fishbites Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 Cleaned out the floating leaves from the pond today and bunched the elodea so it can grow out a bit more, stacked pots of val and elodea along the back and put the waterlilies out into the sun again today. So thought I'd take a few pics now things look a bit neater. Only about 2m x 1.5m in length and about 60cm deep. The white 20litre bucket is the filter for the pond - works really well and the pond always has crystal clear water. A fantail and a comet looking for food probably! The big comet is about 30cm from nose to tail - just over 1 year since he went into the pond as a 2" baby. I also noticed today a few smaller goldfish about 3" long and with patterns/colours I didn't recognise - finally it seems my goldfish have had babies and raised them without me knowing it! Of course soon as the camera came out the ones I wanted to photograph went into hiding. Most of the originals are now quite a decent size - the mesh over the top stops the local blue cranes from feasting on them like they did to the first goldfish I put in here. They got the neighbours goldfish too. Apart from the goldfish, the pond has a population of rosy barbs which have survived the winter and have bred. The colours on them are spectacular - LFS rosy barbs are pale by comparison - these are almost black on top and a real red sides and belly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbzy81 Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 Oh wow, I'm super jealous! It looks stunning. I'd love a pond, but with small children, I'm petrified of having one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G! I love it. Your fish are sooooooo pretty! I also love all the plants in there! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenR60 Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 Very Nice, looks like you look after your Goldfish like I do, 2" to 12" within a year :-) So how many have you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 G'day over here too Ken! For the pond I usually throw a hand full of food in each day but sometimes they go a few days without if I'm away with work. I think with the elodea going crazy and the rosy barbs spawning from time to time the goldfish get plenty to eat without me feeding them. There should be about 9 adults in there but never see them all at once to count due to the amount of plants in there. I've also noticed 3 different coloured 3" goldies so there's at least 3 babies survived that I know of. As for the rosy barbs ... who knows... they're way to fast to count! Last summer I gave away about 150 from the pond but at a guess I'd say there's about 30 in there at the moment. Somehow, without knowing much about ponds, I got lucky and seem to have a good setup for the fish so am not tinkering with it anymore although I'd love to get rid of the rosy barbs and try something different in there like some nice quality guppies or just let the goldfish try to breed again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenR60 Posted October 15, 2009 Report Share Posted October 15, 2009 Funny how when you add a fish to a pond ( especially large ones ) you end up regretting it when they do too well. I added about 10 Crimson Rainbows at the end of last winter ( 2008) and now I estimate I have more then 500 of the buggers ...going to be interesting this time next year to see if these 500 increase to 1000's. I can't imagine how i could ever remove them. As much as I want my Rosy Barbs to brred this year ( just gotten some females a few months ago ) I guess again if they are too successful I'll feel the same. We need a fish thats worth $100 to breed in their thousands not something worth a few dollars LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Hmmm a $100 fish that breeds like flies.... now that wouldn't be bad if we could find one.... maybe some of the nice L number cats... wonder what they'd do left to their own devices.... not that I'd be game to put a $500 fish in a pond at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killimike Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Nice pond Wayne! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Thanks Mike.... its the easiest way to keep fish - wish i could put ponds all over the yard for the other fish too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxtail Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Nice pond did u make it yourself? What is the lowest temp you would have over winter? In Sunny Brisbane looks good Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted October 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Thanks Aaron... yes made it myself - bit of a rough job if you look closely but seems to do the job - just dig a hole and put a pond liner in then surround it with rocks is all I did! This winter up here in Hervey Bay we got a couple of nights under 10C but daytime usually was round 20C - rosy barbs and goldfish came through it easily - infact both bred during winter because I have more rosy barbs and gold fish than I had before winter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxtail Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) Thanx 4 the tip i am in the process of planning a pond for my backyard, Mainly for my turtle.But he will have some fish friends I am wanting to have it half in ground half above and include a viewing panel made of glass or perspex. Im not sure if i will be able to use pond liner unless it could be glued to the glass dunno if that would work. It gets a little colder down here in Newcastle during the night so i am also thinking of including some kind of solar powered heater. Anyways for a quick and i assume inexpensive setup yours is pretty sweet Aaron Edited October 26, 2009 by foxtail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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