Need Fishy Help

OK - so the Field of Dreams theory proves true (again), ie "If You Build
It, They Will Come". Haven't been paying too much attention to my bird pool
this year - keep in mind that it's about 8" deep at the most and just gets
more shallow from there, down to about 1-2" for the birds to bath in -
that's all it's for. It's about a 5x5 45mil liner, so in all it's about 3
ft wide by 4 ft long (or so).

Up 'til this year I had a habit of emptying and refilling it on a weekly
basis, cleaning the goop off the bottom w/my vac; this year I noticed
dragonfly nymphs and decided to leave it to its own devices. I have only a
small filter that runs a small fountain spray just to keep the water moving
and keep the mosquitos out. I had tons of unidentifiable life this year -
grains of salt and pepper swimming around, as well as some black snails,
water bugs, water skimmers and who knows what else. The water is clear, the
goop just settles on the bottom. Every other day or so I stop the fountain,
take the filter media out and hose it off - it gets goopy.

Well, late yesterday afternoon I decided to get some stuff off the top
(rotting iris fronds that I put over the deep end for cooling cover for the
DF nymphs lasted months, but finally were yucky) -and- shwooop something
golden darted from one end to the other, much digging and moving and
disturbing goes by and I see Mr. or Mrs. Goldfish about 2 1/2" long, then I
notice another one only because it moved as he is mostly dark in color,
about the same size (would have thought it a frog moving about had I only
seen the 2nd one).

What the heck? Do you guys/gals think I had fish eggs on my plants when I
bought them earlier this year? I don't have a "wild" population of goldfish
in these parts (20 mi. N of Boston) - and what do I do w/them this winter?
Put them in a GF bowl? Or, if I buy a deicer will it keep the water warm
enough? And, what temp can they survive down to and up to? It's small and
heats up in the day when it's getting sun and I'm sure cools down at night.
Yikes, I'm a mom! ;-)

I'm just mystified that they escaped my notice until they were this big -
but, again, haven't really been doing too much rooting around in there.

And, as a final note, on my way out this morning to examine further I scared
a small frog off my lawn into the pond - first one this year. I definitely
have a lack of frogs and toads in the yard this year.

TIA,
~LeeAnne


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If you're an insomniac, agnostic, dyslexic do you lay
awake at night wondering if there is a dog?
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LeeAnne wrote Do you guys/gals think I had fish eggs on my plants when I
bought them earlier this year?

Yes. I set up a tank of tadpoles for a second grade class gathered off a pool
cover, bought a whole bunch of anacharis and one day we noticed a tiny fish
swimming with the tadpoles. We named him Egghead. ;-)

This birdy pond is bound to freeze solid where you are.
I'd bring the fish in. You can buy a small aquarium.
In my indoor setups I bring in anacharis and duckweed, even some plants and put
them all infront of a sunny window.




k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

k30a you're always such a wealth of info, thank you so much. I'll buy a 10
or 15 gal aquarium - I left my 'touch me not' outside all winter in its pot
and this spring it came back, so I figure I'll do the same w/it again this
year (I'll take it out of the pond like I did last year) and there is
another plant in there too also potted, forget the name now, (rotula,
rotila, ro??somethinga) but there is water lettuce which I'll bring in as
well as some handfuls of duckweed.

Actually I may even have a tank kicking around in the basement now that I
think of it.

What is the lowest my temps can dip before it kills off the fishes? I'm
surprised they have survived w/the hot hot weather we had up here - a week
straight of god-awful heat and humidity. I think I'll get a thermometer and
try to test the water temps in the am and pm hours.

LeeAnne
"K30a" wrote in message
...
LeeAnne wrote Do you guys/gals think I had fish eggs on my plants
when I
bought them earlier this year?

Yes. I set up a tank of tadpoles for a second grade class gathered off a
pool
cover, bought a whole bunch of anacharis and one day we noticed a tiny
fish
swimming with the tadpoles. We named him Egghead. ;-)

This birdy pond is bound to freeze solid where you are.
I'd bring the fish in. You can buy a small aquarium.
In my indoor setups I bring in anacharis and duckweed, even some plants
and put
them all infront of a sunny window.




k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

Ingrid and others would know better but I think a swing of 20 degrees is about
as much as they can tolerate - ick seems to kick in there.

Duckweed does great indoors for me. Water lettuce rotted away. I have one water
hyacinth in the kitchen window that is doing well but I doubt it will like the
winter sunshine.
It seems to be hit or miss with plants, depends on the amt. of sunlight I
guess. But anacharis does well and mulitiplys in the aquatic frog habitat - I
move the excess over for my youngest's goldfish to eat.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html