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Some day perhaps I will have a pond. Not sure I want to have that much to take care of though. When I was young I use to have fish tanks and I would like to have some gold fish again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leafmite (Post 803774)

I was very into the pond thing for around thirteen years before I gave away fish, lotuses and lilies. Now, I have a half-barrel tub with two goldfish and a miniature lily and a few underwater plants. It isn't a real pond but I have fun with it. :)

I have never heard that goldfish do not eat mosquitoes. We live in an area where mosquitoes are a terrible problem but I have never found larvae in my pond or tub. When my children were raising tadpoles and I found mosquito larvae, I put a few baby goldfish in with the tadpoles for a couple of hours and they quickly took care of the problem.

The only reason I can think that goldfish wouldn't be very active is if it gets too cold or if there isn't enough oxygen in the water. When water gets too warm, it can deplete the amount of oxygen dissolved in water. With goldfish, you might need to add some lilies or other floating plants to keep the water underneath cooler. There are some great underwater plants, too, that will help keep the levels of dissolved oxygen more normal. Goldfish can take some extra effort to keep happy.

Good luck with your pond! :)

The first year I had the pond I added 6 goldfish right after completing it in May (hot season.) Within a couple of weeks I was netting several quarts of mosquito larvae per week and throwing them into the flower beds. As soon as I added a dozen mosquito fish, the larvae disappeared, never to return. I have hundreds or thousands of mosquito fish now.

I think the goldfish don't eat mosquito larvae when it's too warm. Gas solubility in water goes down as the temperature increases, so there is a lot more oxygen in cold water than warm.

Goldfish are best in cool water, but mostly stop feeding when it's under about 55 F / 13C. My pond is above 85 F / 30C during most of mosquito season. It's great for water lily flowering! The pond is 100% covered with lily pads.

I have hornwort in the pond, which produces a lot of oxygen. I can watch the bubbles being released and trickling up to the surface, like a trail of bubbles in champagne. But at those temperatures, the goldfish hang out at the bottom. I often don't see my koi for over 6 months.

There is a small greenhouse business here that deals with small ponds/goldfish. They have goldfish (comets) living in fairly shallow square ponds made of RR ties with a pond liner, that have lots of natural aireating plants in them and algea so they don't filter them at all. it is all "natural pond." They also have a canopy over the fish ponds because we do get hot and pretty intense sun here. I want to go down there and ask a few questions. In addition another small business has pond plants. I think I will be going there today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist (Post 804771)

Our area has a pond business in a town near ours. I bought my supplies there and learned quite a bit from those operating it. They were always happy to answer my questions and make recommendations. Good luck!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa (Post 804071)

Some day perhaps I will have a pond. Not sure I want to have that much to take care of though. When I was young I use to have fish tanks and I would like to have some gold fish again.

Ponds are really great but I found mine to be quite a bit of work. I had quite a few lilies, two lotuses, and a number of other plants, plus goldfish. When the neighbor's cat killed off nearly all my goldfish, I switched to the half-barrel pond. If you want to try the pond-thing without the effort, a half-barrel makes a cute, easy pond. I move it inside in the winter (it would freeze solid if I didn't) and enjoy my two goldfish all year. I have a miniature lily and some underwater plants. It is just the right size for the two goldfish and me. :)

I would absolutely love to see pictures of your barrel pond when you have time. And the fish of course.

UPDATE:

I have not done anything as far as fish ect., but I am posting to inform that this pond has brought the humidity of the shadehouse to between 50-60 in the morning and about 30% in the hot afternoon. It is much cooler too. I put plants that want more humidity lower, and those who like less farther up.

So now my little micro-climate is more "ideal" for orchids.

So, yeah, having some large buckets of water around is like having dozens of humidity trays. Birds also stop off for drinks so it is a kind of bird garden now too.

Nice. Will we be seeing some updating photos?

Quote:

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa (Post 804802)

I would absolutely love to see pictures of your barrel pond when you have time. And the fish of course.

It is really hot and humid today and the lily is just getting started (after a period of cold) so I am going to include two older pictures. The first lily did not survive my attempt to overwinter the pond plants in the garage so I currently have the second lily.

Quote:

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa (Post 805846)

Nice. Will we be seeing some updating photos?

Sooner or later. Right now it is a big black horse trough with water in it.

---------- Post added at 02:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:57 PM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leafmite (Post 804774)

Fish people, and plant people.

I was at a small nursery today and bought a nice looking agapanthus. So a lady is asking whether Orleander is toxic, and the girls are groping to answer in a way that will still make her buy the plant, and I am like, "Only one of the most toxic plants in the known world. If some flowers get in the water and anything drinks that water, it will die. Hope you don't have kids or pets. Then I am like "Oops, need to keep my mouth shut."

Unfortunately some horses are dumb enough to eat oleander. It's used as a giant hedge around a lot of horse properties here, so it must not happen that often.