My Koi Pond Pictures :)
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thanks everybody! the back of the pond is black mulch, a tree, some shrub and plant life. my fish had babies this year, they are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long now. i hope some of them keep the patterns they have now, a few of them are just really beautiful. they're starting to slowly venture out into the main pond are instead of hiding in the plants, but i have no idea how many there are. i am sure there were hundreds at some point, but natures way always seems to whittle down the herd pretty good when it comes to babies. we shall see, i'll report on them in the spring 
sissy, if you dug out a 5000 gallon pond that's 17 x 17' irregular circle, and 4 feet deep, well, kudos to you, i dont have that kind of ambition. LOL!
sissy, if you dug out a 5000 gallon pond that's 17 x 17' irregular circle, and 4 feet deep, well, kudos to you, i dont have that kind of ambition. LOL!thank you!! that's a great compliment, i appreciate that! it's soooo difficult to emulate nature, isn't it!!??
j.w
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Very nice looking pond and love your big beautiful fish, plants and froggy :razz:
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Welcome to the Group!!! Always love seeing other's ponds, and OMG, you are soooo lucky to have found free rocks and have a choice of hundreds at that! I had to pay for most all of mine. My daughter did gather a bunch in UT, and brought them home with her last summer, but can't expect her to drive home with rocks each year. LOL Your plants and fish look super, too!
OK, there are a bunch of us "mature" women on here, and several of us, me included, dug our large ponds by hand, with a shovel! I will say, though, that the digging part was fund, easy digging, except the tree roots, which were up to 4" diameter, and the reason I was able to do this by hand is that I have a tractor with a loader that hauled the dirt away, or spread it accordingly. So, to me, digging was easy, hauling it away wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow was the tough part! Some people have really rocky soil or hard clay. I have more clay than rock, but caught the ground at perfect times both last year in May when I dug my 19x9x4D koi pond and this spring when I dug the 17x7x3D goldfish pond, which I added a 17'x3'x18"D bog on the back side of it! I loved the digging part as much as the end result. It was my therapy as well. The sense of accomplishment was tremendous! And, I think I got the initial pond dug in 10 days, probably 6 full days of digging, and 4 days of evenings after work! I love to work hard, and that was the ultimate job for me! I'd love to do this for a business, but at my age (54), that's not going to happen! And, if you wonder, I didn't use the tractor and loader because I was far too picky on how the sides were shaped.... or is it because I'm not that good of a digger on a tractor?! LOL
OK, there are a bunch of us "mature" women on here, and several of us, me included, dug our large ponds by hand, with a shovel! I will say, though, that the digging part was fund, easy digging, except the tree roots, which were up to 4" diameter, and the reason I was able to do this by hand is that I have a tractor with a loader that hauled the dirt away, or spread it accordingly. So, to me, digging was easy, hauling it away wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow was the tough part! Some people have really rocky soil or hard clay. I have more clay than rock, but caught the ground at perfect times both last year in May when I dug my 19x9x4D koi pond and this spring when I dug the 17x7x3D goldfish pond, which I added a 17'x3'x18"D bog on the back side of it! I loved the digging part as much as the end result. It was my therapy as well. The sense of accomplishment was tremendous! And, I think I got the initial pond dug in 10 days, probably 6 full days of digging, and 4 days of evenings after work! I love to work hard, and that was the ultimate job for me! I'd love to do this for a business, but at my age (54), that's not going to happen! And, if you wonder, I didn't use the tractor and loader because I was far too picky on how the sides were shaped.... or is it because I'm not that good of a digger on a tractor?! LOL
callingcolleen1
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I know what you mean CE, I did everything myself too, including hauling tons of rocks by hand, still collecting rocks, like a lifetime thing, by the time I have enough rocks and got everything perfect, I be ready for the "old folks home"! Oh well it sure is fun to sit outside all night by pond with little fire going, drink wine and swinging on my chair!
that's awesome that you dug that pond by hand! the only things i dug out by hand were the skimmer and the waterfall tubs. i wanted those to be very precise in location as well as depth and being level and....well you know how important that part is! my entire back yard used to be nothing but a huge pad of concrete that surrounded an in ground swimming pool. i removed all of that concrete (7 dumptruck loads), built a deck and a dog run, a retaining wall, fence, and graded the yard/planted grass. it took me all summer to complete the project, but i am sure glad i did it. this morning i went outside and was feeding the fish, when i noticed something at the bottom of the pond. ends up it was a dead frog, mutilated, all but one of its legs were torn off and even his head was gone. whatever it was that ate him left behind the torso, and didnt eat the guts. so, a picky eater....a cat maybe? my plants in that area were kinda smooshed down like something was in there. last year i shot 4 raccoons, one of them attacked my dog. if that raccoon would have gotten a hold of my dog with those teeth, it would have been rabies shots and stitches as a best case scenario. i'll keep posted, hopefully no more life gets threatened out there!!!
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Dang, yes, raccoons can be extremely vicious! I raised 2 from babies, let them go into the wild, but they were a huge amount of fun to raise. Like a cross between cat and puppy and child. LOL They are very smart and fun to watch learn new things. BUT, they can play havoc on your pond. Whatever left that frog part in your pond may have dropped it before they got it eaten.
You MUST post pics of the before and after of your yard, or maybe you have in another thread? We love to see the transformation of back yards into pond sanctuaries!
You MUST post pics of the before and after of your yard, or maybe you have in another thread? We love to see the transformation of back yards into pond sanctuaries!
j.w
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Sounds like some land animal might have been the culprit this time but big koi will also go after frogs and kill them. I think I remember sissy here saying her koi caught some frogs and a bird once.
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What a change! and a lot of hard work
LOOFAHS! Good idea! I love your pond. Looks great. Lovely plants and fish... clear water (envious of that because its been raining a lot and my water turned cloudy but is clearing slowly)