goldfish pond?

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

Quote:
Very easy if you have someone to dig the hole. All I used was a heavy duty trash bag and it cost next to nothing.

It is not that big but I have 6 or 7 fish. The hardest part is not killing them. I hope this helps. And I did kill some fish, but it was not the cat it was me, because I filled water and didn't put the chlorine out in it. My Bad!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Very easy if you have someone to dig the hole. All I used was a heavy duty trash bag and it cost next to nothing.
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww189/dkresyman/MrKittlesJune092-1.jpg
It is not that big but I have 6 or 7 fish. The hardest part is not killing them. I hope this helps. And I did kill some fish, but it was not the cat it was me, because I filled water and didn't put the chlorine out in it. My Bad!

And your kitty has a permanent drinking fountain, I just hope it filters the water before running it through the sprayer!

 

[agnes_day]

Quote:
Very easy if you have someone to dig the hole. All I used was a heavy duty trash bag and it cost next to nothing.
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww189/dkresyman/MrKittlesJune092-1.jpg
It is not that big but I have 6 or 7 fish. The hardest part is not killing them. I hope this helps. And I did kill some fish, but it was not the cat it was me, because I filled water and didn't put the chlorine out in it. My Bad!

that is exactly what i had in mind!! please tell me how you did it!

 

[Southernbelle]

Miss Prissy has a lovely fish pond on her property - she has pictures and maintenance posts about it on her blog

www.bigredcouch.com/journal (I think)

 

[imtc]

I just finished building a small pond at my entryway a couple months ago. It didn't take too long to do (2 Months maybe in my spare time) and wasn't all that hard. I used a 30 gal. preformed shell I found at Walmart for maybe $20 and all the rocks used were given to me (left over from friend's projects or laying around my property). What I did was dig a hole that would fit the liner, used sand to level it in the hole and support it filling in any gaps then dirt to plant around it. Then each night worked on mixing some morter to build each layer of rock stacked on the back side to make a place for the waterpump (I think that cost about $25) to trickle water down the rocks (I love that sound). Put in a few water plants & 3 little goldfish (.12 cents at petsmart) and that's all it took. I also have frogs & a couple toads that have taken residency and tadpoles (however I try to rid the pond of as many eggs as I can once I see them lay them or it would be too full of them). At first it had a pretty quick algae bloom which I think they have to go thru before leveling out but it's very low maintenance and water stays clear. I wrapped the pump with a strip of that filter material (cut from a landscaping store...maybe $5 worth) and put the pump in a pot and sank it into the pond (that way you can lift the pot out and all the gunk the filter grabs won't pour back into the water when you lift it out to clean). I haven't even had to clean the filter much at all...maybe check it every month or two and mainly just lift the pot out quick, lift filter out and dump the dirty water that is in the pot and put it right back in. When the pump wrap gets nasty or the water trickle slows down too much you just hose down the filter cover thing and put it back on (I've only had to do mine every couple of months and it takes just a minute). Anyway, hope that helps and feel free to ask any more questions you have I'd love to help (had fun doing mine if you can't tell...and it really was easy to do and maintain).

 

[shelleyd2008]

Wouldn't the fish eat the eggs?

 

[agnes_day]

that is so pretty!
what i am wondering..do you run an extention cord out there or what? i am trying to figure out how that part works as well.

 

[imtc]

from what I've seen (and read) fish don't eat the frog eggs OR tadpoles.
As far as the pump & cord....I have an extension cord that I can somewhat hide on my porch to just behind the pond. Then with the pump try to hide the tubing to come out where rocks can hide it and mortared a short piece of PVC pipe thru the rocks so I can just slide the pump hose to the rock I want the water to trickle from. i still need to fix up the back side some more (mortar more rock to even the look out and hide more of the tubing). I can take more pics of it in the morning with more detail of things if you want so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[dlhunicorn]

My pond hasnt been a money pit ... the slate I got to make the waterfall was "recycled" from someone elses garden (they were sooo happy to have someone cart it off) ... my pond has two deep portions (so my waterlilies and fish can survive the winter) made from > 1) a huge ole plastic cement mixng tub and 2) a corner plastic bathtub that did not fit into my new house > both of which I buried over 6 foot deep and then dug out the form of the rest of the pond and lined it (didnt bother with sand) but used old carpet from the old house underneath pondliner plastic > I really suggest you go with the pond liner > it will last longer than the heavy duty plastic (which in my experience was not strong enough withstand pond substrate) ...
It is pretty "self sufficient" (I have not had to feed my goldfish for several years now and some are now over ten inches long > I started out with five little bitty 35 cent goldfish from the petstore and have never had to buy more) > I rarely have my pump on (took it out almost four years ago to clean and just recently last month got around to that (redid/cleaned my little waterfall and all the leaves and such that had fallen in the cracks). I get visits from the occasional heron (mainly in the spring) and I figure that is what keeps my goldfish and frogs from overpopulating my rather small pond (I have a fairly stable resident population of around twenty goldfish >nine are between 5 and ten inches)
I know many with ponds and they happily donated plants when I first started it (now we trade your plants will quickly outgrow your pond and you need to keep this in check at a certain point (sell/trade or use for the compost heap)...the iris (pond /bog variety) are the tall stalks you see in the foreground are winter hardy and flower for almost six weeks but I do not yet have a pic to put up of them in flower (these pics are a couple years old)... I do have one of my lilies:

since these pics were taken I have added a few things (all of which flower)... the plants need a bit of sunshine (altho too much will cause algae problems , if in total shade you will have problems). The waterlilies leaves and wanter gentian (an oxygen plant that is fab for "covering" the water and providing shade underneath this mat of green leaves that have a similar shape to the lily leaves only smaller) has beautiful yellow flowers (sorry no pic)
and here is one of my pond froggies in his favorite place (when I have my "waterfall" pump on):

...and here is a pic of a bird that likes to bathe there (happens to be one I rescued and it stuck around but that is another story):

In short, if you dig a couple DEEP places and put tub or whatever in there >I have ther surrounding area at different fairly shallow depths for different water plants and a bog surround about a third of it (see the earlier posted link from Daves garden on "bog filters) and plant a lily in the deep tub part (fill with substrate and pond/lily ground/dirt from garden center) > use an appropriate lily for the depth you have (I stole mine from the river near me

) AND plant appropriately (choose plants that are good at feeding on the nitrogen created by your goldfish poo for instance and lots of plants that provide oxygen) then you wont have to be dependent on a pump and filters and have to clean your pond out (I have had mine for almost ten years now and never "clean" it > my water is clear and I can see my fish just fine !)
The link someone gave you earlier to davesgarden has great info (wish I had had that info when I first started out with ponds lol)

 

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

Quote:
Very easy if you have someone to dig the hole. All I used was a heavy duty trash bag and it cost next to nothing.
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww189/dkresyman/MrKittlesJune092-1.jpg
It is not that big but I have 6 or 7 fish. The hardest part is not killing them. I hope this helps. And I did kill some fish, but it was not the cat it was me, because I filled water and didn't put the chlorine out in it. My Bad!

that is exactly what i had in mind!! please tell me how you did it!

All we did was dig a small peanut shape hole, About 18" deep and 2' x 3' in width and length, placed the heavy duty trash bag and filled with water. It looks a little deeper because we piled some rocks and landscaping bricks around it. The small pump cost 12.99 at Lowes and the fish are 39 cents each at Wallyworld. Oh ya the declorinator was about 4.00 and fish food around 3.50. I see if I can find a better pic of it. Hope this helps.