FishChannel Forums / Freshwater Forums / Ponds

algae and bug control for you!!

lil.guppy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:30:28 GMT

For a 250 gallon outside pond in the direct Texas sun all summer, I had a one of those UV light filters and I put guppies and a plecostomus in there for more surface cleaning and algae. The only problem is that you have to put a heater in there for the winter or bring them inside.
Every year, my 1 inch plecos would get almost a foot long!

Pond Survey

FishChannel Moderator — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:22:00 GMT

Hi pondkeepers,

One of our sister magazines, Ponds Magazine, is doing a survey and they'd like you to fill it out. To encourage you to do so, all entries will have a chance at a $100 gift certificate.

You can get the survey here:

www.FishChannel.com/PondSurvey

Thanks,

F.M.

Mini-pond

Miller — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:10:13 GMT

I just wondered if the two goldfish will live in that small of a pond withought a filter. Yes or no. Can I fit more than just those two goldfish in the pond? Thanks

Algea bloom

Enjoymyfish — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:26:58 GMT

Hi, I have a small pond that gets a fair amount of sunlight because I have a water lily that needs sunlight. I have a few platys in it. Unfortunately most of the plants died. It was clear as a bell until a few days ago. There is brown algea on the sides and plants. I don't have a pump in it but thought I would when the water became clouded, it has cleared it a bit but not totally. By the way, I have done a few water changes since this happened. As it is not near a power point I cannot leave the pump in all the time.

What can I do???? P.S. I have had the pond for about a year and this is the first time this has happened?

What liner do you use?

bigreyhorse — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:53:20 GMT

I may be interested in getting a pond and I'm wondering what kind of liners you all prefer, solid or the lined type and which kind do you like best out of the liners?

Thanks for the input :)

bigrey

How deep

pufferrocks — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:11:51 GMT

How deep would a pond have to be to overwinter fish in? I live in the south so we don't have bad winters.

good bye pond

austin123 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:37:22 GMT

I moved about a year ago and the new house had a pond. It still needed to be cleaned and the water changed. The water was probably more algea than water. I was planning on getting some koi goldfish for it. Before I could even clean it the landlords wanted it for there house so they took it. Now all I've got is a big hole in the ground.

Pond

FastFoward5k — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:14:02 GMT

I eventually want tobuild a pond! :w00t:

I was thinking about 300-400 Gallons. Here is my stocking list:

1 Silver Arowana

1 Lima Shovelnose Catfish

1 Mata-Mata

1 Florida Soft Shell Turtle

50+ Feeder Minnows

Here are my questions:

1. Soft Shell Turtles need sand to burrow in. Would that work?

2. Will hardy live plants survive in a pond (I will have a lighting system, plus sunlight)?

3. Is there anything other than that ugly black liner I could use to live my tank?

Pond Hopefully!!!

jfish13 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:53:28 GMT

I think my goldfish are getting too crowded so, I'm thinking of building a small pond. Maybe 125 gallons or something. My goldfish are common goldfish. If they went in a 125 gallon pond could I add 2 shubunkins?

Bettas In Pond

crazysqurrel06 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:20:44 GMT

I'm not thinking of putting a Betta in a pond, but I want to know if you could. Would they survive, or even live very long?

algae

staffordmom — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:50:10 GMT

My neighbor is having an algae problem in her small outdoor pond. I told her I would ask here for help for her. She has 2 or 3 plecos in there and 1 large snail plus a few smaller ones plus 2 or 3 large goldfish and a bullfrog. Her water is green and she can't see through it at all. Any ideas on how to get rid of algae in a pond? Thanks,

staffordmom

Catfish and Koi Pond

Lutzgator — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:56:02 GMT

So let me make this a simple as posible without getting too envolved. I live 15 miles north of Tampa, Fl. I had a 1000 gal. pond installed 6 weeks ago. Everything is going well. I put in 24 feeder fish to get it cycling, a little algae is covering the rocks nicely. last week placed two koi about 6 inchs in and they are doing well. Today after 4 hours of hard rain, there were 10inch catfish walking all over the road near my house. I counted at least 10. I picked up a couple and put them in my pond. Is this a no no, have i done something i maybe shouldnt have? I know if the koi ever lay eggs that the catfish will probably eat them. Should i remove the catfish or just see how things turn out?

Emergency in the pond!!!

Neko's Cosplay Lab — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:55:23 GMT

I built my pond a few weeks ago, the transfer of the fish was successful and everything was going fine... then I had a big big algae problem, the sun is hitting my pond with way too much intensity I figure, so I scrubbed all the algae, added some algae solution and the water was nice and clear again. Well one day out of the blue the water turned milky, I unclogged the pump, cleaned the filter, added more algae solution and did a water change.

The water is green and cloudy, I cant even see my fish! I added some makeshift shade and I have a couple of floating plants in the pond.

im clueless as to what is happening here, so I really would appreciate any advice.

I also have some red worm like parasites in my filter, I cleaned it out, but im wondering if there is anything I can do about them?

Please help, im worried for the safety of my fish, I was told that new tanks sometimes get cloudy or milky, but that its normal and it will go away on its own.

want to get a pond

pufferrocks — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:23:27 GMT

I want to get a pond in which I could keep a largish turtle and maybe some goldfish. I have never looked at ponds or equipment before and was wondering on average how much it would cost. Right now they are in a kiddie pool and if a nice pond would be to expensive I might just upgrade to a larger pool. Thanks for any estimate.

The MOA Inverse Relation

math-only aquarium — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:13:02 GMT

Hello,

While doing some research on my spreadsheet program I came across a formula that some of you pond lovers might enjoy:

Number of Fish You Can Keep = (4G)/(A^2) Where G is the size of the pond in gallons and A is the average adult size of fish you plan on keeping.

For instance, if you have a 1,000 gallon pond and want to keep fish that can grow about a foot long, then you should keep no more than 27 fish (4 x 1,000 / 12^2 = 4,000 / 144 = 27.7...). This guideline works pretty well for cyprinids maintained with additional food added to the system.

For other fish and systems to which you do not wish to add extra food, the following formula is better:

Number of Fish You Can Keep = (2G)/(A^2)

I know that most of you already have your own guidelines and have enough experience to predict suitable stocking levels, but I thought I'd add it for the fun of it.

suggestions for pond fish?

DazzleDiscus — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:54:56 GMT

ok. I have a 500gal pond stocked with a lotus, a few water lilies, native marginal plants, a whole bunch of some type of fine-leaved submerged aquatic plant I picked up from local ponds two years ago, pickeral rush, and water hyacinth.

I want fish that can survive the winter (I live in Virginia- boarderline between zone 6 and 7. I keep an area free of ice during winter so that gas exange can freely take place. I've kept bluegill, perch, and sunfish in there before, but gave them away when they kept attacking my lilies. They didn't eat them- just chewed them up and spit the pieces out... to float around... and annoy me.

Koi will get too big (in my opinion) for this pond and I'm wary about goldfish in general because I don't want them to completely destroy my submerged plants. I don't mind if they nibble on them- but I don't want to have to add more underwater plants later on.

I was thinking about US native shiners (namely the "whitefinned" yellowfin shiner Notropis lutipinnis) Also maybe I can catch one of those hundreds of darters that live not too far from me... Either one be hard to get so I'll be looking at the normal bland selection... *shudder*

So any suggestions? I was looking at the fantails cause they only get (supposably) 6inches long. or maybe the Red and White Ryukin ("8inches"). I don't know much about goldfish- as they are nasty filthy critters, get extremely long, and devour a beautifully planted tank in a matter of seconds. (I'll let my opinion show if you don't mind too much... )

Does anyone know if any tetras or gouramis or killifish or .. or ... ANYTHING else can survive VA winters? Seriously folks- I'm getting tired of the usual fair for fishtanks and ponds... (It's about 11pm and I should be in bed so I'm sure I'm rambling.) I mean even a bland-looking nocturnal pleco would work fine!!!

I'm going to put a pair of gouramis or bettas or some aquarium fish in the pond next spring for them to breed so that it'll be different. I have 4 female guppies and a female betta in there now... just cause I don't have anything else. I won't add any males cause I don't have indoor tanks ready for them or their young. That will come next year. SIGH. And to think that the aquarists in Europe dream of keeping United States native fish and pay good money for them while we have them swimming literally in our backyard. And even we don't get a change to buy them because everyone wants the fish from other countries. Go figure.

Good night folks- and I hope I havn't scared you off from my rambling, I would really appriciate it if you replied, even if you don't know what to answer with.

-~~Dazzle~~ ...
-Flustered Dazzle.

For smaller ponds do you keep your plants in pots?

Mindnova — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:15:59 GMT

I keep my bog and aquatic plants in pots so far and just carry them in to the garage, their calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow here and hard frost in West Virginia. The lilies went back to the bottom of the pond.

I was hoping for ideas on protecting them and stimulating early spring growth.

Gravity vs. Pressure

tmac1rebok — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:06:14 GMT

I wanted to know what would serve as a better filter if you...

1) choose a pump that pumped (x)gph that was pump to a gravity filter or...

2)used that same pump to go to a pressure filter?

While keeping in mind that there is the same amount of tubing involved in both with the use of the same pump.

*Note that the gravity filter would process more water per hr bacause there is more of a backflow placed on the pump going to the pressure filter.

Comparing say this as the gravity:

...and this as the pressure

Tapeworms

valmay — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:01:00 GMT

I have a goldfish pond and want to treat it for tapeworms. I have the medication (praziquantel 23mg) and need to know if I just drop it into the water or should I dissolve it in a seperate container and pour it into the pond? Knowing how my goldfish gobble up anything on the surface of the water, or anything that drops into the water, I'm afraid if I just put the medication in the pond, they'll eat it.

Future plans for pond

Maraqua — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:26:11 GMT

I was wondering about stocking and overwintering and just a few questions like that. We are renting a house right now but have plans to buy in a few years. I'm just curious if I built a pond that is 6 ft L x 4.5 ft w x 4 ft deep which comes just over 800 gallons how many fancies could I have (orandas, moors etc)? Also I know that fancies like the water a little warmer then their common/koi cousins, I'm thinking size has a lot to do with it. I live in Portland OR which is on the border of Washington state so it does get cold. If I had a pond heater do you think I could over winter, or would I need to bring them inside. I looked up the average highs and lows here is the chart below:

Of course these are averages and we get occasional snow days and Ice storms too. One other question how does one go about cycling a pond??? Is it the same fishless cycleing on a bigger scale,? Of course I'd have lots of plants too and a filtration system and a fountain. I would get the pond system at big Al's for my pond size. Anyway this would be a totally fun project :D

Small pond problem..

JustKeepSwimming — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:46:13 GMT

Hello

WE have 3 ponds. One in the front yard is doing GREAT! We have algea problems due to its in the sun all day, but its nothing we cant handle.

But we have 2 smaller ponds in the back yard.

They are about 100 gallons. we dont have very good luck with keeping plants & fish in there.

Like I said they are about 100 gallons a piece. They are in the back yard under several oak trees. so they are in the shade all day. They have the deep spot as well as the shallow spot. We do not have a filter, for we dont really know what kind we can get & the last one we had was a fountain/filter, but it was way too strong for that pond. we would clean it every week.

Anyways would anyone know what kind of filter as well as fish & plants that would do good in those ponds? I would really like to get them going as good *** ours in the front yard. Also because there are no fish or moving water, there are alot of bugs in it.. yuck!

Anyway any tips or help you could give me to get them going would be nice!

Thank you!

temperature tolerance fluctuations in goldfish

Mindnova — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:40:11 GMT

I understand the importance of getting the water temperature close when transferring my goldfish from the tank back to the pond. Also allowing the mixing of waters over a period of time.

My question is in the pond there will be a night/day difference of 15 degrees as far as I can tell. They tolerated this quite well last year but now they have been in stable temps, all winter.

At what night time temperatures would it be considered safe for transference?

Pop up Aquarium

Maraqua — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:10:27 GMT

Hailey not too long ago showed me links to this indoor/outdoor pop up aquarium. It's pretty much a pond, at any rate I've seen them on e-bay for $13-$16 which is a great price the one I want is 28 gallons. The shipping is a little much but willing to pay it if I can't find one locally. Has anyone seen these in any chain stores even like Target or Walmart?? Just curious :)

Help please, new pond

Neko's Cosplay Lab — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:30:09 GMT

Hi, I have just built a 430 gallon pond, its measurements are approximetly 5x7 and it is no more than 2 feet deep.

I set up the pump and filter, added chlor out and am now wondering when it will be safe to add my fish, I have 5 goldfish and 12 koi, none of which are bigger than 5 inches. I added the feeder goldfish yesterday, they seem fine for the moment, but im scared to put in my koi just yet.

I was also wondering, with the limited depth that I have and with the surface area, will I need to have my pump and filter on all day? Id like to be able to shut it off at night if possible, to save on electric bills.
Hope someone can help me, thanks so much!

Restoring Pond at School

clownloach112 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:17:37 GMT

I reposted this agian because it seemed to be ignored and i figured that it would get much more attention here

My moms school has a smallish pond (I'm sorry to say i dont know the gallons at the moment) and it is far from beautiful. I plan to volunteer to help restore it. Any suggestions on the equipment ( ie brands and types) and by the way price is a factor, here are some of the spec's

The pump supplies water to at valve which splits water half to the filter and half to the water fall. Then the filter water is returned back to the pond via tube. There is an old uv filter which i hope to get a new bulb for.

At the moment i cant get allot more info because I'm on vacation 7 hours away. But when i get back next sunday i will try to find out any answers to your questions but i still might know them.

How many gallons would a

fredburger999 — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:02:12 GMT

We're considering making a pond, and if we do, how many gallons would it need for 10-20 koi and 30-40 goldfish? Thanks.

Please move my topic here.

jfish13 — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:30:16 GMT

http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic135352-5-1.aspx thanks.

Pinned Topics

FishChannel Moderator — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:35:06 GMT

Welcome to the FishChannel Forums! Below you will find links to Frequently Asked Questions and important topics from the FishChannel Forums. Before asking a question on the forums, first make sure you look at the list to see if it has already been covered. Please read the following links below: Official Rules and Regulations, Are Your Fish Sick?and Information needed for other members to answer your questions.

If you have you see a topic that you think should appear on this list, please let the FishChannel Moderator know, via PM or by posting the URL for the topic in the Suggestions Forum.

Official Rules and Regulations

Your New Tank...Needs to be cycled! Must Read First!

Are Your Fish Sick?

Information needed for other members to answer your questions

Abusing Private Messaging

Step-by-Step Instructions for Deleting PMs

How to Post Pictures

Video Clip Challenge
Link to great fish videos.

Show your tanks!
Pictures of members tanks.

Basics for taking great pictures

Freshwater Stocking Guide: A Reference for Beginners
An Answer to the Question "How Many Fish Can I Keep?"

Ich: What you've always wanted to know.
An in depth explaination of Ich and how to treat it

Fish Food

What's the difference between pH and Hardness
How are they related & how are they different?

Stocking List for a 10 Gallon?

The A to Z of FishKeeping

Signs of Nutrient Deficiencies
Chart & Definitions

Dechlorinated Water And Cycling

Community Safe Shrimp