It's not a pond. But it is Pictures of some fish...

Since getting our Tosakins last year he's talked about building them their own shallow aquarium.

Tosakin tail development requires some special circumstances compared to other goldfish. They need shallower water than other goldies. In Japan and China they are still mostly kept in shallow bowls because they aren't exceptional swimmers. they also do better without much in the way of water agitation, so sponge filters and frequent water changes are better for them than large tanks.

He wanted something that fit on the table we kept their bowl on, but gives them about 3 times the water volumn without giving them too much depth. He's been thinking about doing this for several months. Talked about it, planned it out in his head. So last week when I get home from work there's this pile of glass on the kitchen table. He had gone to a local window and door place and had them cut pieces of glass to size and grind the edges so they wouldn't be sharp. Then he bought a tube of aquarium sealant and painters tape.

Then on Monday this is what he did with it.











The blue bowl beside the new aquarium is what the tosakin have been living in. And that pic shows them in their new home. Old bowl was about 6 gallons of water, new aquarium is 15.

Now I want him to build another one for the bottom shelf.

Very nice, Lari! I used to love having fish, but hated cleaning days!!

Great job, it looks good.

Bartender wrote:Very nice, Lari! I used to love having fish, but hated cleaning days!!

Almost every day is water changing day in this house. We have a LOT of tanks. Most of them are in the basement. But as you can see there are several in our "computer room" (a couple small ones you can't see) and we have a couple of 55's in the livingroom.

Since Bruce was laid off in October, most of the water changing chores have become his. He kind of has it simplified to a quicker process. We don't have small gravel in any of the tanks, so we don't have to work at the cleaning so hard. He uses a small pump he rigged to a python siphon hose so the water pumps out fairly quickly then it's declor and fill back up. Filter cleaning gets done while the tank empties usually. The bristle nosed algae eaters take care of most of the rest of the "clean up" so it's not too terrible. It does get "old", but not old enough that we have stopped aquiring more fish and aren't planning more ponds and or tanks to put them in yet.

If you look at the TV above the tosakin aquarium he just built you can see fish in a tank that are in our basement. We have a camera inside that tank. It's a 700 gallon wood framed 5'x 5'x 4' tank.
We also have koi in a 1000 gallon tank in another room in the basement. And 8 aquariums and one 150 gallon stock tank set up down there. We have been referred to as Goldie Goofy...and the name fits.

I'm impressed too! I had no idea that you had so many fish either.

Have you ever thought about an outdoor pond...?

Great job and mercy, that's a lot of acquariums and fish to take care of.

I'm impressed too! I had no idea that you had so many fish either.

Have you ever thought about an outdoor pond...?

We actually have 3 outdoor ponds, but during the winter all the fish come inside.

Our only "inground" pond is only 18" deep, and frost line around here in 2'. We did keep koi and goldies outside in it with pretty good success for 3 winters using a stock tank heater to keep a hole in the ice. We never lost a fish until the 3rd winter and one of the koi died early in the winter that 3rd year.

So, before the 4th winter we decided that the pond was just too shallow for 20" long koi to have enough water over it another year. That's when we built the 700 gallon tank in the basement and brought all of the fish inside. Unfortunately we had purchased a custom made box liner for the tank. Unknown to the manufacturer and us it was infused with something toxic to our fish. They all died within a week of being brought inside. It was really heartbreaking. Here we went though all this trouble to try to do the best thing for them, and killed them all. But we moved on. Replaced the toxic liner with EPDM.Then we bought more Koi then started going to koi shows.

At the koi and "goldfish" shows "I" got interested in fancy goldfish. At first Bruce didn't want any part of the goldies, but I wanted them, so I got 3 at show and bought a 47 gallon tank for the computer room to set them up in.

Then I bought some baby butterfly koi and they needed an aquarium to QT them to grow enough to be put in the 700 gallon tank..so also bought a 29 gallon to keep them in. They grew soon enough to join the other koi, so then we had this empty 29 gallon tank and someone had some real cute goldies at the LFS when we went in for something and we got them.

Then we went to the Indianapolis ZNA koi and goldie show and bought a large black oranda and entered her in the show. By this time Bruce had conceded that having the Goldies in their aquariums was sorta nice, And he picked out the oranda, then won Grand Champion with her. That's all it took to get Bruce absolutely HOOKED on wanting to have fancy goldies. And then through the showing the idea of trying to raise them from babies evolved and that's the current set up. We have a LOT of baby oranda and ryukins currently. But also have ranchu, tosakin, pearlscales and wakin. Oh and "I" have a couple betta. And Bruce is trying to breed our own bristle nosed longfinned albino pleco's, just because we like them for tank maintenance and they are rather expensive to buy but breed fairly easily once they get established.

Most of the tanks we've gotten for really good deals used on craig's list. and it's MUCH cheaper to build wooden tanks in the basement than get someone to dig us a deep enough hole to put a deep pond outside ($3500.00 quote). Not to mention a greenhouse to cover it for our Wisconsin winters.

Oh and since Bruce is currently unemployed and has a little time on his hands he is in the planning stages of another pond. Even considering trying to dig it himself.....(heavy clay soil...64 year old man...shovel....sounds like a Bad idea to me...but he will do what he will do)

Did I mention we could, and often have been referred to as "goldy goofy"? :

I thought I'd post a couple pictures of our ponds from last summer. They sure don't look like this now. And it's out there. I'm really starting to feel spring fever coming on though....

June

August








Bruce wants to put a pond where the flower garden is in the front corner of the yard. The one with the lighthouse in the middle of it. Heavy clay soil is the biggest obstacle to that plan. Second biggest is $.

What a beautiful place! I could sit out there forever. I know it was a lot of work but it sure was worth it.

very nice Lari
Your own little slice of paradise

Thanks everyone. We love our little spot in the world a little more with every addition. Our neighbors have said it looks like walking into a little park. The idea was a comfortable, pretty spot to sit and relax by the pond and enjoy the flowers and fish. Mostly we've accomplished that. But every project has led to another and another.

Yes, it has been a lot of work, but spread out over several years. We add something every year. Bruce builds, I plant. The eventual goal is NO GRASS, all pond, flowers and nice landscaping between them and with shaded areas to sit and relax and enjoy. The in between project maintenance is kind of a hit and miss thing when I see a weed I pull it, we use a lot of mulch, so that helps cut down on the weeding that needs done. Bruce does all the mowing. He'll get off easy once the grass is gone.

After posting those pictures earlier today I went out and took a couple pics of today...Soooo depressing.







But in a few months it'll be back to what we love.

Lari;
We have the same idea....No more grass to mow!
Our yard was all lawn when we moved here from side line to side line and from the house all the way to the back of our lot. It seemed like our yard was just another part of all the neighbors yards and there wasn't enough privacy.

10 trees and about 80 shrubs later we are starting to see some results, every year it is more sod removal, digging and dividing perennials. We try to buy most of our stuff as small starts so it is definitely a work in progress as we wait for the trees and shrubs to reach mature size. I look forward to the day I can sell the lawn tractor although Mrs. Peepers loves the tractor so I think it will be staying even if there's no grass to cut.

Looks like you have a lot longer lot than we do Freddie. We didn't have enough to justify a lawn tractor, even when it was all grass.
Sometimes I wish we had more space, but only because then it would be easier to fit a bigger pond.

Looks like you have a great start at making it your own little paradise though.

We've done a lot of the same thing you have by getting small periennials and then spreading them around as they get bigger. I want to move some of my day lillies this year. Of course I've got to de-sod and dig up both sides of the front yard to have the areas I want to put them into ready before dividing them . I intended to do it last year but never got around to it. There aren't just enough nice energetic weekend days in a summer.

Lari;
I see you are in or near Milwaukee. We are in North Central Il.
If you'd like to trade some plants that might be fun
We have some daylilies and I have plenty of Huskers Red Penstemon to share along with Black-eyed Susans and a nice pink Veronica that stays small. If you'd like a white Buddleia, We got a bunch on sale last summer and don't need all of them so you are welcome to one of those too.
I don't know if it will transfer well, but i have a native currant bush that is spreading pretty well by suckers and has yellow flowers that fill the entire yard with a wonderful clove scent in the early summer, be warned though this one has pontential to get unruly.
I noticed your Castor Beans....Do you start them every year or do they reseed themselves?

Very nice Lari. What a lot of work though. I know, we do the same thing it seems. Every summer we do a little something else. I have no thoughts for this summer but probably something will come to me eventually.

Freddie, We'll see what we can work out. 19 days till spring....although we're gonna have to see a LOT of change for it to feel anywhere close to spring around here.