Hi, I'm in a Houston suburb and would love a pond with a couple of goldfish. I just don't see how this would be possible with our heat, however. It seems that unless the pond is quite large, the water would get very hot.
Is this impossible for me? I just can't put a very large pond in right now, and my backyard isn't that big!
Thanks for any advice. I've really enjoyed looking at your pictures. I'm rather envious. :)
Jo
Would love a pond with fish, but what about the heat?
Do you have any space in your yard that is in the shade? I am new to ponds, but I would assume that the full sun is the main culprit. I am sure someone will come along with tips.
I don't have any space that is in full shade all day long, and just two or three hours of sun here can get very hot.
What about a deeper pond because the surface water would be hotter and the bottom colder. Just a thought.
Sounds good to me, but how deep is deep? :)
I need to start researching it, but I'm impatiently inquiring as to whether or not it's even feasible.
Thanks.
I live in Katy and have had small ponds for years. My current pond is about 1,000 gallons and no more than 24" deep at its deepest. Most of it is about 18". I have had this one for about 3 years and smaller ones before that. I have 4 relatively small koi and numerous goldfish (started out with the goldfish and can't catch them now to remove them). Just keep a pump running to circulate the water and use a filter. As you can imagine, being in Katy mine is in full sun as well. I have built two previous ponds myself but the current one was commercially installed. It includes about a 20' stream as well. Let me know if you are interested and I can recommend the individual who put mine in.
Mine is almost 4 feet deep at its deepest and is full sun. I am working on about 60% plant coverage which will also provide shade. The shelves actually shade the deep end most of the day and down there it stays cooler and shadowed. I think more of a problem will be the algae so get a UV.
I don't know if we get as hot here as you do but my little ponds are only about a foot and a half to two feet deep and in full sun and have not had any problems. I have some koi in one and goldfish in the other. The one thing that you will want to make sure of is that there is plent of oxygen in the water as the hotter the water the less oxygen. I think that is what is hard on the fish as the ones commonly kept are goldfish and they are pretty hardy. You can try a brisk waterfall or a bubbler in the pond to help with that. If you can, invest in a UV light or all you will probably be able to see is green water even with a waterfall.
Hi Yall'
I'm in north Texas and sometimes we are hotter than you know what! Several days over 100 degrees a summer. My pond is about 8 years old and in part shade. I think the key is to leave the filtration system going all year. It takes only a few hours for my water to get septic in this heat.
Good luck!
trixi
Hi Jo... several of us here in Arizona have ponds (keep an eye on the Southwest Gardening Forum... we're often discussing them). I don't think it gets hotter anywhere... so yes it's possible. Deeper is better when you're dealing with heat, mine is about 3 - 4 feet in most areas. Lots of plants for shade is good. And I agree with the advice above, you'll be running the pump/filter 24/7/365. Good luck with it, and feel free to ask questions. The folks on DG helped me so much (and continue to) with pond questions! Here's a pic of mine.
That is the top pond, here is the lower pond. We have koi and goldfish, probably about 75 or so.
Brenda
Thanks for all the advice, folks. I think I'm going to have to wait on the pond, but in the meantime, I'm going to set up my aquarium. I took it down a few years ago when my then four year old dumped an entire container of fish food in it, and I woke up to a tank of dead fish then next morning. :( That "four year old" is now a precious ten year old. Wow...how time flies! LOL
Hopefully, the aquarium will satisfy me until I can get a nice pond.
Jo
And I wanted to say those are all lovely ponds. I'm trying not to be envious!