wondering if there are other members out there that have installed or have on their property ponds and waterfalls, as well as keep fish in these, i have designed and installed several ponds or water gardens for friends and family members. wondering if there could be a creation of another category for us fish keepers (addicts) out here. i would love to post pics of the ponds and water gardens too show off the extreme side of fish keeping. Extreme is when you don't have enough room in your house to keep fish that you decide to create a space outside with over 1000 gallons too keep ornamental gold fish and koi in! LOL yeah i am one of those people i know it sounds insane but when it comes to tranquility nothing is more peaceful and easing to the mind than to sit and listen to the waterfall at my moms on a nice summer afternoon with a glass of wine and a good book after feeding the koi and the goldfish. it's great to watch them swim and surface and interlace their paths around the lilies and grasses. not too mention that you have created a perfect back yard habitat, the fish are only part of it, the birds love it, the frogs keep the bugs down and the amount of wildlife that come to visit this place while you are sitting right there is absolutely amazing!!!
I 100% agree. The fish in my smaller 10 gallon tank used to be in my pond out back and they'll be there untill its warm enough for them to go back out. We bought them as feeders and they have grown alot since we brought them home. I wouldn't be able to get a picture of my pond up untill summer if they did add a section but i think it would be a great addition to the site. Having a pond to be able to sit near with the family can turn almost any backyard into a sanctuary.
I think a pond/water garden catagory is a great idea. I dug a pond for my ex-inlaws and set up a waterfall and filtration system, and I also made a pond/watergarden on the balcony of a previous apartment. It had a 8 inch deep by 3 foot wide basin, a large scale shaped rock that was the lip for the main waterfall, and some very large bamboo peices cut lengthwise at the start of the flow. I had mini lilly pads, mosquito fish, and other small pond plants. I could put a pic of this in a pond/watergarden post if it gets going. What do you think about having a pond with a window to a living room? It would be on a hill side so the room isn't the basment, but I would love to have some big gars in something like this.
just wanted to bring this one back to the top, as the new year is upon us and spring not so far away I am curious as to how many people are thinking about installing a water garden and what your thoughts and ideas are for your project or even other peoples projects. or even if you have ideas that friends may have discussed with you about their intentions for their water gardens and what not. It would be nice to hear from others in the forums, who may have taken fish keeping to the next level, or have desires to, I think it would be good to put your ideas out there for others to read as it may introduce them to a whole new world of fish keeping.
I also think a pond section would be very good I have a pond that I put in about 2 years ago and I pretty much spend the evening out there after a hard days work. I am also entertaining the idea of putting a pair of betta fish in it when it gets warmer
As the weather warms up, here in the north east just wanted to bring this back to the top and see how many people are going to be installing new ponds/water features, and what everyone is doing to prep their current ponds for the up coming spring and summer months.
can't wait to hear what everyone has in mind,
Brandon
I have something in my yard, actually two somethings, not sure if it's a pond, water garden, or just called a waterfall, but I'd sure like to do something with them but I have no idea where to start. They are very nice.
Farm dogs and ponds dont go well together. They always seem to ruin them. Raccoons eat the fishies too so there isnt much I can do at the moment. I'd love to have any water feature in my garden...believe me.
I learned the hard way that it's important to make a pond deep enough so the water doesn't warm too much in the summer sun, cool too much in the winter, and yea, allow raccoons and Blue herons easy access to your fish.
I believe 18 inches is the minimum depth recommended.
I would love to see a pond section .....considering I install them ....hehehe....does that cross over into free advertiseing????
I have a 14 foot water fall feature witha small Koi pond at the bottom and a 17 x 35 foot pond 3ft to 9 ft deep with a fountain water fall in my parents backyard {anniversary present to them 2 yrs ago}
awesome to hear from everyone, and boss i am with ya on the favorite son thing, every spring i get a call, "when ya coming over to clean out the ponds and get the waterfall going?"
LOL it's fun to do since i don't have a place of my own that i can install a nice water feature like i did at my mom's place.
pk you're right on with the 18 inches depth thing, no less than that and deff not in direct sunlight.... or you end up with a bog.... lol the ponds at my moms are roughly four ft deep so we have no problems with temp or racoons, or other critters that may think the three foot long koi would make a nice snack.....!
being that i am in the northeast and get lots of snow and ice, i use a horse water trough heater to keep a nice hole in the ice for air gas exchange over the winter time, that means i have no fish kill off due to ice covering the whole top of the pond.
Boss, sounds like you got me beat by a bit, lol i did almost all the digging by back labor... what a chore that is. i had to keep scale down cause i didn't want to dig myself too deep, i would have never gotten out of that hole... will post some pics when they start allowing pond pics on the site if not i will post some to my photobucket account and post links.
I look forward to the second half of my life, the half where I actually can travel and go to exotic places with my son. I'd definitely fly up to Canada, rent a car and come visit you Boss.
I also want to take him sailing, surfing, and scuba diving. I used to have a Hobi-cat catamaran sail boat and I sold it just before my son was old enough to go out on it. I live in the city now, and I had to park it on the street which caused problems. It ended up being too much of a liability as I didn't have a good place to store it.
I think it would be a lot of fun to travel around the world and visit folks I meet on these forums.
the only bad thing that has happened with my ponds and my dogs is a puppy drowning in one of my small ponds... that's why i build a net around they...
another thing is one of my huge pit bulls would eat my water hyacinth and other plants... but i still breed the pits and i have no problems... they keep the cats and racoons away... i only have a problem with cranes/herrings every spring, but never lost any fish due to wild animals...
i have huge ponds right now... fully stock with fish and plants for almost 10 years now... the ponds just keep getting bigger and bigger...
