I'll keep Guppies in mind if the gold fish don't work out. Here's a picture of my little "barrel pond". The water lilies are doing quite well... and I've added some CatTails to it. I'll try to get a photo of the goldfish. barrel pond finished ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )
I finally got photos of the 2 goldfish. I bribed them to come out with some fish food. :-D goldfish ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )
Hello everyone, I recently (about a week ago) got a beautiful water lily and started my little container pond running. It is outside my apartment, has no electric outlet and so I cannot run any pump in it. It is a 10 gallon set up, has 2 more little submerged grasslike plants and I added 2 small 'feeder' goldfish to control any mosquito population building up. One of the fishes died within 14 hours. The other one is going strong for 4 days now. I added a clay pot and PVC t pipe connect to give it places to hide. I also added some beneficial bacteria today and I use water conditioner when I change 20% of water.(have already done that because the fish was acting drunk). My questions are : 1. How often do you change water? 2. How do you control water temp? I live in FL and soon it is going to get unbearable. My water lily needs full sun so I can't move the pot to my patio. 3. What do you do to keep the fish alive? 4. If this one survives, should I add one more to keep it company?
Hi Deep We had someone here last year that had a similar set-up as your's. Here's a link to her post: http://www.gardenstew.com/about27312.html There's some good info there. As far as my set-up... I still have that barrel (plus a huge 75 gallon stock tank). I change the water once a year in the spring. I don't control the water temp and both are in full sun. I've had no problems with the water lilies or the fish. One day I'll have to check the water temperature. But I could see how a smaller tank could get too hot. I bet you could still make sure it gets some shade during the hottest time of the day and your lilies should do okay. I don't do anything special for my fish except give them some regular fish food every-once-in-a-while (but when I did first get them, I fed them daily until the tanks built up their own eco-system). Do check out that link... I bet most of your questions are answered there. How about a photo? I'd love to see your set-up. Good luck!
Hey Cheryl, Thank you so much for your help. Here are some photos of my set up. I have set the pond next to the big Gardenia pot so it gets some shade during afternoon sun. ( photo / image / picture from deepikasathe's Garden ) In this one you can see the little fishy. ( photo / image / picture from deepikasathe's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from deepikasathe's Garden ) Regards, Deepika.
So glad I was able to help. Well... you probably got more help for that other thread and the others than from me. :-D First off... what a GORGEOUS bloom! And a nice little set-up. I bought a couple of the same containers earlier to use for some plants. When I saw them, I thought "Where the heck were they when I was looking for something for my first water lilies!" :-D Besides moving the container... did you make any other adjustments?
Hi Cheryl, Thank you for appreciating the bloom.. I just love this color. I haven't made any other arrangement/adjustment yet. I will get the water tested for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite next week, giving the bacteria time to do it's work. I have installed a thermometer in the pond and the water temp doesn't go beyond 90°F so far. As it gets closer to summer, I will probably have to move it near my neighbor's patio to get some shade or build something around it. I had a question for you ..how frequent water change is good? I have to water my plants almost everyday and may be twice a day when it gets in the middle of the summer, especially my rose. So I can use the pond water for that purpose and refill my pond with fresh water treated with water conditioner. Do you think this everyday approximately 15-20% water change is OK? Thank you, Deepika.
I don’t think you should change the water that often. It will probably be okay to do a partial change once a week. But I’m really thinking you should just leave it alone for a while and see how clear the water stays on it’s own. Then you can tell how often it will need some fresh clean water.
deepikasathe, Hi there. If your little pond is less than 4 weeks old you should probably do about a quarter water change every 7 days and do feed much. Once it becomes established and all the waste products are down to ZERO....then you shouldn't have to do a small water change but about once a month and if you are going to feed you can do it more often. Yes, using fish water is wonderful for plants.
