My new pond

I just wanted to tell y'all about MY new "pond". It's in my back yard. God built it with all the rain we've been having. It even has ducks in it! I have a low spot way in the back that is full of water. My neighbors ducks decided it was put there for them. My Black Lab loves it!

 Ha Ha  Congratulations.. Welcome to the sucker club

Even though there is a lot of work involved....with out a doubt the pond is the best thing to happen to our yard.
I can't imagine the yard without it now

Rosebud,

Save your money and rent a backhoe.

Happy ponding,

Rich :[IMG]/rosey.gi

Oh and another arguement for a "real" pond... that swampy area will be mosquito breeding haven. If you build a pond, Design it so that it also addresses the drainage issue you obviously have back there. Then you won't have nearly the trouble with mosquito's. The fish will eat the larvae.

I'd have to agree with freddie. Up until a year and a half ago my pond consisted of a 80 gallon tub sitting up on cinder blocks with a wire cover to keep the coons out. To have a larger pond in the ground now is closer to my dream pond come true.

Happy ponding,

Rich

Lari,

You mentioned mosquitos. I have some barrowed, (if it's safe to say it that way) mosquito fish from the state of Oregon in my pond. They are quite prolific, and breed about thre to four times a year. We don't any standing water anywhere near here, but the mosquitos come out at night in the summer here real bad. So keep the mosquito fish handy to put in anything that could potentially harbor mosquito larvae.

Happy ponding,

Rich

Rich have you ever tried the mosquito dunks they sell at Lowes or Home Depot? They work good. Just drop them in anything filled w/ water. I don't think you can put them in with fish tho. But if you have lilies in a tub that would be good. The little fish you stick in there are prolly cheaper in the long run tho.  [/quote]



No I haven't, but with all of mosquito fish that I now have I won't need to. Thanks anyway.

Happy ponding,

Rich  

Appearantly there are several varieties of mosquito fish around the states, but I don't know anything about them except that you are right about them breeding like bunnies. The mosquito fish that I have are from Oregon State and they breed about three to four times a year. I put four of them in my fifty gallon aquarium in my office and they haven't grown much. The ones in my pond are about three inches long when they start to breed, and are breeding like crazy. So far, they haven't been a problem. I recieved six of them early last spring, and now my wild guess would be that there are about two dozen of them. Rarely, but once in a while I will find one that jumped out the pond. They get along just fine with the rest of the shubunkins and sarasa.

Happy ponding,

Rich

I think that some of the baby mosquito fish get eaten by the shubunkin's, obviously not all. Especially when there are periods when there are few places to hide for the new born mosquito fish.

Mosquito fish are not sold in Washington state, so I would imagine that mosquito fish are not legal here. They are supposed to be state regulated from state to state. I.E., each state of the union has it's own restrictions on certain fish and plants, and I think mosquito fish are one of them.

Happy ponding,

Rich  

I found this information online, and thought I should share it with all.

Mosquito Fish



Mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) are available free to residents of Washington County for use in their ornamental ponds and water troughs. Call the Environmental Health Program at 503-846-8722 for details.

Mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) are small fish ranging in size from 1 to 2.5 inches. They have been known to feed on spiders, snails, algae, zooplankton, fish fry, and insect larvae.

Gambusia a. received their name “Mosquito fish” because of the large amounts of mosquito larvae they have been known to consume. One Mosquito fish can eat over 50 mosquito larvae in less than an hour.

Mosquito fish are non-native to Oregon and therefore state law restricts their use to self-contained water bodies which are not fed or drained by natural waterways.

Information regarding how to use Gambusia a. for mosquito control is available from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A West Nile Virus Fact Sheet is available from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Happy ponding,

Rich

P.S. Washington County is in Oregon State.

Okay so now you will never have any Shubbies that will have babies if you keep them in w/ your fish as the Mosquito fish will eat them all up. I think I read this somewhere on another forum once. I think I would contain them just to the big lily tubs as your Shubbies will take care of any mosquito larvae that are made unless of course you don't want any little baby Shubbies   I myself would want the baby Shubbies cuz they are such nice pretty fish and that way you would never have to buy more   But if you have them in w/ the fish already.........good luck getting them all out  [/quote]



At this time  I don't have intentions of getting rid of the mosquito fish, but if and when I do, it won't hard. It would only take me about an hour of persistant netting. In the mean time they are there to stay. I will end up thinning some out and put into the eight 27 gallon lotus tubs.

Happy ponding,

Rich  

This is the pond God made for me. I guess the ducks weren't out yet.

Hi Rosebud,

How deep is our pond? Is it seasonal? I.E., does it dry up?

Happy ponding,

Rich

OldMarine wrote:Hi Rosebud,

How deep is our pond? Is it seasonal? I.E., does it dry up?

Happy ponding,

Rich

It's definitely seasonal. LOL Around here, when summer hits it's hardest, we'll have 2 inch cracks where this water is now! We have this drainage problem because the people who live behind us brought in sand and raised their yard. I wanted to bring in sand and raise our yard too, but Robert said we would probably start a war to see who could raise their yard the highest!

Rosebud,

Go with what suggested, but with a slight modification. Add the sand around your low spot, and then put a pond liner in it. That would make the neighbor envious instead of starting a war.  

Happy ponding,

Rich