observations in changes in the pond(s)

This year I lost all my koi and many goldfish due to a power outage, 19 below
temperatures and a combination of lost air pump and where is the d*mn floating
heater. All excuses that are really not being prepared for Mother Nature's
dirty tricks. It is to be noted the bullfrog survived all this just fine. An
addendum to Mother Nature's chicanery.

Anyway.
This year I've got about 10 large goldfish and 10 small goldfish in 3,000
gallons.
I've noticed an increase water skeeters and snails in the pond. From about zero
to lots. I think the water skeeters came over from the frog bog (they fly,
kewl!) and the snails have been surviving in the veggie filter. I'm enjoying
these critters.

The frogs' eggs I put in an aluminum tub on the deck went from hatching to
swimming around to completely disappearing. No changes to froglets, its like
they wasted away. I can watch their siblings in the bog to see where they
should have been in their development. I was feeding them so they didn't
starve. More like a failure to thrive. The container, maybe? Doing some
research I'm betting it is. Aluminum and frogs don't mix well. On the plus side
the small tropical lily I have in there has three buds! I know it is going to
bloom when I'm OT next week, drat the thing. I will leave a camera with my dog
sitter with instructions to take a picture.

The middle tub has rush and duckweed and zillions of seed shrimp who zoom
around like demented sesame seeds on the highway to nowhere. Round and round
they go. They love to eat rotting romaine lettuce and fallen insects. A
bloodworm thrown in there attracts them to completely cover the thing.

The frog bog is completely grown over. This year's award for most prolific
plants go to pennywort and lizard's tail. Most of the taller plant stems have
the left over nymph case of a dragon or damselfly on them. Dark pink water
lilies are thriving in there, only ten inches deep but a huge growth, all from
a tuber tossed in there as I was walking by. Amazing. Miniature horsetail rush
is the slowest growing bog plant on the planet. It has grown out about an inch
and I'm pretty sure this is its third summer.

So any changes surprise you this year?



kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

I too lost my fish last winter... 11 or so koi... 2 comets... 2 goldfish...
died when I forgot to shut off the darn hose during a winter fill up. In
addition I thought all was lost and when my hoop house collapsed in 30+
inches of snow this Feb. so I shut everything off and let her freeze. Much
to my surprise during spring cleanup I actually had all my lillies and other
plants survive... and who would have knew a goldfish (now called Lucky) and,
of course, all the indestructable mosquito fish in my pond. So just last
Saturday while training my new Koi to hand feed I found yet another
surprise... a mysterious black goldfish joined in the feeding. I had a few
babies last year before I went on my killing spree... but I thought they
were all lost (under 2 inches at the time). This guy is already around 6
inches in length and has quite a tummy on him. He does blend into the liner
quite well.... so I am not surprised I didn't see him.

For my experiment this year I have put Blue Gill in the pond too. They get
along great with the koi and are a ton of fun. When I pull string algae
from the side of the liner the blue gill line up to attack any mosquito fish
babies that get thrown out of there algae homes. Blue Gill have also have
no fear... as they try to eat my fingers ever time too... They also seem to
like to jump right in my fish net while I am trying to isolate other fish.
Overall, this season has been quite fun so far.

"Ka30P" wrote

[snip interesting pond update]
So any changes surprise you this year?

Not sure it's a change, but last year I had a
gadzillion toad tadpoles by this time; this
year El Zippo. Most disappointing. I just
spotted some baby minnows, though.

Gail
near San Antonio TX

This year my lilies went crazy. One plant had 11 divisions and another had 9.
They weren't that big last year. One end of my pond is now covered with lily
pads and I had to rearrange the other plants as everyone was growing into each
other. The plants have gone crazy and the pond is way to clear, but... it is
so neat to watch the fish parade, largest to smallest swim by. I replaced the
2 koi lost to the kingfisher with 3 more and added another shubunkin and
discovered that last years koi must have mated with a gf as I have this monster
fish who's still brown come to dinner the other day. He is twice the size of
my largest gf but no whiskers.

We are now home to 4 green frogs and one of them has laid eggs in the golden
rush. How long do they take to hatch? Also have lots of toadlets and baby
fish swimming around. My son gave me low voltage lights for the pond and it
looks to serene at night with the lights on.

The relandscaping done last year and settling and the yard is starting to look
pretty good. The sunflowers and hosta are in bloom and the ornamental grasses
are beginning to tassle and I actually have grass this year instead of weeds!

Karen
Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K....M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention

Karen wrote How long do they take to hatch?

Will take about a week to move out of their eggs, then you see them for a while
as they just hang out using up their yolk sacks.

Interesting report on the rest of the pond!


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

Okay, amend that.
(sigh - kids are out of school, mom isn't working and I still have to get up at
6am to get youngest to conditioning... more coffee needed)

You probably will *not* see them for awhile. They tend to swim off and find the
side of the pond or a pot and stay there using up their yolk sack. They will
change to froglets by fall. Or they will winter over in the pond. All depends
on how they feel about Ohio winters.


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

This is the fourth year of the pond, and the plants have finally taken
over. Cattails blooming (if you call it that? Catting? IDK) like
crazy. Pennywort doing well, last year it seeded itself and is doing
it again this year, so it's all over the place. The lilies have so
many pads they are popping up on top of each other, and there are
always blooms out there as well. The big winner as usual are the
umbrella palms that started as one small cutting a friend gave me to
take over the entire pond, even popping up in the yard. That's OK
since the sun is so hot here, they offer good shade.
We also have tons of baby koi this year, I'm trying to catch them but
it isn't easy. I am thinking about attempting a DIY minnow trap, I'll
see how it goes. In the meantime they're filling up an aquarium
upstairs. Don't ask me why I'm keeping them I took them out of the
pond because I'm worried about overcrowding as they grow. Once they
get a little bigger I'll find another local ponder who needs
donations! This is the first year we've had so many babies. Must be
those bottles of champagne and candles I dropped in there in the
spring...

In article ,
EROSPAM (Ka30P) writes:

Okay, amend that.
(sigh - kids are out of school, mom isn't working and I still have to get up
at
6am to get youngest to conditioning... more coffee needed)

I hear that, my grandson will be a year next month, early morning rising is now
part of the routine again.

You probably will *not* see them for awhile. They tend to swim off and find
the
side of the pond or a pot and stay there using up their yolk sack. They will
change to froglets by fall. Or they will winter over in the pond. All depends
on how they feel about Ohio winters.

Are frogs territorial? Will I be drowning in frogs or will they move on to
other locals (like the town creek just down the way)? I've never had frogs
before and they are a real kick to watch. I can usually come up behind them
and scoop them into my hand and they'll look at me like "what do you think
you're doing!" and either jump or just sit there til I put them back where they
were. I do believe I also have a bullfrog resident. But still not sure.

Right now I have 6 lilies about to burst into flower, can't wait.

Karen

Zone 5
Ashland, OH
http://hometown.aol.com/kmam1/MyPond/MyPond.html
My Art Studio at
http://members.aol.com/kmmstudios/K....M.Studios.html
for email remove the extra extention

Karen wrote Are frogs territorial?

Good question. I'm not sure about all frogs but bullfrogs sure are. One year I
had several males in a 3,000 pond and they would make this clicking noise and
jump towards each other. One ponder on another board said she actually had them
wrestling each other like Sumo wrestlers.


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html