Hi. I've had beginners luck so far

[Laureleb]

I wanted a water feature in our back yard so we dug a hole, bought a liner from a billboard company, and a pump that I wrap in quilt batting to make a filter. I have 1 goldfish left from the original crew. Mostly I assume they were eaten, I never found bodies. I also found them in the pump, where I imagine they were trying to hide from predators. I was never happy with the depth, and I thought they had all died, so I drained the pond, only to find out they weren't dead, and had in fact reproduced. I rescued them, dug it deeper, refilled it, only to find it empty the next morning. Saved the survivors again, found and patched where the seam had separated and filled it again. 3 days later, we seem to be in business. Now it's deeper, I have more hiding places, and a net over the top. I live in SC, it's getting into the 90's every day. I did succumb to temptation and got 8 more. There are 14 in there now, most are less than 2" long. Any thoughts or comments would be welcome.

 

[Tula]

Welcome Laurel

 

[peta hillman]

Nice! gotta be deep enough to shelter from coons and herons.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

If you want a nice way to hide the edge liner and don't mind digging some more. Dig a shallow shelf around the pond, have the liner lay on that shelf and go up the edge and out. Stack rocks on the edge. The water will be around 1/2 up the rocks, the rocks will cover all signs of the liner.

@j.w she has some nice pictures that will show you what I mean.

 

[j.w]

@Laureleb
Here's some photo's on how I hid my liner around the top edge:

 

[Gemma]

Sorry you haven't had much luck so far, but fortunately there are several members here that can help you turn things around
Good luck!

 

[CometKeith]

Hi! Welcome to gpf. Since you added a new liner you will need to watch the pond water until it gets established. It can take a month or more before beneficial bacteria build up. Until then you may have excess fish waste in the water that can be harmful to your fish. I would get a test kit and monitor the water. You may want to avoid feeding them for a while or just give them tiny amounts. If you get algae just leave it alone as it will help synthesize the fish waste. Eventually it will go away. Good luck!