Hello ponderers!
I’ve had a small pond (250 liters / 55 gallons) in my garden for about 2 years now.
It’s been a home for 8 regular goldfish along with 2 varieties of water lily and some oxygenating plants.
During the spring and early summer of 2017 a heron visited my pond a number of times and thanked me for neglecting to put in place protection.
I thought it ate all 8 goldfish and I somewhat angrily left the pond for what it was. Switched off the pump/filter system and let mother nature take over.
When winter had passed I wanted to give it another go. I pumped out the water (or sludge…) and to my surprise there were 2 goldfish at the bottom. They’d grown considerably too!
Feeling like a bit of an idiot for not seeing them before, I set off to rejuvenate the pond.
Long story short; fresh water, new plants and of course a few new fish.
It took a few weeks for the fish to get comfortable, especially the two survivors, but eventually they got used to me and would swim towards me whenever I was near.
Since then (spring 2018) I’ve been thinking about building a larger pond. The 55 gallon puddle just wasn’t going to cut it. Not with 8 ravenous goldfish that would grow and possibly multiply…
I planned to start somewhere in the spring of 2019. But you know plans… They change!
My best friend had heard me talking for quite some time about building a pond myself instead of having another one of those preformed plastic tubs.
About 3 weeks ago we were shopping at a gardening store for something totally unrelated to ponds, ended up in the pond department anyway, as we usually do, and I asked a staff member about building a pond with EPDM pond liner.
He did some quick calculations, gave me a number and I thought hmm, that’s less expensive than I thought it would be...
Naturally, my friend in all her impulsiveness says to me, you may as well buy it now. Just keep it in the shed and start digging when you feel up to it.
And so we came home with a large sheet of rubber and some protective sheet. And a cartload full of plants and flowers, as it happens when the two of us go to the gardening place to buy one or two specific items...
As you may have guessed, the pond liner wasn’t placed in the shed to wait for spring next year.
No. I’m just as impulsive as my friend is, if not more so.
We started digging the very next day. Just half a meter away from the old puddle pond.
By the end of the day there was a new pond measuring approximately 180x120x80cm (~ 70x47x31,5”) which holds a guesstimated 1200-1400 liters (263-307 gallons) of water. Quite a leap from the 250 liter gnomish bathtub, I thought!
I know new ponds need to settle in for at least a few weeks. Get some plants in there, get the nitrogen cycle going and then start thinking about fish.
Well, I’m impulsive. And impatient. Always on the lookout for instant gratification. Not one to wait and see. A bit of an idiot and prone to taking a risk if there’s half a chance it will pay out...
I gave it 2 days and then started relocating plants from the old pond to the new one. I transferred about ½ of the water from the old pond to the new one to kick start the biological processes that would otherwise take weeks or months to establish. Sat and looked at it for a day and then got restless again.
I drained the old tub, meanwhile gently netting the fish and releasing them a mere 30cm to my other side again.
So far so good. I looked at it for a few days and all was well.
Plants looked good, the fish seemed delighted with their newly dug home and took full advantage of the extra space they now had. They’d all swim towards me begging for food as they had done before.
So my friend who put me up to all this suggested that we get a few more fish.
It was her idea to get a few different varieties of goldfish in the first place. I just needed a bigger pond! And I suspect she likes seeing me covered in sweat and dirt…
Back at our favorite gardening store once more, she picked out 5 Shubunkins and 5 Sarasas for me, all ranging from 0.5 to 2 inches long.
Strange as it may seem, it took them a mere 4 to 6 days to get used to me. I thought that for a couple of weeks at least, they’d be hesitant and distant upon seeing a large creature such as myself approaching the pond.
But no. The older fish as well as the new Shubunkins and Sarasas all pile up in whichever direction I approach, mouthing at the water’s surface to inform me it’s time to feed. Such a joy to see!
When not given the food they so desire (they’re goldfish… they never stop eating...) they try to get my attention by breaking the water’s surface with their tails and creating a splashing sound, making plopping noises or erratically swimming as near as they can to where I’m standing or sitting.
I love the little buggers!
To keep them all safe I fabricated something similar to what covered the tiny old pond. It’s a quick fix and a rather cumbersome one to put in place and remove.
Keeping it over the pond permanently will obstruct the view and certainly not make it more attractive, so in the next few weeks I’ll try to conjure up a more convenient method to move this heron deterring contraption of mine around.
Perhaps something with a pair of hinges to the far right of the cover, a pulley system and some rope.
That way it could just lean against the shed when not covering the pond.
Not sure yet, but I like tinkering.
Anyway… I apologize for the slightly longer than anticipated introductory text.
I really just meant to say hi and then get on with exploring the rest of the forum.
Looking forward to learning from you guys and sharing my progress.
Time to get some pictures online.
The whole thing is still very rough and obviously there’s a whole lot of work to be done to make it look attractive. I’ll be prowling the forums for inspiration.
I’ve had a small pond (250 liters / 55 gallons) in my garden for about 2 years now.
It’s been a home for 8 regular goldfish along with 2 varieties of water lily and some oxygenating plants.
During the spring and early summer of 2017 a heron visited my pond a number of times and thanked me for neglecting to put in place protection.
I thought it ate all 8 goldfish and I somewhat angrily left the pond for what it was. Switched off the pump/filter system and let mother nature take over.
When winter had passed I wanted to give it another go. I pumped out the water (or sludge…) and to my surprise there were 2 goldfish at the bottom. They’d grown considerably too!
Feeling like a bit of an idiot for not seeing them before, I set off to rejuvenate the pond.
Long story short; fresh water, new plants and of course a few new fish.
It took a few weeks for the fish to get comfortable, especially the two survivors, but eventually they got used to me and would swim towards me whenever I was near.
Since then (spring 2018) I’ve been thinking about building a larger pond. The 55 gallon puddle just wasn’t going to cut it. Not with 8 ravenous goldfish that would grow and possibly multiply…
I planned to start somewhere in the spring of 2019. But you know plans… They change!
My best friend had heard me talking for quite some time about building a pond myself instead of having another one of those preformed plastic tubs.
About 3 weeks ago we were shopping at a gardening store for something totally unrelated to ponds, ended up in the pond department anyway, as we usually do, and I asked a staff member about building a pond with EPDM pond liner.
He did some quick calculations, gave me a number and I thought hmm, that’s less expensive than I thought it would be...
Naturally, my friend in all her impulsiveness says to me, you may as well buy it now. Just keep it in the shed and start digging when you feel up to it.
And so we came home with a large sheet of rubber and some protective sheet. And a cartload full of plants and flowers, as it happens when the two of us go to the gardening place to buy one or two specific items...
As you may have guessed, the pond liner wasn’t placed in the shed to wait for spring next year.
No. I’m just as impulsive as my friend is, if not more so.
We started digging the very next day. Just half a meter away from the old puddle pond.
By the end of the day there was a new pond measuring approximately 180x120x80cm (~ 70x47x31,5”) which holds a guesstimated 1200-1400 liters (263-307 gallons) of water. Quite a leap from the 250 liter gnomish bathtub, I thought!
I know new ponds need to settle in for at least a few weeks. Get some plants in there, get the nitrogen cycle going and then start thinking about fish.
Well, I’m impulsive. And impatient. Always on the lookout for instant gratification. Not one to wait and see. A bit of an idiot and prone to taking a risk if there’s half a chance it will pay out...
I gave it 2 days and then started relocating plants from the old pond to the new one. I transferred about ½ of the water from the old pond to the new one to kick start the biological processes that would otherwise take weeks or months to establish. Sat and looked at it for a day and then got restless again.
I drained the old tub, meanwhile gently netting the fish and releasing them a mere 30cm to my other side again.
So far so good. I looked at it for a few days and all was well.
Plants looked good, the fish seemed delighted with their newly dug home and took full advantage of the extra space they now had. They’d all swim towards me begging for food as they had done before.
So my friend who put me up to all this suggested that we get a few more fish.
It was her idea to get a few different varieties of goldfish in the first place. I just needed a bigger pond! And I suspect she likes seeing me covered in sweat and dirt…
Back at our favorite gardening store once more, she picked out 5 Shubunkins and 5 Sarasas for me, all ranging from 0.5 to 2 inches long.
Strange as it may seem, it took them a mere 4 to 6 days to get used to me. I thought that for a couple of weeks at least, they’d be hesitant and distant upon seeing a large creature such as myself approaching the pond.
But no. The older fish as well as the new Shubunkins and Sarasas all pile up in whichever direction I approach, mouthing at the water’s surface to inform me it’s time to feed. Such a joy to see!
When not given the food they so desire (they’re goldfish… they never stop eating...) they try to get my attention by breaking the water’s surface with their tails and creating a splashing sound, making plopping noises or erratically swimming as near as they can to where I’m standing or sitting.
I love the little buggers!
To keep them all safe I fabricated something similar to what covered the tiny old pond. It’s a quick fix and a rather cumbersome one to put in place and remove.
Keeping it over the pond permanently will obstruct the view and certainly not make it more attractive, so in the next few weeks I’ll try to conjure up a more convenient method to move this heron deterring contraption of mine around.
Perhaps something with a pair of hinges to the far right of the cover, a pulley system and some rope.
That way it could just lean against the shed when not covering the pond.
Not sure yet, but I like tinkering.
Anyway… I apologize for the slightly longer than anticipated introductory text.
I really just meant to say hi and then get on with exploring the rest of the forum.
Looking forward to learning from you guys and sharing my progress.
Time to get some pictures online.
The whole thing is still very rough and obviously there’s a whole lot of work to be done to make it look attractive. I’ll be prowling the forums for inspiration.
