Oh my gosh Bonnie....I admire your diligence! Congrats on getting SO far ahead of the summer!
Ponds 2014 - Spring is here!
Carolyn you crack me up. Sorry, but it is funny
Mary. I have a vision of the looks on the fish's faces when the phone rings.
rotfl. Never thought of that. It couldn't ring, could it.
No. I can't ring - it's on vibrate.
(sorry - I had to say that..... hahahhaha)
You nut!! That would drive them even crazier. I have to laugh just at the thought.
I hope you have insurance !!!
Belle
Belle
wish I had insurance - :(
Oberon, If you'd come down and be a swimming buddy I'm sure I'd use the pool more often.
Belle, I do rest mainly in the evenings after dinner. I have a hard time sitting still for a long time, just not my nature.
M.Mary, That's exactly what I did it for now. I don't work as well in extreme heat anymore. I believe that was what brought on that little stroke I had years ago.
Carolyn, Hope your fish don't make too many long distance calls that run up your bill and no texting. Sorry it happened but you may as well laugh as cry.
On April 7 I can start filling up the pool. Carolyn I am going to check with our fireman just to see if they could help fill it. Got nothing to loose. I know their tanker truck doesn't hold enough water but it could help.
I so agree Bonnie.
I have to tell you - a close friend of mine, that moved to South Florida is sending me an extra smart phone that she has. I have known her since we were 16 years old. She is such a life saver. I should be up and running soon.
Carolyn,
You have so many friends and family in Fl. you may as well move here when you retire. Not that we need more retirees but you said you like heat so this would be the place for you plus we could visit now and then and swap fish and plant stories.
Sure wish you could come to the RU next Sat. You would make lots of new friends I'm sure.
I'm so happy today I get to start working outside in the gardens and ponds need cleaning also back yard needs shaping up.
M. Mary you are my best cheerleader. I do so appreciate your encouragement. Especially when my back gets tired and tells me to quit but I keep going. Seems we are jumping into hot weather shortly so I'm glad I got it done.
Bonnie - it would be such fun, wouldn't it?
Hey. Me too Me too!!!
The more the merrier. You know the old southern saying ya'll come.
Joining in on this. I hope to finally get my ponds built here at the new place. I have moved 3 times in 4 years and lost all my fish between all the moves. Lost all my water plants except my water lily and some horsetail plants. I have 2 pre formed ponds only 300 and 200 gallons. The big pond was left behind at the old house and is empty and unusable now.
I miss my fish and hope to start collecting more my mid summer. I had mostly butterfly fish.
Not sure what I will have this year, my grand daughter will have her goldfish pond re-established. She had some that got up to 15 inches before we moved. We were devastated when they died. But this is the year of renewing and rebuilding. If it will just quit raining!!
Looking forward to going to Bonnie's this week. I have wanted to meet her for years now. Also finally get to meet Mittsy. And many others!
Here Mary,, have not talked to you for awhile. I still have the lovely shell painting you sent me! I love it.
Oh cool Elfie. Yes, I seem to have missed you on the sites. Hope you stick around as you rebuild your ponds and gardens. I could send you a list of what I have extra (Dmail) if you like. Not much in the way of water plants though. I heard on the news that you guys were slammed again today with wind, snow and water. Hope you are okay.
You are well names Mud_Elf. Looks like the Okeefenoke swamp.
Wow, Kris! That's a big pond in your back yard!
I lost all but 12 of my koi this winter. I had some beautiful 2 footers, too. 😟. I wanted to thin them out, but NOT that way! My heater didn't work and the ice was very thick. I stopped counting the ones I was scooping out at 20. The biggest one I have now is probably 8 inches long. Oh well, I'll get to watch them grow. Many, many of those koi were born in my pond. Really sad.
Elfie, hope your land dries out. Probably will be very dry come summer unless you get more rain than we do.
Joycet-I sure know what it's like to loose fish. Hope you get more this summer.
I knew that, Silly. Just teasing you!
My neighbor didn't lose any and she said I could have some. Of course, catching them is another story!!
Had a wonderful RU yesterday. Plenty of food and 2 tables of plants leftover I will find homes for. Being the host I think it's polite I don't take plants first and am always happy with anything leftover.
Missed you Merry Mary. Everyone liked the fish and they are sure putting on a show now. I think they are either mating or spawning. All kinds of bubbles on the top and lots of moving around in the water.
Happy ponding all.
Bonnie
All ice is gone from my pond but cowardly fish are still in hiding. I don't have plants yet as it is too cold. I put my floating 24" rings out. Last year I cut the one I had across horizontally as it stuck up out of the water too far. Then bought some wispy water type phony plants from Michaels and wired them to the foam. I will put water lettuce inside when it is warm enough. The fish will hide under there if they get scared. Also have stuff coming from TW, mostly just floaters or marginals. I see babies about 1" long swimming around. And the two lunkers in the skimmer where they hae been for over two months. I say lunkers, you would say adolescents, Only 8" long but nice and round with beautiful tails. One is orange with clear long (not like longfins though) tail and pectorals. Really pretty. I am so tempted to scare them out but that isn't fair. They will come out when they are ready. I have five nice size babies (also goldfish and maybe one shebunkin) in the tank in the house salvaged from the pond last fall. They are about 3-4" long now and really healthy. As soon as I can and the water is warm enough for them, in they go to the pond.
Oberon, glad you have some fish to start off summer with. Sounds like some are really pretty and that's always more enjoyable.
Joycet, I learned the hard way and from some fish judges at koi show. Best way to catch the fish is bring them to the surface with dip net and then slide them into a fish sock. Yes fish socks are not cheap but they prevent any snagged scales like they get in nets. When their scales get ripped off they are open to infections. Don't want to tell you how I know about that. They can't get hurt in a fish sock.
Good luck getting some home.
Bonnie
I wish I live near you Bonnie. What kind of plants were left.
Belle
Here's a photo of my pond project yesterday. It's a fish viewing device made with an old aquarium. The fish love it and it was so full at first that they had to take turns getting in!
I've seen those balls before (expensive!!). Never thought about using an aquarium! That works perfectly! Neat!
Belle, most are not labeled so I really don't know what many of them are. I won't waste them I'll put the in someplace and see what grows if anything.
Pondlove, I can't see how the fish can get it that aquarium when it looks to be way above the pond water level. What am I missing?
Bonnie,
The bottom edge of the aquarium sits a few inches below the water level. Place it deep enough to account for fluctuations in the water level. I have it sitting on cement blocks at either end so the middle is open to the pond and allows plenty of room for the larger fish to enter.
Simply place the aquarium on the blocks. Then put the hose of either a wet vac or pond vac in all the way to the top of the tank. Turn on the vac and bingo, all of the air leaves and the container fills to the top with water.
To entice the fish, release a fistful of food into the tank from the bottom. In a few moments you have a fish frenzy.
I have previously used a large vase or bell jar but found them to be dangerously unstable. One broke in the pond but fortunately I found all the pieces before any liner damage was done. Besides, they have become too small for the bigger shubunkin.
I plan to put some lights in it, too, so I can enjoy their antics at night.
I showed it to my husb. and he said the aquarium has to be upside down but I didn't think it looked it otherwise I would have known immediately how you did it.
Makes a great observation place. I do have a spare 30 gal. aquarium but don't think I'll do that cause I don't have any small fish anymore. Ones in larger pond are over 2 feet and weigh 24 pds. Those lunkers might knock it over and break it. In smaller pond none are under a foot. I did have some shubunkins until our first heron visit and he ate them all and left the larger ones.
Lighting it sounds great. Enjoy
Bonnie
Bonnie
Sounds like the goldfish taste better to the heron than the koi.....
Pondlove.. what a great idea. I have a 50 gallon aquarium we are not using. I am going to do this as it will be perfect for my new pond. I will be starting out with really small fish anyway. So this will last at least a year or 2 or 3 for me!!
I am on the way home as we speak. Enjoyed my visit to Florida, but really wish I could have driven down. I could have bought back some plants...sigh.
Mary, I will let you know if I need anything. Right now I want to work on what I have. Plus get my pond started. Thanks so much for the offer!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IsNlD-asw4
And probably cheaper than this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlF5U_PGTk
I guess you can try anything clear!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJprKL_24ZA
Here's a link how to install the purchased ones, so it may help everyone to install their aquariums or whatevers!
Check out this youtube video called "Koi fish play in fish tank". It shows the kind of set up I have and that large koi will fit into it.
While watching some youtube videos came across an excellent site for info.
Sacrementokoi.com
Learned a lot of good info.
Thanks!
We fired up the pond yesterday and did an initial clean up. Bio well is not assembled yet as the stuff going through would just clog it up. Double filter pads in the skimmer. Will wait a little then add barley stuff and MedZyme Organic Cleaner that is supposed to break down what is left. Just trying the barley and OC this year as it seems to work for others outside. No sign of fish yet. Cowards.