Newbie Researching Fish Varieties

[LIsa Rosa]

Tonkinese! Don’t they look just like an “Apple head Siamese”? Such wonderful personalities! My hubby just bought me a new breed, a long haired Siamese with cinnamon points. We are in love! She is pretty wedge headed like my short haired babies! I’ll see if I can find a pic of them.

I apologize for the additional pics, my phone is pretty touchy!! I absolutely LOVE tabbies and have an orange female that showed up one day and adopted us. She is my hubs favorite!

 

[j.w]

@LIsa Rosa yes the net comes all the way down to a short wire fence and I have it attached to the fence. That is a Chinese Windmill palm. I have the hardy type of banana trees here. Can't eat the banana's tho as if you do you will never need to eat fiber again,lol! Only one that will grow here as it can take freezing temps.

You can see the fence w/the net attached here:

I lost my last kitty last October. She was 16 yrs old. Not Siamese but sounded like one.
This was taken before the net over the pond. The Great Blue Heron laughed at my fence!

 

[LIsa Rosa]

Welcome! Your ponds are beautiful.

As for fish, I have a friend in Florida that breeds Watonai. His fish are beautiful and very healthy and he ships them carefully. I have some of his fish and I'm very pleased with them.

He can be contacted at (e-mail address removed).

I also have some golden and blue orfes that we like very much. They aren't particularly showy, but they are very fast and fun to watch. They get large, about 2 feet long, but not as large as koi. The downside with them is that they can be hard to find, especially the blues.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I will contact him this very evening! It’s been so hard to find any, especially ones that aren’t sold in groups and you take what you can get.
I will have to look into Orfes, is it hard for the long tailed fish to compete with them for food?

 

[LIsa Rosa]

The only plants that are in pots are the water lilies because they need to be protected from the koi rooting them up. All the marginal plants are set directly in the gravel so their roots are free to run & soak up the nutrients which helps keep the algae at bay. My favorite plants are.... well, ALL of them!! I have lots of different iris, red-stemmed parrots feather, water celery, arrow plant, bog bean, ribbon grass, blue pickerel rush, several pitcher plants, turtlehead, variegated sweetflag, corkscrew rush, lizard tail, and... I'm probably forgetting someone. I do have some non-hardy plants in there too - impatiens, water hyacinth & umbrella palm (the latter is overwintered indoors, the others are replaced in the spring) I have one shelf area that needs a bit of a re-do next Spring, so I'm probably going to be looking for something different to try as well. (yes, I'm a plantaholic & could probably use with an intervention!)

How long have your ponds been up & running? I absolutely LOVE the 'floating' stepping stones across the middle. Your flagstone bottom will probably get a little slippery, so be careful walking on it once it gets a bit of an algae coating.

I'm sorry about your heron problem - We (knocking frantically on wood right now) really don't have them in our immediate area. I think the heavily wooded location keeps us a bit hidden from sight. I know that netting the pond is pretty much the only way to really foil their attempts to help themselves to your fish. Lots of good ideas on this forum from others that have rigged up net systems. I do occasionally lose a fish to raccoons, but fortunately not too often. They go more for the frogs, which we have a lot of.

I wrote down every plant you listed and will be looking them up individually. Thank you so much for taking the time to share that list with me!! I may have to look into adding some pebbles and attempting plants that way.
Yes, it does get slippery! And that was something he warned me about. Fortunately the algae is easy to keep at bay and when they come to service my ponds they take extra care to scrub them clean for me. That area looks so beautiful, especially with the fish swimming around my feet! My smaller pond has been up for 3 years and the larger one almost two years now. It’s time to get some plants in it!!
As far as the Heron............ it is the first time in my life that I have not liked an animal. This year alone he has killed 6, SIX!!! Of my precious fish. 3 koi, 2 Shubunkin and one Watonai. I have literally trained my dogs to hunt that bird!! Lol.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I wrote down every plant you listed and will be looking them up individually. Thank you so much for taking the time to share that list with me!! I may have to look into adding some pebbles and attempting plants that way.
Yes, it does get slippery! And that was something he warned me about. Fortunately the algae is easy to keep at bay and when they come to service my ponds they take extra care to scrub them clean for me. That area looks so beautiful, especially with the fish swimming around my feet! My smaller pond has been up for 3 years and the larger one almost two years now. It’s time to get some plants in it!!
As far as the Heron............ it is the first time in my life that I have not liked an animal. This year alone he has killed 6, SIX!!! Of my precious fish. 3 koi, 2 Shubunkin and one Watonai. I have literally trained my dogs to hunt that bird!! Lol.

OK, I remembered who I forgot to include - my forget-me-not. (I'm thinking that's the very definition of irony... ) I would be more than happy to share some of the plants with you if you'd want to take a field trip (or meet up half-way) Just let me know.

It's heartbreaking to lose a fish to predation. But, that's the nature of an outdoor pond & we can't control every aspect, now can we? I'm very impressed that your pond has been up & running with little plants, but hasn't suffered a 'pea soup, green water' algae bloom. You must be doing something very right!

 

[Mmathis]

@LIsa Rosa You are correct about the Tonkinese, but I believe breed standards differ between CFA and TICA. Koda (points) was from a CFA breeder, and Marshall (solid blue) is from a TICA breeder. Your kitties a gorgeous!

Our 2 Tonks and 3 DSH’s! The youngest, we just got a week ago from a local no-kill shelter.

 

[WaterGardener]

I will have to look into Orfes, is it hard for the long tailed fish to compete with them for food?

The orfes are probably my husband's favorites. They have the body type of trout and are incredibly fast. They strike the food like sport fish do and you can tell when they are eating by the large splash they make when grabbing food. But the others don't have any problems competing with them. The orfes grab some food and quickly dart away then later come back for more.

Of course it could be that I'm just generous with feeding. I try to make sure that everyone gets some, although they would prefer that I stand there all day and throw food in to them.

I'm particularly fond of the blue orfes. They are a light silvery blue color even with a touch of pink at times, very unlike all the other fish, so they stand out in the crowd.

Please let me know how things go with Matt and the Watonai. He's a really good guy and wants everyone to be happy with his fish.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Tonkinese! Don’t they look just like an “Apple head Siamese”? Such wonderful personalities! My hubby just bought me a new breed, a long haired Siamese with cinnamon points. We are in love! She is pretty wedge headed like my short haired babies! I’ll see if I can find a pic of them.

beautiful little kittys, my cats are just whatever the shelter had that were cute and nice, althought one of them is a very nice calico

them hunting chicks

and the grumpy old one