Hi guys! I have a question for you all. I want to put goldfish (I think they are called Comets) in my pond. The water temp is about 50 degrees now. Can I put goldfish in now? Also, I'm so excited as I have at least 3 frogs right now and there are frog eggs!!!! A gigantic waterbug is living there too. I took him out of the skimmer twice. Lots of water striders and snails. I just love my pond and could sit there for hours looking in the water.
would love to see pict of your pond. Here in Mich. I usually wait till the weather is abit warmer to add fish. Right now I already have between 10-12 fish. And just seen 3 frogs yesterday, but we'll have more. Maybe you could add new fish. once you get them home, let the bag float for abit so the new fish get used to the temperature change then release them.
Petunia, Never mind about that picture question. I can see where you can upload. I guess I'll try that now
I cannot do this. The pictures I have are not formated right (jpeg) Anyways, I guess I'll wait a little longer but it will be hard!
Hi mondotomhead, can you email me one of your photos to the email address at the bottom of the page and I'll try to find out what the problem is. Thanks!
The only way you could get a picture is if I forward it directly to your email and I do not see your email anywhere or anything that could be an email address!
I leave my goldfish in my pond all winter long, but have a waterfall that keeps a portion open and free of ice. They're pretty tough, and have been in my pond for several years now. My frogs all woke up last weekend, too, so spring has sprung here in Wisconsin (although there's snow on the ground again as of this morning!).
Before you go ahead and add fish to your pond remember that they will eat the frog spawn you have. Maybe you should wait a while until the frogs eggs hatch and the tadpoles are big enough not to make a ready meal for fish.
I wish I could have frogs. My goldfish have never let an frog egg live, or a frog. I keep my goldfish in the pond over the winter. Somewhere years ago I read where you should not add goldfish to a pond until May (Mother's Day) so that there will enough natural food for them. I have found that goldfish (I only buy "feeders" anymore because of critters) are pretty hardy. The fancier colored ones are less hardy. During the winter my pond freezes, but not to the bottom. I have a plastic ball I keep floating on the pond in case we have a really continuous cold spell. If it looks like the ice is going to get more than an inch or so I lift the ball and siphon a little water out to create an air space and then put the ball back in. If there is snow I don't worry about it as the snow will insulate the pond. Of course I live where the temperatures don't get below 10 degrees F. and then not for very many weeks.
Thanks you guys for telling me about the fish eating the pollywogs. I stupidly did not even consider this. And due to the help of Frank and Petunia here is a picture of my pond from last year, 3 weeks after construction. I still need to due alot of landscaping so current pictures would look pretty much the same ( photo / image / picture from mondotomhead's Garden )
nice pond, is your falls made out of a premade structure? I like the grasses and plants around. Now do you keep your pond going through the winter?
The waterfall is not pre-made. My husband did this himself. Every single rock that made this waterfall and line the edges of the pond came out of the hole dug for the pond. We didn't have to buy sand, gravel, or rocks as this is what is under the 3 inches of sod. (Horrible for gardening!) We cleaned every rock, screen out the sand and all this in mid-July when the temp was over 90 and extremely humid. I fell in the pond by accident and it felt good :-D I have a series of construction pictures but they are on the Kodak site and could only send them directly via an email if anyone is interested.
