent hiders. You might see them in very shallow water when the water is warm from the sun and later you can't find a single one. Then weeks later you pull aside a lilly plant or something and suddenly there they are. Last year I didn't see a single fry in the daylight. I only saw them as they swam in front of the underwater pond lights. The koi would eat them as soon as they saw the fry made visible by the light. Frankly I was happy to see the activity as I need goldfish birth control badly. If it wasnt harmful to the koi I would leave the pond lights on all night for happy hunting. I understand why true koi afficiandos separate the koi eggs from the koi. They just simply cannibalize their young fry and any other young fry. Survival is very, very risky.
I just watched your slideshow. That is just amazing! You have really accomplished a lot with your pond in such a short time. Thank you so much for putting that together for u. :^)
My very good friends Chuck and Jeanne Caine live in Columbia on Cedar Grove Blvd. They've wintered here in Naples with us since 1998 but we know them since 1971. He owns Columbia EDP and they do lots of payrolls all over MO and the surrounding states as well as run various public pension systems. Perhaps you've heard of either?
Time runs fast here as sunny warmth and water are the two ingredients for rapid growth. :-) I'm quite amazed myself at the lilies' expansion in such a short time, though I did slip them a micky twice already. I'm now doing other landscaping which has to get done before the rains start. I huge Cuban Royal Palm has to be moved to a more syncronous spot with its partner by my entrance gate. Today they were here with a bobcat scraping and grading my drainage gulley out front. Monday I need to pick up 2 pallets of zoysia and Tuesday two more.
Where we live was affectionally called Florida swamp land in the 60s and sold in 5 acre lots for a few thousand dollars. The entire area which was drained via canals was as big as Rhode Island. The Southern part is being returned to the Everglades if the feds will ever caugh up the money they promised to help the state to do that. As it is, we have to elevate everything because when the rains come this place wants to return to its natural state which was to filter the waters flowing from all the from around Orlando down into the gulf. We mess with nature everywhere we live but here we've really done a job. See my street front last September. That's why they make you build high and which is why dirt costs $400 a truck load. It's one of the major costs of construction here.
Fred
Gosh, I was whining because I was paying $75 for a huge dump truck load. But I'm too cheap to pay for rocks also.
I'll try to get some pics up of my garden progress.
PeggyP
I am very familiar with Columbia EDP. Everyone who has ever earned a paycheck here has probably had something to do with them in one way or another.
I do not know if you have toads where you live but here it is that time of year when romance is in the air and the sound is deafening in the early evening. I am really looking forward to the results of all of that croaking. I have cloudy water each spring but as soon as the tadpoles show up it seems to clear overnight.
Tetleytuna
Do you know Dennie & Susan Pendergrass, they live in Columbia MO? They are my uncle & aunt.
They are very good people. I might be prejudice though since Dennie is my favorite uncle.
PeggyP
Not to beat a subject to death but I must have at least a dozen babies which are now about 1 1/2 inches long. They're growing like crazy. Tonight I saw them all in the pond lights. The big fish go after them but the little guys are incredibly fast and always get away. It's like lumbering elephants chasing a cat. Now my big question is still are these koi or did my two shubunkins have an affair? I guess we'll see sooner or later.
Fred
Well, Fred, if they have whiskers (barbels) they are koi. If not, oh those amorous shubunkins!
Snapple45
How did your minnow trap work out. I am still trying to catch my 4 goldfish. I thought I might give it a try if it worked for you.
My friend wanted me to take 2 of her Koi until she gets her pond built and she wanted me to take her goldfish also. I told her NO WAY, I'm trying to catch goldfish now, I do not want any more. If I put her Koi in my top pond I should be able to catch them in the fall.
PeggyP
The minnow trap has been a total bust. Not one goldfish ever went in. I kept it in for a week. I don't know what to bait it with. It has a bait container, but no instructions. I need to do some more research. Probably my fault I'm not catching anything.
This brings up a very valid point - how in the world does one catch the little buggers? I've tried to catch some of my little ones and put them upstream but so far it's been a futile effort. Just as they get away from the bigger fish among them, they evade any attempt to snag them with a net. I have this net sitting in the pond and was hoping someone would venture near it even if only to investigate. I would then snag it up and voila have a fish in there. So far nada. They are obviously smarter then I and like where they are just fine.
Other then make the fight unfair and pump all the water out, I just don't know how people catch these guys.
Fred
You mentioned that the little guys are attracted to the pond lights at night. Have you tried netting them then? I don't know if it would work, but it might.
Try throwing out some food and catch them then.
Jeri
I asked a guy who owns a bait shop how to bait a minnow trap. He said raw liver. Well, OK, I guess. But I'm not fond of the idea of putting raw meat in a fish pond. Seems like it would foul the pond water. I am going to give it a one or two day try and see what happens. I'll keep the chunks small. I suppose its no worse than having a small dead fish bobbing around for a couple of days before you find it in the plants.
Some fisherman said dough balls would work too. Less ammonia in the water but it doesn't seem like it would last very long.