Hi All,
I've inherited a beautiful pond by moving house and I'm keen to look after it. It is about 6-7 meters in diameter and is a former water tank, here in Brisbane, Australia.
It is already well established as you will see from the photos. There are hundreds of guppies, many green tree frogs (dozens of juveniles) as well as a turtle or two, and a few other insects and snails.
I had a quote from a local expert that was just too much of a stretch, he was saying that he needed 56-60 hours to bring it under control so that's where most of the expense came from.
I decided that based on the existing wildlife, I would try a couple of goldfish, so I introduced them carefully and they seem to be enjoying the space, the ability to hide, and their new environment. They have now been in there a week so I'm looking at introducing some more. My questions are less about the fish and more about what to undertake myself in improvements to the condition.
My thoughts are that the ecosystem must be pretty good to have the plants, lily pads, and wildlife that is already there but I'm keen to do what I can to attract more wildlife and to make more of a feature of it.
You'll see from the attachments that there is a lot of weed/algae and I've been removing the floating plants that I'm assuming are weeds. There is a metal grid about 45cm down across the entire pond for safety (kids falling in) but it is much deeper. I'm assuming the fish are not going down beneath it but they could and I'm sure if the algae that I see on the metal grid is widespread then I'm assuming it's below too, but maybe not due to the lack of light.
Should I use chemicals to reduce the algae, if so, where does it go? Sink to the bottom? Is that OK? Should I continue removing the floating 'weed/algae' manually before using chemicals? What chemicals?
Should I invest in a filter? Won't that clog up in hours with what I have? What would be your strategy with this pond? I'm keen to learn.
I've been advised to get the guppy (Gambusia) numbers down as they are a pest - agree?
Thank you in advance
Ben.
Photos and video:
https://www.icloud.com/photos/#0b5s30I3HK1If4jPjCYZ2SPsA
I've inherited a beautiful pond by moving house and I'm keen to look after it. It is about 6-7 meters in diameter and is a former water tank, here in Brisbane, Australia.
It is already well established as you will see from the photos. There are hundreds of guppies, many green tree frogs (dozens of juveniles) as well as a turtle or two, and a few other insects and snails.
I had a quote from a local expert that was just too much of a stretch, he was saying that he needed 56-60 hours to bring it under control so that's where most of the expense came from.
I decided that based on the existing wildlife, I would try a couple of goldfish, so I introduced them carefully and they seem to be enjoying the space, the ability to hide, and their new environment. They have now been in there a week so I'm looking at introducing some more. My questions are less about the fish and more about what to undertake myself in improvements to the condition.
My thoughts are that the ecosystem must be pretty good to have the plants, lily pads, and wildlife that is already there but I'm keen to do what I can to attract more wildlife and to make more of a feature of it.
You'll see from the attachments that there is a lot of weed/algae and I've been removing the floating plants that I'm assuming are weeds. There is a metal grid about 45cm down across the entire pond for safety (kids falling in) but it is much deeper. I'm assuming the fish are not going down beneath it but they could and I'm sure if the algae that I see on the metal grid is widespread then I'm assuming it's below too, but maybe not due to the lack of light.
Should I use chemicals to reduce the algae, if so, where does it go? Sink to the bottom? Is that OK? Should I continue removing the floating 'weed/algae' manually before using chemicals? What chemicals?
Should I invest in a filter? Won't that clog up in hours with what I have? What would be your strategy with this pond? I'm keen to learn.
I've been advised to get the guppy (Gambusia) numbers down as they are a pest - agree?
Thank you in advance
Ben.
Photos and video:
https://www.icloud.com/photos/#0b5s30I3HK1If4jPjCYZ2SPsA