Wisconsin Pond Build

[j.w]

Cute frog and your fish are lucky they can go on adventures up a river! Mine are stuck in the same old hole day in and day out!

 

[herzausstahl]

So I also decided to use my old 450 gph pump and try to make some current in the pond for the fish since the stream isn't running all the time. I used 1/2 pvc to make it. Here are the pieces:



And here is the finished product:



I've had in the pond for about a week and it doesn't seem to be doing much, as in at least I don't see the fish swim against the current so I am thinking of doing something else with the pump. Will post pics if/when I do.

JW,
They seem to go in there a lot even when the stream isn't running, but then dart right back out once they see me. Makes feeding a little difficult, because they do that any time they see me, but in a way a good thing, then they eat all the algae. I only try to feed a couple times a week and just a pinch of food at a time.

 

[addy1]

I have one dark shubbie that likes to swim up into the drain pipe, seems to like to hang out there.

 

[herzausstahl]

I have one dark shubbie that likes to swim up into the drain pipe, seems to like to hang out there.

lol Luckily mine can't make to that pipe, although I'm surprised I haven't found any of the babies who took the magic ride through the pump to the upper pool yet. I'll be waiting at the end of the year to see if I find any in the filter pads.

 

[herzausstahl]

So here is another pic of the newly dismantled attempt at creating current in the pond:



Here it is running in the pond:



I guess it kind of worked as I saw a 2' long clump of string algae (grew on my hornwort) was caught up the current it created. But I found a better use for the pump and will post pics later.

I believe Colleen asked for more pics of my stone lantern, so here they are.



I got the idea from looking at fishin4cars thread in the pond showcase and saw his rock stacking in his bog. Realized I had a bunch of river rock to do something like that (around here, you will find where people have stacked rocks on the shoreline of the bay), and then I remembered reading about some japanese lanterns made all out of natural rock. So I made my own.

I also finally had my first lily bloom.


Was pretty stoked when I saw that. It came from the only surviving water lily I purchased from Menards at the end of last season (half price). After seeing the success with the 4 I bought this year on sale, will defnitely get them in the future when they are on sale, vs. trying to buy them end of season, all are growing well.

 

[addy1]

lol Luckily mine can't make to that pipe, although I'm surprised I haven't found any of the babies who took the magic ride through the pump to the upper pool yet. I'll be waiting at the end of the year to see if I find any in the filter pads.

It can only go up the pipe maybe 8 inches, then the pipe goes up the slope to the house, no water in it unless it is raining, then the fish would be swimming against the current and trying to go up hill. I think it just likes the enclosure L

Nice pics herz, great stone lanterns.

 

[j.w]

Perfect place for your stone lantern Herz! Need to get some neat rocks to make one here.
Your lily is blooming pretty and your pond looks so nice. Can't wait to see what you did w/ the current maker!

 

[Doug_S]

I have the same lilly in my pond. Last year it had 1 flower on the surface all year. This year it has 4. :razz:

 

[CountryEscape]

Doug, do you fertilize your lily? If not, try putting some fertilizer tabs into the soil or rock that the lily is in. That will make all the difference if you fertilize them at least once a month.
Herz, great pics! I filled my pond last weekend, then got 1.1" of rain on Monday, which overflowed my koi pond, into the stream, which then overfilled the goldfish pond, high enough that the bog was no longer overflowing "down" into the pond, but rather straight. Fish were swimming into the bog, and I was frantic trying to get them back into the pond. Then figured, well, don't drain the excess water until morning when I could see to make sure all the fish were out of the bog, and by morning, they were all back into the pond. Silly goldfish!
My goldfish are so darn friendly that when I stick my hands into the water to prune lilies or other plants, they are swimming and bumping into my hand and arm, and my little fantails will literally swim into my hand.

 

[CometKeith]

CE. glad your goldfish made it okay. It rained tonight for the first time in almost 2 weeks.

 

[Doug_S]

Doug, do you fertilize your lily? If not, try putting some fertilizer tabs into the soil or rock that the lily is in. That will make all the difference if you fertilize them at least once a month.

Yes I do

 

[herzausstahl]

Perfect place for your stone lantern Herz! Need to get some neat rocks to make one here.
Your lily is blooming pretty and your pond looks so nice. Can't wait to see what you did w/ the current maker!

Thanks JW! I would look for smooth river rocks wherever you can find them, always look the best in my opinion.

It can only go up the pipe maybe 8 inches, then the pipe goes up the slope to the house, no water in it unless it is raining, then the fish would be swimming against the current and trying to go up hill. I think it just likes the enclosure L

Nice pics herz, great stone lanterns.

That makes sense addy, I have seem them swim into and out of my rock cave that is behind the lilies, don't know if they use the cave in the pond as I don't have a cool camera like yours!

CE. glad your goldfish made it okay. It rained tonight for the first time in almost 2 weeks.

I think you have had the same draught we have keith, it was great to get the thunderstorms last night, personally I attribute it to the fact that I finally broke down and paid a lawn service to fertilize my lawn to get rid of the weeds and get it growing nice, so thats why no rain to help it along

Good to know that Doug, its from the one I got at the end of last summer and this year it is growing 2 times as good as last year so can't wait to see what next year brings with it!

Patty, Good thing it didn't overflow over your border rocks, that would have been kind of scary I would think. After a good rain last year I added an overflow outlet to mine.

 

[herzausstahl]

So here is a homemade Oriole feeder I made, I saw one a few times on the fence for just a second and hope now with this out and some jelly in it, maybe it will return.



Here are some better pics of the fish in the stream, this time they didn't imediately take off when they saw me.



Even the fry are getting in on the act



Hoping some of the bigger ones start to thin the herd or it could get interesting every year. Really haven't tried feeding them in a long time so hoping they get hungry soon. sorry little guys, just not enough room for all of you

And I think my blue alberta spruces that I garbage picked were sitting in the sun too long (or I never watered enough early on), one died and I yanked it out.



I had the idea to burn it in the firepit and then put the charred tree back in place to look like after a forest fire, but forgot about the little branches being perfect kindling and it didn't work out as I envisioned. So I put something else there and after I add some plants around it, will post those as well. Oh and JW I didn't forget about what I added with that extra pump, will put some pics up of it soon.

 

[CometKeith]

Herz, I like your little fry. I have one sitting in a cup that I took out of the pond. Re rain and fertilizer, yep that's why I leave the snow shovel out. I finally put it away when we had a week of 80's in mid-March.

 

[j.w]

Cool herz and hope the bird comes back to visit your feeder. Neat your fish are becoming more used to you and you have new little ones too even if they do become sushi but I'm thinking they or at least some will survive as you have lots of hiding places.