Hello All

[ShawnInfirmity]

I have had a 450+ gallon above ground pond for almost two years now but I'm new to the pond forum because a friend of mine from a goldfish forum suggested your site. I live in north Texas, USA and we've just had a bit of a harsh winter but all the fish seem to have toughed it out pretty well with warmer weather on the horizon. I currently have 11 goldfish in my pond (4 shubunkins, 2 sarasas, 5 common/comet mutts that I've raised since being fry) but will likely add a few more this season.

The pictures of the pond are all from the most recent spring/summer when the water hyssop was growing like crazy. The fish in the pictures are the biggest and/or best looking fish that I have at the moment. The first one pictured has actually gone missing in the last couple of weeks and I have no idea what happened besides a possible predator and/or the water level got too high from tons of rain and he managed to leap out somehow and then got carried off. I have since acquired a net and will be building a frame for it soon so that I can remove it for maintenance then put it back on after I'm done. The last one pictured was acquired today and is still in QT before being added with the others in the pond so the only picture I have is the one I took at the store.

 

[JamieB]

They are still medium sized! I’ve got a big pool I turned into a pond, ( yeah, well water!) and mine were a bit smaller than that when they went in. 2-3 years later, I have 3or 4 big ones left, some a little bigger than yours, and some about that size. I lost 2/3rds last summer to anchor worms, I didnt know to QT everything, even plants. Mine are all feeders that didn’t get ate, and managed to make it despite my ineptitude, ignorance, and stupidity. I have my favorite, a big white/ cream colored one. But mine are camera shy.

 

[JamieB]

This is the friendliest forum I know. We’ve got a good Funny page, stuff about bees, plants, you name it. Friendly people from all over, lots of them know a lot about fish, plants, water, pumps, parasites, etc.

 

[sissy]

Welcome and main thing do you do an API liquid water test on your pond and do you have a filter or aeration

 

[Becky]

Great to have you here! You have a lovely pond

 

[j.w]

@ShawnInfirmity
Very nice looking pond and fish. Net will help lots!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

Welcome and main thing do you do an API liquid water test on your pond and do you have a filter or aeration

I do have an API freshwater master test kit that I use to test my pond and my 60 gallon tank on a pretty regular basis. The pond is equipped with an Active Aqua pump that handles 1000 gph so it cycles the water through the system two times in an hour. There is a TetraPond flat box prefilter that the pump pulls the water through and sends it up and out the back through a TetraPond GreenFree UV Clarifier and comes out in the natural bog filter that ultimately spills the water back into the pond via the waterfall. In addition to all that filtration I have an Aquascape 75000 Pond Air 2 aeration kit running year round.

Great to have you here! You have a lovely pond

Thanks, it's good to find a pond forum and not just a forum geared towards goldfish keepers (even though they are greatly needed as well).

Very nice looking pond and fish. Net will help lots!

Thanks! I'm hoping it will help keep possible predators away AND keep a lot of the leaves from falling into the pond as well.

 

[j.w]

The net should work depending on what is getting in there. If it's a bird w/a long skinny neck or beak and the net is too close to the water surface then the bird will still try and peck at the fish even if it can't get them out resulting in wounded fish. Try to raise the net up so that can't happen @ShawnInfirmity

 

[sissy]

Do you know what predators you are dealing with .Also a swimming pool net will help .I use this one because the net is fine and I also get dollar store toilet bowl brush to catch and clean some of the algae ,not all of just some

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

I'm honestly not 100% sure it was a predator at this point, but I can't think of anything else it could be other than we had too much rain and the fish just happened to get out somehow and then a bird or other predator came along and carried it off? I literally took the pictures of all the fish using my pond net to scoop them up and within 48 hrs he was gone..

 

[j.w]

So it could be the water in your pond got too close to the top or overflowed. If so maybe drill some little holes in the back down a couple inches or so so that the water will drain out before it flows over. Not too big of holes or screen the holes so fish can't flow out the holes of course. I had to do that w/a bathtub pond I made. It already had holes in the top of the tub and I just covered it w/screen so water wouldn't overflow. Used some round plastic circles to hold the screen tight.

 

[sissy]

My first pond would over flow since it was preformed and I would find fish washed out and even had shubby that would jump out .Got rid of the 2 shubbies

 

[Gemma]

Nice pond! Welcome to the group!

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

I'm totally digging the bathtub pond, @j.w I've seen similar ones in pictures but I've never known anyone that has done them. I like the how the galvanized stock tank ponds look as well, but I'm not sure how they would work in north Texas where it's known to get pretty hot.

Nice pond! Welcome to the group!

Thanks, everyone has been so nice and welcoming so far!

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome @ShawnInfirmity ! Love the variety and colorations on your fish!