Would I be able to put a pond here?

[cooledwhip]

Hey everyone. I am a fish tank hobbyist and all winter I planned on putting in a small pond for my family to enjoy. (I am actually 16 but noone in my family knows stuff about fish lol) I work and have money to purchase items and my parents have agreed to help pay for some stuff. I have looked up lots of pond builds but I wanted to make my own in our patio.

I originally planned to make it in ground and just dig a hole and put a pool liner in there, but the only location I would be allowed to dig in is pretty far away from the house, so we decided to put it in our patio. Here I have a picture of our patio corner where we plan on putting it:http://imgur.com/KpF5A1n It is about 6 feet by 5 feet and those pots and flower stuff will be moved soon.

Anyway, the pond is going to be above ground, but my question is: how will we put a pond here above ground? I have a basic idea and had a thought that we could just take some stone (in the shape/size of a cinderblock) and make a square around that area and just put a pond liner in there.

I am hoping this is going to be low tech so I only plan on adding a small water fall in the back and maybe a filter. (I plan on letting it just go wild).

For stock I plan on putting in some small koi, and currently I am raising some baby show orandas. I have 7.

Would putting some stones around the edge, in total making the pond about 2-3 feet deep. I didn't know if the bricks on the bottom would scratch the pond liner or if it would catch on the bricks I was hoping to put on the side. Thanks all!

-John

 

[Smaug]

It's not big enough for koi,not even close. It woukd be an ok spot for a pond but yiur stock woukd be limited to goldies.

 

[peter hillman]

That looks like a perfect place for a small pond. Yes you definitely want some type of filtration, a small box filter with a fountain attachment would work well. But please note, there's no such thing as 'small koi', they grow big and fast and will quickly outgrow the small pond you're planning. I think pre-formed will be your best bet for now. Check your craiglist, my father sold his entire set-up, pond filter UV and fountain for 60$ a couple years ago after he tired of it. Here's an example from my area..
http://reno.craigslist.org/for/5521578519.html

 

[Smaug]

My first pond was a 150 gallon preformed . I hate to admit I kept koi in it all the way to the point of when I expanded to 2500 gallons. That being said is NOT testimonial to condone it though. I lost dozens of fish over the years and keeping water quality up to par was a constant battle that I lost about once a year with a few dead fish. I learned alot over those years and the biggest thing was that koi belong in nothing less then 2000 gallon well filtered well kept ponds. In the 8 years I've had this pond I lost 3 fish, 2 of them koi and one huge cat and that happened overnight. I believe it was bad food as there were no other sick fish and the 3 lost were my biggest eaters. Find a new proper home for your "small koi" don't try to keep them till yiu have something bigger.

 

[cooledwhip]

Ok so no Koi it is. Not even the small "koi" that petsmart sells?

I really didn't want the preform, but I wanted to just take some bricks or the stones and make a square. If I go that route and put a pond liner in there would it be safe and not get torn?

I'm considering going preform, but can someone answer my question up there^

Also if I did do the preform I would need it to be above ground.

 

[Smaug]

A small koi is a baby koi the same as a small calf is just a baby cow. There is a pervasive myth about fish that a fish only gets as big as its surroundings. That's partially true in the same way that a calf kept in a small enclosure in poor conditions will be stunted from disease and malnutrition.

 

[Smaug]

Yes you could use a liner in the way you asked. A preformed can be used above ground or below .

 

[cooledwhip]

Ok I think I will save this for a later time. Now that I know this information.

What I did instead is went to lowes and got some old whiskey barrels and I will put some plants in there and fill it with water and maybe put some mollies/guppies.

 

[Mmathis]

Ok I think I will save this for a later time. Now that I know this information.

What I did instead is went to lowes and got some old whiskey barrels and I will put some plants in there and fill it with water and maybe put some mollies/guppies.

 

[peter hillman]

And maybe some aeration? A bubbler or small pump..

 

[Tula]

My first pond was a 150 gallon preformed . I hate to admit I kept koi in it all the way to the point of when I expanded to 2500 gallons. That being said is NOT testimonial to condone it though. I lost dozens of fish over the years and keeping water quality up to par was a constant battle that I lost about once a year with a few dead fish. I learned alot over those years and the biggest thing was that koi belong in nothing less then 2000 gallon well filtered well kept ponds. In the 8 years I've had this pond I lost 3 fish, 2 of them koi and one huge cat and that happened overnight. I believe it was bad food as there were no other sick fish and the 3 lost were my biggest eaters. Find a new proper home for your "small koi" don't try to keep them till yiu have something bigger.

Oh how awful......a cat drown in your pond overnight ?

 

[Smaug]

Cmon now tula, a cat (fish) maybe?
But looking back at that post I can see where ya might have thought chinese food type CAT

 

[MitchM]

Cmon now tula, a cat (fish) maybe?
But looking back at that post I can see where ya might have thought chinese food type CAT

Your pond water stays warm enough for a catfish species?

.

 

[Tula]

Cmon now tula, a cat (fish) maybe?
But looking back at that post I can see where ya might have thought chinese food type CAT

Oh, now I understand - LOL Feeling relieved...of course not for the fish !

 

[Smaug]

Your pond water stays warm enough for a catfish species?

.

Channel cat,flatheads,blue cat,mud cat etc are all native catfish species all the way up into yiur part of the world. You could keep them to. The species I had was a channel cat ,bought him at walmart!