New in Arizona

[BittenSCW]

A new pond, water added 10/31/16. Waterfall into an 8' stream to an 8' X 10' X 2.5' pond, partially shaded by a Palo Brea tree. We are in the Phoenix area, so very hot summers. We had a small 5' X 8' X 3' pond in Michiagan were we lived 10 years earlier.

So managing the pond in the desert heat will be different from the cold of winter up north.

Currently have about a dozen Gambusia, but will be adding shubunkins.as soon as I can get to store.

Ed
Bitten SCW

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Get rid of the Gambusia first.

 

[peter hillman]

Welcome ED! Did you construct the current pond? If only we could see a pic?

 

[sissy]

Welcome and heat can be a killer and cooked fish in a pond is not a pleasant thing You should have considered going deeper as it is just like cold weather except reverse

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! We'd love to see pictures!

 

[Tula]

Welcome I'm betting you're loving the AZ temps, compared to MI !

 

[j.w]

Welcome Ed

 

[addy1]

My Arizona pond was around 5 foot deep, what helped was having a 4 foot waterfall which really helped cool the water, that and a 40 foot stream.

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum

 

[BittenSCW]

"Get rid of the Gambusia first.

Geezer Emeritus"

And Why?


And to everyone else thanks for the welcome. I will post pics

 

[BittenSCW]

"Get rid of the Gambusia first.

Geezer Emeritus"

And Why?


And to everyone else thanks for the welcome. I will post pics

These are just after it was filled, hence the cloudy water.

 

[BittenSCW]

Welcome I'm betting you're loving the AZ temps, compared to MI !

Yes,Although the summers are a little warm!!!!

 

[BittenSCW]

Get rid of the Gambusia first.

Is there any reasoning behind this statement.

 

[sissy]

Welcome and that is really a nice looking pond

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Is there any reasoning behind this statement.

Although the use of Gambusia (Mosquito fish) has been touted by many to be a good specie for the control of mosquito larvae, the facts do little to support this claim. In truth, common Goldfish and even Koi offer more complete control as they are able to prey on the largest of mosquito larvae. Add to this the fact that Gambusia much prefer dining on the zooplankton in a body of water, the eggs and larvae of other fish and even their own young actually imparts more negativity to the impact that they have on an aquatic environment. Often in ponds that have a large population of Gambusia (there is no other size due to their rapid rate of reproduction), Green Water conditions are more likely to occur and be more severe because of the absence of the zooplankton that utilize algae as food.
These two (2) links will provide the complete factual picture of these most troublesome fish.

http://www.gambusia.net/

https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=846