Water Garden
|
|
||
| Up Dates | ||
| Lovebirds | ||
| Flying Gems Info | ||
|
||
| Friends | ||
 |
||
| Site Map | ||
| Privacy Policy | ||
|
Copyright © 1999-2008 Flying Gems Aviary |
||
This page has many pictures
Welcome
Updates
| March | April | May |
| June | July | August |
| September | October | November |
| December | January | February |
| Year 2 (2003) | ||
| March | April | May |
| June | July | August |
| Year 3 (2004) | ||
| April | May | |
My Easter present for 2002. We have added a water garden to our back yard. The pond is 6 feet by 4 feet and is in the shape of a bone. We are still working on the landscape and the plants that will live in the pond. Fish will be added also. I thought I would share the photos of us building the pond.
We originally bought 6 but lost one due to a large wind storm and a potted plant falling onto the fish. So now we have 5. We have two types of fish in our pond. The orange and white fish are sarassa comets. We have two fish that are not pictured, they are black, white and orange and are called shubunkins. They have long fan type tails and fins. All fish were purchased from Country Garden
Sarassa
Sarassa
Sarassa
Well here it is the first week in May and we have just finished laying the rocks down. It is hard to tell in the photos but we have a rock wall along the back with a little stream running down it into the pond. The tall plant you see in the corner is an Iris.
Our pond took a turn for the worse and within a weeks time we went for crystal water to murky water. The filter could not keep up and we had green slime flowing through the stream. We lost one fish. We decided to empty the water garden and scrub it, place a skimmer in it. We could not keep up with the pollen and leaves falling into the water garden.
Today is June 1 and last night we gave out our First eviction notice to one of our newest tenants. Last night as we slept we were woken by a strange sound it sounded like the filter was sucking air. We checked on it twice, there seem to be no problems. As we lay in bed we realized, it was not the filter but a toad calling to his friends. He did not want to go but Hubby scooped him up out of the pond and walked him down the street. Hopefully he will get the hint that we do not mind the peepers but the mating call has to go.
Our
little visitor came back again and this time posed for a picture.
It has been a tough month for us. The algae took over and we needed to do something, we placed algae blocks in the pond. Within a week the water was crystal clear. But then our water lilies started to die. We removed the block and within 4 days the water was green again. We emptied the pond and scrubbed it out. We took inventory of fish and snails. We have 11 fish meaning that we have lost one to god knows what. We did have a frog visitor but he decided to leave. We have only had one more toad visitor he was evicted though.
Our lilies are now growing back and the pond is really looking good. We have just purchased some water lettuce and water hyacinths.
The pond surface has filled in and the fish and snails have been very active. We continue to evict toads that we find. We have three resident frogs. We bought 2 water lettuce and 2 water Hyacinths back in July and they have spread and covered the surface of the pond.
Answer
As the weather has cooled down we have found that the fish are coming to the surface more often. Every other weekend we remove the overgrowth of water lettuce and water hyacinths. We would normally throw it away but we will now be giving all the extras to a nursing home in our area for their water garden.
As the cold weather approaches the water has turned very cold but the fish do not seem to mind. Our plants are starting to die. The water lettuce and water hyacinths have stopped their takeover of the pond.
Well all the plants have died except for the one water iris that still is green and standing high. This fish now remain at the bottom of the pond. The pond has been staying at 40 degrees.
It is very cold and all the fish are either in between the potted plants or they are underneath the heater. The temp has held at 40 degrees in the pond.
The pond is holding at a balmy 40 degrees, while the outside temp is a sweltering 9 degrees. The fish seem to be doing fine. During the day they hide under the filter and potted plants and at night they all hang around the heater.
Well this month has brought snow and more snow. On President's day we got dumped with 2 feet of snow on the already foot and a half that was on the ground. Where is Spring?
Well the weather is finally getting warmer and the temp outside is rising to the 50's. We hope that next month are little goldfish will be able to join his parents, aunts and uncles outside.
What a surprise we found today. We were checking the temp in the pond today and there at the bottom of the pond in the sunlight we saw Kermit. I can not believe that he spent the winter with us.
We are still waiting for Spring. Although we have had roller coaster weather going from high 60's down to the low 40's the fish have been in good spirits. We have found several pair spawning. Which has resulted in fish eggs.
The baby goldfish has moved into the pond. The plants are starting to grow. The iris looks like it may have not made it through the winter.
Nothing has really changed, the plants are starting to fill in. Are biggest problem this year is that the Cat tails have grown so tall that when the wind blows they fall over.
When we came home from vacation the cat tails had grown so big that we had to weed them out and repot them. Because of their size they finally become to dangerous to the other plants and animals in the pond and we had to remove them.
We also lost our Baby goldfish. We have seen many baby goldfish in the pond, but we have not seen any make it to a viable size.
The month of August has been a month of hot weather and rain. The plants have been growing great and it has even attracted some new inhabitants.
This is our third year with the water garden. Last fall we brought the fish in and let them live in a 55 gallon fish tank. We were hoping to move over the winter and we were unsure the care they would receive from new owners.
A couple of weeks ago we lost many of the fish to an ammonia build up in the water. We are now left with 4 sarassa comets and 2 shubunkins. The large pleco is still doing great also. We are unsure if all the fish will be moving with us.
We have just moved the fish back outdoors to the outside pond.
We will be moving next month and the new home does not have a fish pond. We will be giving away the fish. In the future at the new home we will build a new pond.