All About Ponds and Pond Fish

What brings life and beauty to your backyard, adds value and landscaping to your home, requires little maintenance, and promotes wildlife and natural ecosystems? A backyard pond! A unique alternative to the aquarium, pond keeping is a fascinating and rewarding hobby. First of all, fish are particularly fun and interesting to watch in a pond because it is such a wonderful simulation of their natural habitat in the wild. Secondly, the pond itself is a natural, relaxing, and scenic addition that can provide entertainment and enjoyment, while adding value and landscaping to your property.

The other great thing about having a small backyard pond is that they are also extremely effective in drawing wildlife right to your backyard. As a major source of outdoor water, it will be used and appreciated by neighborhood wildlife such as frogs, turtles, dragonflies, butterflies, birds, and other small animals. Did you know that ponds are currently considered an endangered natural habitat by U.S. wildlife conservation agencies? By attracting and supporting wildlife, you and your pond will play a part in promoting and protecting the natural ecosystem and the environment by contributing to the security and protection of many species. In addition, a pond and the natural ecosystem that it builds offer a wonderful opportunity for your family to observe, enjoy, study, and interrelate with wildlife in your own back yard.

Many different types of ponds are available depending on your budget, the level of energy and time that you want to put into the pond, and your backyard or space requirements. Basically, you can make your own pond or go buy one. The pond can be as simple as a small plastic "tub" pond you can buy at your local pet shop, a large water bowl, or even half of an old wooden barrel with a plastic liner. These can be placed on the patio and provide many of the same benefits as a pond built in to the ground, although you will probably not be able to keep large fish in it and there will be less potential for attracting a lot of wildlife.

There are also numerous tub kits available that can be as simple as adding water, a pump, and some plants. If you are feeling a bit more industrious, you can dig your own natural pond in the backyard, and finish it by lining it with plastic pond liner or even with a concrete or tile coating. You can then put dirt in the bottom of plastic or concrete ponds to make the ponds more organic. If you buy a pond, it will come with detailed instructions about how to install it.

How big should a backyard pond be? A pond can be as small as one foot to two feet across, to as big as a small lake. Ponds can hold from a few gallons to many thousands of gallons. The important concern is the pond's depth. Your pond, or at least part of it, should be at least two to three feet deep. This depth is important and has three benefits. First of all, it will allow for a greater diversity of plants and fish to live in the pond. Secondly of all, it protects your fish from being possibly eaten by larger wildlife such as raccoons and herons. Thirdly, this depth keeps your pond cooler in the summer months and it will weather the winter better.

You can create tiers around the inside of the pond at various depths to allow you to place aquatic plants of different heights in the pond. Also, to help insure that small animals do not fall into the pond and drown, you can place partially submerged rocks or logs in the water, arrange some rocks or bricks into a step like fashion leading into the pool, or leave a shelf that is no more than two inches deep if you dig the pool.

Now, where do you put the pond? The main thing is to avoid putting the pond under large trees. That is because most fish and aquatic plants will grow better where they can get enough full sun each day. Specifically, you should situate your pond where it will get at least five hours of sunlight each day. The other reason for keeping ponds away from large trees is to avoid having too many leaves fall into the pond and decay there, which would be unsightly for you and unhealthy for the fish. If you plan to use a pump to recirculate water, use a filter, or light the area, be sure electrical service is available near the pond.

It will be a very good idea to get some pond plants to plant inside your pond. Pond plants are beautiful and interesting in appearance, and are also very important to the natural balance of the garden pond. Emergent and floating plants are water plants that have their roots in the water but their shoots and broad leaves floating above water. These include cattails, hyacinths, and water lilies. Submergent plants, or those that remain completely under water, include elodea and eelgrass. Finally, you may want to plant some flowers or plants around the pond. This will make your pond even more beautiful and help further attract wildlife.

As for pond aeration and filtration, you can use natural methods, mechanical methods, or a combination of both. In most ponds, pond plants will provide sufficient oxygenation and aeration for the fish. The emergent and floating pond plants mentioned above will help reduce the growth of algae which can be unsightly and consume too many nutrients from the water, while submergent plants are often used as oxygenators (this means they remove carbon dioxide from the water and add oxygen) and they will also help keep the water clear. Finally, scavengers such as snails and catfish will be sufficient for cleaning up most wastes from the bottom of the pond.

However, if you find that the pond is not being kept clean and clear enough by the natural methods in the previous paragraph, you might want to get a pump and filter system for your pond, especially if you plan to keep a lot of fish in the pond. A good filter system will filter the pond's entire volume every couple of hours, removing solid and chemical waste from your pond pretty much completely. There are also filters that come with aerators built into them. These filters will return the water to the pond by a waterfall or fountain, which not only looks very nice but also aerates the pond extremely well.

With sufficient natural and/or mechanical aeration and filtration, your pond should not need to be cleaned very often. Normally, cleaning or changing the water once a year in the early spring is sufficient. However, if you notice your pond getting pretty dirty, overgrown with algae, or if you suspect chemical pollution, then you might want to change the water. In that case, change 20% of the water in your pond once a week or so for a few weeks. This simply means removing about 20% of the old water from your pond and replacing it with fresh tap water from the faucet. Avoid changing all the water at once. Adding fresh water to your pond occasionally will help keep the water clean and clear, and prevent excessive algae growth. Scooping out leaves and other debris from the pond by using a net or similar tool is another easy way to help keep the water clean and clear.

Now, let us take a look at some pond fish. There are a great variety of fish that do well in ponds. Some of the most popular and hardy are koi, goldfish, and catfish or plecostomus. There are also many sub-varieties of these fish. Most goldfish are relatively inexpensive, hardy, and are great for ponds. Koi are one of the more popular fish added to ponds. These fish are large, beautiful, colorful, hardy, and can live up to 70 years when properly cared for. You can put goldfish with your koi, but make sure to put about the same size fish together. Whatever fish you put in your pond, feed them food sparingly. Floating food that is specifically made for pond fish can be found at your local pet store. If your fish do not eat all of the food in 10 minutes, get a net and scoop out the uneaten food.

As you can see, keeping a pond and pond fish can be a very rewarding and fun hobby. The setup may take some time and effort, but the rewards are well worth it and maintaining the pond is not very hard at all. If you are interested in having a pond, now is a good time to start thinking about it and planning it because early spring is the best time for pond setup. Springtime is the best time to install a pond because you can start planting and stocking your pond right after you have finished it so that you can enjoy the fruits of your work almost immediately, and because most wildlife tend to be the most active in the springtime and will be more likely to find their way to your beautifully blooming pond.

Be different and stand out, and be a patron of wildlife - get a pond! If you have any questions regarding ponds and pond fish, just ask us and we will help you any way we can.

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