My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

LOL, poor wifey! Hopefully she will understand when you go to catch all your "babies" and haul them to the new place!
I thought you started your business as a builder, and then moved top the "chief" position and had crews. I had no idea you never did any of the building part. There sure are lots of jobs before, during and after this type of construction, so I do understand your abilities in other areas.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Cas, Yep she made the assumption because none of them cost more than $3 ea they were things I could give away.. but not a chance! From my sarassa comet I have had more than 7 years to all the babies I have watched grow up and change into such pretty colors.
CE.. Hmm. i don't think my wife really gets the attachment I have, but each to their own. I can't fault her too much because she agreed to find a property with a wider lot so I could have a nice size pond and it worked out. You will have to come visit us again after we move. Re Construction: Yep, I know a real lot about building and construction and have probably been involved in planning and managing over 1000 projects of all sizes from $200 to $20,000,000 but have never picked up a hammer myself! I pretty much spend most my day either walking through building sites, meeting with clients, or sitting at my desk working on my computer.

 

[addy1]

^^^^^ Always a good time to learn how to use a hammer!

We usually do all the hammering ourselves.

 

[CometKeith]

Haven't posted in a while. It's been a lot of work getting our house ready to sell and preparing to move. We just took pictures the other day so we are getting close to listing it. Here are a few pics of the the pond I took the other day. My lilies are huge and trying to take over the pond. All my fish are doing well and some of them have interesting colors. Also I think I spotted a few eyelash sized fry so we will see if there are more babies this year!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Awesome lilies, only wish mine were that lush and sticking out of the pond so beautifully! Nice little collection of colorful fish too!

 

[addy1]

Looking good!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Colleen. Actually I had to get in the pond recently to pull out some big rocks that had fallen in. As I was taking them out there was this giant mass of roots in the middle. To my surprise they were all lily roots that had taken up the entire center and were about 18" thick from top to bottom. Well I had always wondered if my lily roots ever cracked the little green plastic lily container I had dropped in the middle a few years back. Well I finally had my answer!

Thanks Addy, but.... sadly no frogs this year

 

[addy1]

Darn..................I have frogs still dumping eggs. They are singing constantly, see new egg masses almost every day.

 

[CometKeith]

That's nice I wish I had frogs singing! Since we are moving I'm not that worried about my neighbors. I need to get even with a few of them for their barking dogs all these years here. Well ...this has been the most uneventful pond year ever other than by hat palm,lilies, and sedges exploding in size. I have about 50 goldfish or so and have not had to deal with a single sick fish the entire year. I looked at some of my old threads starting in 2011 and I still have most of the fish I had then and obviously a lot more all of which were born in the pond. All but three were born in it. I think I'm pretty lucky I got some nice colors in the babies and they are not all drab colors like I have seen in some other ponds. A lot of my black ones have turned orange so they are quite colorful when they all start swirling in a circle when I get ready to feed them. Still thinking about the design of the new pond. We might hire a design professional because my wife is concerned my new pond will be too big.

 

[CometKeith]

Hmm... We we listed our house for sale and got a buyer from the first showing. That means that both us and my fish are moving in a little over 30 days if everything works out as planned. That's going to be interesting. I better start digging!

 

[Lisak1]

Excellent news! Can't wait to see the new pond in progress!

 

[haver79]

Looking forward to seeing the new pond!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks! Be careful what you wish for. We sold it for full price, but we have to be out by Sept 2nd. Then we will live in temp housing until our new place is done. The inspection of our house is tomorrow at 8:00 so that and attorney approval need to be finalized before it's 100%. We didn't even have a chance to put a sign in front so some neighbors will be surprised to see new people living in the house. The buyers have a 9 year old boy and he really liked the pond and fish so at least I know it won't be filled in That might have helped because he wanted to sit by the pond and watch the fish after the showing was over. My wife suggested we could leave the fish and get them later but I don't think that's a great idea.... what if something breaks right away. they might hold the fish hostage!? Also I don't like the idea of putting all my fish in a brand new pond that hasn't cycled yet but I don't know what choice I have. I guess I can take the bioballs from my filter but I don't know how much that will help. Oh and we are going on vacation to Europe the 3rd week of August to celebrate a big birthday for me and I don't want to cancel that. Also we have no idea what the new pond will look like or the size. My current pond is 11x11 and I would like to go at least 11x16 or so and also deeper, but I'm asking for larger for that with my wife and figuring we will compromise. I would like it at least 2000-2500 gallons if possible. I'm going to need help designing it for sure. hint hint fellow gpf friends! The good thing is our masons started tuckpointing the red brick garage behind it so that will be done soon. It's a really cool 100 year old red brick garage so that should provide a nice backdrop to the pond. There is some concrete in the yard and I'm going to have that demoed and hauled away this week for starters. I was looking up mini backhoes to rent but might just hire some guys to dig it. I wonder how much faster it would go with a backhoe and if it is worth the cost? It looks like the minis are about $300 per day or $1000/week. I'll post some pictures of what I have to work with and any suggestions are more than welcome!!

 

[j.w]

Oh how nice for you, a new house and a new pond! Can't wait to see all that you do and hope you figure out what to do w/the fishes. Enjoy your fun trip/party also

 

[addy1]

I dug mine more with the bucket then the backhoe. The backhoe only holds x amount and you need to swing the dirt away from the dig. I found out I was making dirt piles I then had to move again. The bucket, with digging teeth, get the bucket full, haul out and dump. Went a lot faster.