Hello from San Luis Obispo, CA

[fisharefishy99]

Hi my names Eric and I'm from San Luis Obispo, CA.

I have been ponding for about 7 years now and it all started when my parents decided to build a cinder block retaining wall to block out the noise of the neighbors pool pump. However a six ft tall and 8 ft long retaining wall looks ridiculous just standing by itself. So my parents asked me if I would be interested in digging a pond with a waterfall coming out of the wall to help block off the noise (Don't worry the wall has fancy stone on it now and looks great haha). In no time at all I dug a 8 ft long, 3 ft wide, and 6 ft deep hole. My goal was to make a 900 gallon pond. However they filled in the hole to only 3 ft. and the pond dimensions shrank so it was only 350 gallons. So all in all I was happy to make a pond but my quest for making a large pond had just begun.

Then to make a long story short I was allowed to dig a small turtle pond of 100 gallons. Soon I just turned my 350 gallon pond into a turtle pond and was allowed to enlarge the turtle pond. My goal was a 1,000 gallon pond. However in the middle of digging I was forced to stop by my parents once again. The pond is 8 ft long, 4 ft wide, and 2 ft deep with a small shelf adding to the volume. So this time my pond was about half the volume of my vision, at only around 500 gallons. Although I learned from my mistakes in the previous pond and I thoroughly enjoyed this pond, for a while.....

Now I am in the process of completing yet another pond enlargement process. I have no idea how I got this one approved by the parents but I somehow did. I am extremely excited for this pond and I wish to correct all my previously made mistakes with my other ponds. Which is why I joined this forum, there is so much information to learn! But anyways this current pond is going to be about 2,000 gallons. It took about two to three days to dig the hole, half by myself and half with friends (I am afraid what kind of projects my friends will have me helping them with, I think they will want revenge for digging this pond haha :yikesu: ). It is so satisfying to be able to say that my pond is the size it is because I am tired of digging, not because I was limited.


I am an avid fish keeper and after getting rid of all my fish tanks I have been really focusing on my ponds. Which as of right now will be a 350 gallon turtle pond and a 2,000 gallon koi pond.

My only issue is I love a huge variety of fish and I am pretty limited compared to saltwater haha. If you know of ANY fish that can be kept in a pond in California besides goldfish, koi, and catfish let me know. Even if the fish can only be kept during the warm seasons. I am always interesting in adding some strange addition to my pond

 

[fishin4cars]

Welcome aboard Eric! There are many many species that you should be able to keep, My advice, Try and find something that you can keep year round, something that likes your source water, PH, Hardness, and high to low temp range. 2000 gallons can be a very large pond for a family/breeding colony of fish, But it can also be considered fairly small for fish such as Koi. Koi have their own challanges, I keep them, and I dearly love the ones I have, But they get BIG, they put out a lot of waste, and they don't mix well with very many species, If you do your homework, you can get a lot of satisfaction keeping two species together that will co-exsist that will breed if you can find them homes each year. you'll have to check your area and see what draws intrest. Daffodil brichardi worked really good for me for a while, I had five adults in a 300 gallon pond with several over turn rocks and a few large conch shells. each spring I would bring them outdoors, by summers end I would have aprox. 100-400 young fish, I was able to sell these for $1- $2 each, I then started working with Electric blue ahli, Oh how pretty these fish got! Mettalic blue! Now my small pond was producing 50--100 brichardi and 50-100 Ahli, again I sold for a buck or two but I started seperating the males and rasing them until they changed to adult coloration. I had to raise these seperatly in another pond as they got fairly aggressive so I threw them in with some large goldfish. my efforts paid off that summer with $1200 selling my colored out 1 1/2 year old males. Very satisfying time in my pond keeping hobby. My point is, stay with what you feel comfortable with, don't try mixing a community of fish in a pond, one or two species being the limit. pick something you can sell or trade or FEED, stay with fish that don't need different water than your source water unless you plan on changing lots of water and enjoy them. I still have my community tank inside for my tropicals I work with out doors. But there are many many choices to choose from.

 

[Tsuska]

Hello Eric XD

 

[taherrmann4]

Welcome to the forum..

 

[koidaddy]

Welcome to GPF! You are learning that you are always learning when it comes to ponding. Well done.

 

[j.w]

Eric
Hey post some pix of your turtle pond and your pond in progress. It's fun seeing others ponds and how they built them.

 

[sissy]

welcome fisharefishy and you have been busy adding on and you have really gotten addicted .All because of a neighbors pool filter .WOW thats a new one

 

[adavisus]

I have to say its absolutely fascinating reading this forum, what excellent moderation, experience and enthusiasm comes through.

Off top of head I wouldn't know what the climate is like specific to that location, the thought of Shubunkins comes to mind as a good option to consider for a pond that size, rather less stressful than the pressure of trying to cope with the demands of koi...

At just two years old, one flick of a koi's tail and it really wants to whip a distance twelve foot or so still gliding at a fair clip, which is in time going to be a bit glum, to crimp such magnificent large fish into a pond where it never can do it...

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[addy1]

Welcome glad you joined!

 

[fisharefishy99]

Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome to the forums! I look forward to hearing how your project progresses