Hello from the desert

[HSJami]

Hello from sunny Palm Springs, CA. I have a pond approximately 7' x 10'. The pond is part of a system that includes an artificial spring, approximately 25 feet of stream, a 3 foot waterfall, and a monolithic stone fountain in the middle of the pond. There is about 100' of shoreline. The entire system uses about 2,000 gallons of water. It is stocked with comet goldfish, shubunkins, koi, butterfly koi, American flag fish, and a zillion mosquito fish, descendents from the six that the county gave me when I started the whole operation. There are 7 bull frogs, which I raised from tadpoles, a red eared slider and 3 red eared slider hatchlings. A small bog is adjacent to the pond, but not directly connected. Here in the California deserts the problem is not ice, but heat. Summer may bring weeks on end with temperatures above 110. The waterfall and fountain help to keep the water to an acceptable temperature. I'd be interested in hearing from other desert water gardeners.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum! and post some pictures of your pond. We all love to see others work.

I have a pond in arizona. Used my filter to create a waterfall that flowed into a 40 foot stream, which then waterfalled into the pond. The pond is around 20x20x5 ft. It never did get warmer than 85 in the summer, due mainly to the water flow. My house there is rented, waiting hopefully, for the market to turn back up. I have a professional pond keeper taking care of it.

I also have a ton of those little mosquito fish, large goldies and shubunkins.

Here in maryland my pond is currently covered with ice lol.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[HSJami]

Thanks for your reply. I'm in a condo, so I've used every available space in my small yard. There is a narrow paved walkway through the garden, with scant room for a couple of folding lawn chairs and a small table. I'll get some pics posted later on.

I am considering adding a bluegill or similar species (pumpkinseed maybe) to the pond to help keep the mosquito fish population in check. I know they are voracious predators of smaller fish, but does anyone have experience with them and larger fish? Are they agressive toward comets and koi?

 

[j.w]

HSJami
No problems w/ heat here in the Pacific N.W so can't help you there

 

[addy1]

I didn't worry about the mosquito fish, they seemed to reach a balance. You could also post them on craigs list, and maybe remove some that way.

 

[DrDave]

I started with 12 and in 2 years had 1800 in a 750 gallon pond. It took 2 months to catch 1700 and the last 100, it took draining and sterilizing to kill the rest. The are carnivourous and will eat Koi eggs as fast as they are laid.

 

[j.w]

Remind me never to ask anyone for some of those Mosquito fishes :lol:

 

[addy1]

Strange, I had baby fish all the time, even with the mosquito fish. Never did try to count them though lol

 

[DrDave]

I was designing and building traps so I counted the yield, bait and time it took to optimize my design. It is an Engineering thing...

I didn't have babies for the 2 years they were in there. I kept wondering why the babies I did have didn't turn colors until I realized they were all mosquito fish.

They ate the eggs as fast as they were laid. Maybe your babies were from live bearers and some excaped being eaten.

 

[HSJami]

I do not intend to try to breed my koi, as I do not have that much room in my pond, but with the extensive cover my system provides, I have WAAAAAY too many of the mosquito fish. I'm pretty sure a pair of small sunfish would help to thin them out, but my concern is that they (sunfish) would harm my other fish. I'm thinking that the mosquito fish breed so fast that they'd probably provide a steady food supply for the sunfish.