Conundrum

[pieway]

We put in a little teeny pond yesterday, about 6 ft x 8 ft and 18" deep, slanted walls & heavy rubber lining from a kit.
Have a little pump with a aerator that shoots up about 18" high.

Husband & I had a bit of a conflict regarding the purpose of this pond. I wanted one to attract birds & small creatures.
He has the idea of stocking it with fish. I cannot see how anything will live in what is essentially a wading pool!
And I cannot see how birds will come to this, now that he has dug it down 18-24" exactly like a retention
pond, an inverted cone. Won't they drown? I was so worried that something would fall in and not be able to
get out, that I put branches over it for the night.

However owing to our 'conflict' and the fact that husband was the one digging, I bit my tongue with my worries.
Now I wonder, what REALLY have we done? what good is it? what can we do to improve it?
This is the time, since we haven't finished the edges at all.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

It is shallow, are you cold or warm part of the usa?
If birds will usually stand on the side and drink. Usually don't fall in. A neighbors dog fell in once (front yard pond, that pond is gone now)
If there is a shallow area you could put in some rocks to help anything that falls in get out. I have yet to pull anything out of the pond.

If you put fish in stick with goldfish, not big enough for koi. With fish you will want some filtration set up.

 

[capewind]

Your pond is about 425 gallons. You could easily pick up an inexpensive filter, and have half a dozen pretty goldfish, plus a couple pond plants. You can nicely decorate the edges of the pond with rocks, flagstones, or any number of items, and plant some pretty plants around the outside of the pond with a bit of mulch, as a nice landscape element to your yard. The only real concern is without a heater for the winter, you would need to bring the fish inside for the winter (not hard to do) ...

PS: Welcome to the forum!

 

[sissy]

18 inches in Indiana it may freeze pretty solid and with winds it could be worse .What ever temps you had last winter were mild and you never know what winter will bring .I would invest in a pond heater .I bought one on sale after the 2010 winter .Summer is the rime to buy them .Look for ideas on you tube .

 

[Mmathis]

I'll bet a little water lily would look nice!

 

[ALLINKDUP]

dig a bigger deeper hole and get a new liner and have a koi pond and use the existing one for a bog garden....oh, wait, that is what i would do...lol...definitely don't spend a lot of money on fish...@ 18" your mortality rate would be high on the fish end of things.....from predators and the weather...it isn't deep enough to stay cool enough for fish during a HOT summer unless they are small fish....but on another note...it would make a nice lily pond....it is a good start, ...but, just remember that you will have more detritus and mulm with fish that will need to be cleaned well and often since there is no bottom drains or an apparent external filter and keep your stocking density low
...Billy

 

[adavisus]

A few birdies won't fret about a couple of tiddly fish in a pond when they want a quick rinse and drink.

You can compensate for winter, should it worry you to leave fish outside by putting a cold frame cover over it for the worst months of Dec-Feb. That will allow ground warmth to be retained in the 40-50f range, warmer when the sun catches it.

A waterlily would help shade and moderate hot summer temps, keeping water in the 70's range rather than brutal 90's when full midday sun blasts the pond

Regards, andy
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