Building pond in Israel by a Granny!

[addy1]

kingfishers have discovered the pond

Herons love mine!

 

[CometKeith]

Hi

Oooh! Sounds like my kind of folks! I've been known to bring back rocks from lecture tours... Husband: "How did your lectures go?" Me: "Fine. But wait 'til you see this great rock I found!"

I'd love to meet your family from Kibbutz Na'an. That's about an hour away from me, but I often go by there when I visit friends. I used to live in the Weitzmann Institute campus in Rehovot, so I got to know the area pretty well.

Hi YShahar just reading your pond build thread for the first time and super impressed with how good a job you did with your pond. Your pond is coming out amazing and I’m impressed how innovative your have been with solving the problems as you dig. We have family and friends in Israel and always enjoy visiting. Keith

 

[YShahar]

Hi

Hi YShahar just reading your pond build thread for the first time and super impressed with how good a job you did with your pond. Your pond is coming out amazing and I’m impressed how innovative your have been with solving the problems as you dig. We have family and friends in Israel and always enjoy visiting. Keith

Thank you so much!

It's definitely been a challenge, and has a way to got before it looks the way I want it to, but the sight and sound of the thing have so far surpassed my expectations. It's just so cool to sit out on the patio and watch the light bouncing off the water.

If you're going to be in Israel, drop me a line. It would be cool to meet up!

 

[YShahar]

We have kingfishers here as well. I can sit and watch them fish for hours. Awesome birds.

They're beautiful, as well as incredibly skilled. But once they start going after my fish, I become somewhat less enthusiastic about them. Interestingly enough, I see them sitting on wires all over the neighborhood with not a pond in sight. Apparently they can make a good living on lizards and cockroaches!

The kings around here are as ugly as a buzzad

Hey, buzzards are also beautiful!

But the kingfishers here are beautiful turquoise blue (see pics here: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/שלדג_לבן-חזה) and have a distinctive call.

The one that's after my fish has taken to sitting on a branch of my pomegranate tree. We've had words...

 

[GBBUDD]

Yeah that's a whole other strain from what we have . And trust me the buzzards here are butt ugly. The kings Isa battle ship gray blue with a black mask . Your king fingers toe nails look better than ours here .

 

[combatwombat]

Yeah that's a whole other strain from what we have . And trust me the buzzards here are butt ugly. The kings Isa battle ship gray blue with a black mask . Your king fingers toe nails look better than ours here .

I bet you're not so attractive to a kingfisher, either!

 

[addy1]

But the kingfishers here are beautiful turquoise blue (see pics here: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/שלדג_לבן-חזה) and have a distinctive call.

Wow very pretty!

 

[CometKeith]

Thank you so much!

It's definitely been a challenge, and has a way to got before it looks the way I want it to, but the sight and sound of the thing have so far surpassed my expectations. It's just so cool to sit out on the patio and watch the light bouncing off the water.

If you're going to be in Israel, drop me a line. It would be cool to meet up!

Thank you so much! Next time we go I’ll send you a direct message. We have nephews and nieces close to Tel Aviv, and my wife's best friend lives close to Jerusalem.

 

[YShahar]

Well, the repeated visits from the kingfisher took a toll on our fish population. We had put four small comets and five shubunkins in the pond and pretty much as soon as the water cleared enough to really see them, they had been gobbled up. Aaargh!

Something had to be done, and fast. Netting the whole pond was out, since a) the pond is meant to be part of a larger landscape and I didn't want anything interfering with the reflections off the water, the lines of sight, etc. and b) for the most part, I want the local wildlife, including birds, to have access to the pond. So what do do?

Fortunately, being in Israel, figuring out how to defend against bad stuff falling from the sky is something of a local specialty. Hence, we have cool gadgets like Iron Dome to protect us against missiles fired by our friendly neighbors, etc. And so, without further ado, I give you...

Iron Net!

Basically, this is just a bit of fencing material stretched across the pond and floated on ziplock bags full of wine corks. Not exactly beautiful, but it works! For now, I've put it only over the "hallway" used by the fish to go from the deep zone to the waterfall. I've also put it around the waterfall, where it's almost invisible:

Meanwhile, the plants in the new planting zone are thriving! The red canna is especially pretty when the late afternoon sunlight turns its leaves to stained glass:

And lastly, here's an overview, where you can see the netting. Not overly obtrusive, but still more visible than I'd like.

In order to make it look a bit less obtrusive, I'll be replacing the cork bags with some (admittedly slightly tacky) plastic water lily thingys. That way, I can lower the fencing to just a bit below the surface and suspend it from above. Pics to follow!

 

[Rabungalow]

I feel your pain. I just lost a Doitsu Platinum Ogon Koi after I returned from a family trip. Not a shred of evidence as to what took it, I am guessing Hawk or owl as I have zero signs of any kind of disturbance around the perimeter of my pond. I just set up a wifi camera to look directly on the pond to try and get an idea of what animal is making a visit to my pond. Haven't caught anything on camera yet. I am sure it doesn't help that my pond is crystal clear and this particular Koi was all white.

 

[YShahar]

I feel your pain. I just lost a Doitsu Platinum Ogon Koi after I returned from a family trip. Not a shred of evidence as to what took it, I am guessing Hawk or owl as I have zero signs of any kind of disturbance around the perimeter of my pond. I just set up a wifi camera to look directly on the pond to try and get an idea of what animal is making a visit to my pond. Haven't caught anything on camera yet. I am sure it doesn't help that my pond is crystal clear and this particular Koi was all white.

Oy! That's awful! At least in the case of our comets, they weren't all that large and we hadn't yet invested years' worth of care. His Honor the Cook really wants to have koi, but until I have the pond more or less predator proof, not to mention finishing up the bog filter, he'll have to be satisfied with goldfish.

The camera sounds like a cool move just for its own sake, even without the need to solve the predator mystery.

 

[combatwombat]

Love the net idea. I have something similar in mind if we run into issues after adding fish. Still trying to determine how to suspend it. Was thinking of drilling eye bolts into the rocks a few inches below water line and supporting it that way.

I like the lily pad idea, too.

 

[Rabungalow]

My pond is still very new as was this koi. The koi was only about 7inch's, I did notice this Koi didn't like to swim with the "pack" which I think may have led to his demise. This fish liked to swim around the edges and never kept close to the group of koi and Shubunkin. My pond goes down about 5-6ft in the center so a hawk or owl wouldn't be able to get that low. Which makes sense as to why this one was probably picked off. I can't really add a deterrent yet until I actually know what kind of animal it is. I'm not going to rule out a ground animal yet, but I feel like they would have made more of a mess around the pond.

 

[YShahar]

Love the net idea. I have something similar in mind if we run into issues after adding fish. Still trying to determine how to suspend it. Was thinking of drilling eye bolts into the rocks a few inches below water line and supporting it that way.

I like the lily pad idea, too.

I had originally thought of buying a piece of rigid galvanized fencing, and may still go that route. But the thin wire is fairly low profile (or will be if I can ever get it flat enough not to stick up in places) and light enough that suspending it from something buoyant shouldn't be a problem. If the lily pad floats can't handle the weight, I may drill holes in a bunch of corks and string them on wires as floatation aids. Could also hot glue some corks to the bottom of the lily pads.

 

[combatwombat]

I had originally thought of buying a piece of rigid galvanized fencing, and may still go that route. But the thin wire is fairly low profile (or will be if I can ever get it flat enough not to stick up in places) and light enough that suspending it from something buoyant shouldn't be a problem. If the lily pad floats can't handle the weight, I may drill holes in a bunch of corks and string them on wires as floatation aids. Could also hot glue some corks to the bottom of the lily pads.

I think galvanized material in contact with pond water can lead to trouble for fish.

 

[YShahar]

I think galvanized material in contact with pond water can lead to trouble for fish.

Interesting! Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to see what else is available locally. Even thought of buying a cheap volleyball net and stringing that across the pond just below the surface.

 

[GBBUDD]

Well, the repeated visits from the kingfisher took a toll on our fish population. We had put four small comets and five shubunkins in the pond and pretty much as soon as the water cleared enough to really see them, they had been gobbled up. Aaargh!

Something had to be done, and fast. Netting the whole pond was out, since a) the pond is meant to be part of a larger landscape and I didn't want anything interfering with the reflections off the water, the lines of sight, etc. and b) for the most part, I want the local wildlife, including birds, to have access to the pond. So what do do?

Fortunately, being in Israel, figuring out how to defend against bad stuff falling from the sky is something of a local specialty. Hence, we have cool gadgets like Iron Dome to protect us against missiles fired by our friendly neighbors, etc. And so, without further ado, I give you...

Iron Net!

View attachment 151663

View attachment 151665
View attachment 151668

Basically, this is just a bit of fencing material stretched across the pond and floated on ziplock bags full of wine corks. Not exactly beautiful, but it works! For now, I've put it only over the "hallway" used by the fish to go from the deep zone to the waterfall. I've also put it around the waterfall, where it's almost invisible:

View attachment 151664

Meanwhile, the plants in the new planting zone are thriving! The red canna is especially pretty when the late afternoon sunlight turns its leaves to stained glass:

View attachment 151666

And lastly, here's an overview, where you can see the netting. Not overly obtrusive, but still more visible than I'd like.


View attachment 151667

In order to make it look a bit less obtrusive, I'll be replacing the cork bags with some (admittedly slightly tacky) plastic water lily thingys. That way, I can lower the fencing to just a bit below the surface and suspend it from above. Pics to follow!

You could get some marine spray paint and do a camo pattern on the wire if nothing else it will break up the uniform color

 

[GBBUDD]

With all your vegetation the low trees etc could you do like I did and encircle the open areas if the pond take away the birds flight patth. Larger birds that is use golf netting

 

[GBBUDD]

Wonder if you put a couple hundred minnows in there if the population could maintain its self provided you gave them enough hiding places.

 

[addy1]

Interesting! Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to see what else is available locally. Even thought of buying a cheap volleyball net and stringing that across the pond just below the surface.

Make sure the holes are large enough to not trap other critters. I had a small weave net, it trapped small birds, frogs, poof gone. Now just a wide weave net used.