Wolf6
Member
Since my tank isnt in great shape currently and I'm slowly building up to get another tank and rescape the current one, I'll just post my pond instead. We moved into this house about 3 years ago, and 2 years ago we started on redoing the garden (it was an overgrown garden with nothing but tall conifers and grass). One of the first things we wanted was a pond for the kids to get to see all sorts of wildlife, and a trampoline (visible behind the reed). Our youngest son was only 3 at the time (now 5) so we wanted to prevent him being able to accidentally stumble into the deep part of the pond, hence the stone walls around the deep end. There is a little bench there for viewing and maintenance convenience 🙂 The deepest part is about 75 cm, it has several shallower plateaus for various plants, and a 'swampy' zone around the front edges. There is wood decking up front, as seen on the picture. This is basically our view from the living room, with only 2 meters of stone path to the house with tall grasses on the right and a path leading to the left side of the garden.
As you can see, 2 years later things are taking off. I picked a lot of plants that I knew would run wild, because that is the sort of pond I love, overgrown and sort of natural. There are fish in there too, but none wanted to come out for a picture. 2 golden carp, 5 golden minnows, 5 regular minnows (used to be more but herons got them), and 30+ White Cloud Mountain minnows. There is already plenty of spawn swimming around, but the other minnows are fierce hunters so I wonder if they will grow up. The idea is that the other fish die off and its just white clouds left in the end.
There is no filter or technology involved, just a small fountain that is only turned on when its very warm to get a little circulation going. I take monthly water measurements and correct if neccesary using maerl or specific correcters. There is some hair algea but this far its not too bad. Other inhabitants are lots of green frogs, in spring lots of brown frogs and some toads too. There are at least 12 pond snails, but I rarely see one so I'm not sure they still live. There have been 2 duck mussels added last year, but no idea if those are still there. I'll end this post with a few more pictures 🙂 Sorry for bad quality, just have my phone 🙂 Lots of time is spend by the kids (and me) just lying on the deck and staring into the water.
This is the edge of the pond, 2 green frogs on the lookout to grab the many flying insects here. Plants are iris siberica, marsilea hirsuta (came out of my tank, survived 3 winters including frost just fine this far), swamp-forget-me-nots, Stachys palustris, water celery, Schizostylis, and no doubt some other ones I'm leaving out 🙂 there is a lot in this pond. Under the surface some Fontinalis here, but its barely visible.
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis growing well, wonder if its going to get through the winter. Thats all for now 🙂
As you can see, 2 years later things are taking off. I picked a lot of plants that I knew would run wild, because that is the sort of pond I love, overgrown and sort of natural. There are fish in there too, but none wanted to come out for a picture. 2 golden carp, 5 golden minnows, 5 regular minnows (used to be more but herons got them), and 30+ White Cloud Mountain minnows. There is already plenty of spawn swimming around, but the other minnows are fierce hunters so I wonder if they will grow up. The idea is that the other fish die off and its just white clouds left in the end.
There is no filter or technology involved, just a small fountain that is only turned on when its very warm to get a little circulation going. I take monthly water measurements and correct if neccesary using maerl or specific correcters. There is some hair algea but this far its not too bad. Other inhabitants are lots of green frogs, in spring lots of brown frogs and some toads too. There are at least 12 pond snails, but I rarely see one so I'm not sure they still live. There have been 2 duck mussels added last year, but no idea if those are still there. I'll end this post with a few more pictures 🙂 Sorry for bad quality, just have my phone 🙂 Lots of time is spend by the kids (and me) just lying on the deck and staring into the water.
This is the edge of the pond, 2 green frogs on the lookout to grab the many flying insects here. Plants are iris siberica, marsilea hirsuta (came out of my tank, survived 3 winters including frost just fine this far), swamp-forget-me-nots, Stachys palustris, water celery, Schizostylis, and no doubt some other ones I'm leaving out 🙂 there is a lot in this pond. Under the surface some Fontinalis here, but its barely visible.
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis growing well, wonder if its going to get through the winter. Thats all for now 🙂
