Greetings from Connecticut!

Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
2
Location
New England
Hi everyone,

I recently found this forum, and I've enjoyed reading through a lot of interesting and helpful interactions with several experienced Ponders.

My little pond is unconventional.... Our property is on a wooded and rock-filled hillside, and the pond was hand-dug into a slight slope at the base of a large granite outcropping of rocks. Not to mention, it is located under several large oak trees. The pond faces south, so a portion of the pond receives a few hours of sunlight during the middle of the day.

In spite of these rather in-hospital conditions for a water garden, my little pond has a happy population of plants, a few different types of goldfish and a couple of small koi.

Cheers!
 

sissy

sissy
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
33,086
Reaction score
15,702
Location
Axton virginia
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
welcome and that sounds like a great pond and sight for it even with the near hospital experience you went through .I hope you post pics.Sounds great with the granite outcroppings and all the stones.Gosh reread and your pond really sounds interesting and has my imagination going on what it looks like
 

j.w

I Love my Goldies
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,946
Reaction score
20,252
Location
Arlington, Washington
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
USDA 8a
Country
United States
Welcomepoles.gif
Anthony
Sounds like you are doing fine w/ the pond. All those leaves must be quite the challenge when they start to fall!
Would enjoy pix whenever you can post them B)
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,337
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
smileywelcome687.gif
Glad you joined! Sounds really neat, post some pictures.
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
2
Location
New England
Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the warm welcome, and for the interest in seeing my little pond.


The pond is a tear-drop shape, and is about 11 feet long by 6 feet across at the longest & widest points, and it is almost three feet deep.

Leaves are definitely a problem! I rake out as many as I can in the fall, and there is a good amount that fall to the bottom and stay there for the winter. Every spring is a major clean out, but this does not seem to bother the fish. Most of the fish are several years old, and each year's spawn adds to the population. Living in the woods, predators are the biggest risk to the fish

I hope you like my pond!
 

Attachments

  • Small Garden Pond.jpg
    Small Garden Pond.jpg
    16.8 KB · Views: 249
  • Small Garden Pond 2.JPG
    Small Garden Pond 2.JPG
    106.3 KB · Views: 323
  • Small Garden Pond 3.JPG
    Small Garden Pond 3.JPG
    106.6 KB · Views: 307
  • DSCF2154.JPG
    DSCF2154.JPG
    69.5 KB · Views: 284
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Messages
2,367
Reaction score
1,585
Location
Manchester, UK
Hardiness Zone
9a
Country
United Kingdom
Wow, that looks gorgeous! I particularly like the big rocks around the edge (not to mention the cute frog saying hi!)

Welcome to the forums :)
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
1,110
Reaction score
538
Location
Troy, Ohio
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
Pretty awesome pond you have there. I like the rocks around the edge also. And yes, welcome !!!
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
2
Location
New England
Hi,

Thank you for your nice comments! The large rocks are actually the exposed parts of ledge that was sculpted by the retreating glacier. One of the rocks in the background is a faux rock that covers the canister filter at the head of the little stream.
I don't think that boulders could be moved with a backhoe, and I was lucky to dig around the boulders enough to create the spillway into the rest of the pond.

The bull frog was introduced as a tadpole that was purchased from a garden center. Not long after the photo was taken, the bull frog grabbed and swallowed a small koi right in front of us! He was promptly removed and released in a friend's natural pond.
 

j.w

I Love my Goldies
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,946
Reaction score
20,252
Location
Arlington, Washington
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
USDA 8a
Country
United States
That's a gorgeous pond you have there and thanks for sharing the photo's. So neat you were able to incorporate the glacier area into the pond. I can see where the predators would find it attractive as it looks like it was meant just for them all natural and woodsy looking. How do you keep any fish in there? Don't the critters pick them off left and right?
Sorry to hear Mr Bullfrog went serial killer on ya and was banned from the pond!
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,337
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Love the rocks, bullfrogs are known to eat anything they can catch.
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
2
Location
New England
Thanks for all of the nice comments!

The pond is several years old and so far, we've only had one heron incident which is kinds surprising, since it is a small pond that is mostly hidden under trees and we do not live very close to water. I'm not sure what else is out there that eats goldfish, but we get visits from all sorts of wildlife including the occasional bobcat and fisher cat. There are a few raccoons around too but they typically go after the chickens.

Since "Ice Out" this year, I haven't seen too many of the fish and none of the koi. They like to hide among the stacked rocks until the water warms, so I hope that they are hanging out but I'm getting a bad feeling that something may have cleaned out the pond... (very sad)

What else can catch a koi or goldfish in three feet of water? I've heard of problems from minks, but I don't think that there are any around us (weasels yes, but mink?)
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
15
Reaction score
2
Location
New England
Yup, it's official: almost all of my fish are gone. :sad:

I've had the pond for several years with just one visit from a heron and the episode with the bull frog. But now that the weather and the water is warming up, there are only two shunbunkins and one sarassas to be found.

Before the ice covered the pond, there were five koi (the biggest was about 12") and about twenty goldfish. Very sad....
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Greetings! 43
Greetings from SE Michigan... USA 22
Greetings 7
Greetings from the Pacific Northwest 15
Greetings! 10
Belated Holiday Greetings! 2
Greetings from another new pond builder 17
Greetings from Trenton nj 7

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
30,780
Messages
508,552
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top