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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Old Timer's Disease
Hi Everyone. This one could be put into several categories. First of all, I didn't take any pics at the time because I was pretty embarrassed, but decided to put 'pen to paper' 'cause, in the end, it does have a good ending.
Got up early this Sunday morning as I do, and sitting down to a coffee, glanced out my back door to see a blackbird by our back fence in our garden border. It's the time of year all the young ones are about learning to fly, and just below it, I'd see the occasional silver flash, and I was looking for a baby flicking about in the mulch. Kept seeing this flash, but couldn't make out any babies. As Mrs Life came in, I explained, and she eventually spotted the flashing.
Immediately she said 'it's a fish!'
Well we got out real fast to spot all these danios gasping to remain alive! Confused?
Some may know that we have a pond full of Comets, Shubunkins, Danios and Mountain Minnows. Last Thursday evening around 7pm (still daylight), I decided to turn on the tap to top up the pond, got distracted and forgot to turn on the timer on our oven. Had a quiet evening and went to bed around 11pm after dozing off in front of the telly.
Friday morning up at 5am. Usually off to work by 6:30am but but had to travel direct to site. Still dark at five, and with a coffee at hand, got some preparation done at the same spot where I look out over my back yard. Our tanks are in this room, so I would often watch what the residents are up to.
As the darkness is turning to light, to my absolute horror, I saw water lapping against our back door! Our dog kennel faces our back door about 2 feet away with Sandy in it, surrounded by water.
Of course I knew what I'd done, racing out to turn off the water. It was a flood. The yard slopes away, so the deepest part would have been 7-8 inches. Needless to say, our plants got a deep soaking.
Could not see any fish out of the pond, but then again, I would have only been able to spot the goldies.
Broke the news calmly to Mrs Life who was still in bed - enough said about that! By evening, the water had only receded about 2 metres from the door, and no way of telling if there were any escapees.
The garden beds were so water logged that by Saturday evening there was still water in the back yard.
We discovered the danios in less than half an inch of water this morning, and many were mixed in mulch where there was no free water to actually swim.
I scooped up some water from the pond and poured it into their spot to give them some swimming space while Mrs Life got some plastic spoons. One by one, I put them into an icecream container with pond water. I must have retrieved over 30 of them, and they all survived! Where we found them is the lowest point in our yard, and I haven't been able to find any dead fish anywhere. The total area flooded was about 10metres wide by 6metres towards the fence at its peak.
Not looking forward to our next water bill. I had that tap running at a good pace for nearly 12 hours. Next time, I'll turn on the timer before I turn on the tap.....if I remember!!!
My signature says it all! | 
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Good morning Life. Oh wow! What a trauma.  Life I bet your fish thought you had gotten them a larger pond. I'm so glad you didn't lose any fish and I'm sorry that you had to start your day that way. I'm surprised Sandy didn't start barking once her home was surrounded by water. I hope her home didn't flood.
Were you secretly trying to tell Mrs. Life that you want a pool in the back yard? lol
Take care friend!
Ken | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hi Ken. Sandy's a boy. His kennel is a moulded plastic type. Lucky he was on the high terrain! We sometimes have him further back, and would have been flooded out. He was just tucked in - not bothered at all, until I came racing out.
Actually, the kennel probably would have floated. That would be an interesting experiment!
Here are some pics showing the water line. The bottom of the arc is where we found the danios. The pond is in the background in the other pic. | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| That looks like a really nice relaxing area Life. Love the tile! Too, it looks like I see some "Red Hot Poker" growing? Beautiful!
Ken | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I'm glad none of the birds ate your fish! | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarist48  That looks like a really nice relaxing area Life. Love the tile! Too, it looks like I see some "Red Hot Poker" growing? Beautiful!
Ken | It's a work in progress as you can probably tell, but very rewarding. I love the pokers, and I think they appreciated the deep watering! Quote:
Originally Posted by eiginh I'm glad none of the birds ate your fish! | I think they were lucky. The blackbird had just landed, and checking on the situation. It was not long into morning light, otherwise I'm sure they would have been breakfast! | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Fine dining too lol btw Nice back yard I envy it! | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by eiginh Fine dining too lol btw Nice back yard I envy it! | Thanks! Still working on how to keep plants alive! | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hi Life. What an interesting way to start a day. Glad you didn't lose any fish. I'd be glad to have my whole yard flooded with fish, it'd be like a huge yard pond  I hope your plants will do fine. Agreed with everyone, nice back yard. Any photos of the pond or even the black bird? | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| What a way to start a day, huh? Glad everyone is safe and sound and your back patio is GORGEOUS! | 
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Oh my goodness! I can imagine your surprise when you wife said it was a fish! I'm glad things weren't worse.
You might be sharing that dog house with Sandy when you get your water bill. lol | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by peacemaker92 Hi Life. What an interesting way to start a day. Glad you didn't lose any fish. I'd be glad to have my whole yard flooded with fish, it'd be like a huge yard pond I hope your plants will do fine. Agreed with everyone, nice back yard. Any photos of the pond or even the black bird? | Thanks - I'll try and get a pic of one. Plenty around atm but they don't stand still for long. I'll get some pond pics up soon. Quote:
Originally Posted by bolivianbaby What a way to start a day, huh? Glad everyone is safe and sound and your back patio is GORGEOUS! | It sure woke me up. What would have been worse was me going to work while still dark and getting the phone call from Mrs Life! Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucy Oh my goodness! I can imagine your surprise when you wife said it was a fish! I'm glad things weren't worse.
You might be sharing that dog house with Sandy when you get your water bill. lol | Yep. It's not looking good! Mind you, Mrs Life has forgotten the tap before, but I've discovered it before it got serious (and vice versa) but this one's set a new record. | |
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October 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
|  wooow.. LOL your fish must' ve been sooo excited! LOL
haha! glad everyone's ok though. I love your yard haha! any pics of the whole thing? | |
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October 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Here are some pics of my pond, plus Sandy. I made a mistake with the set up. I should have built up the sides higher and not have so much shallow area. I've got a bath set into a timber frame at work ready to bring home so that I can relocate my fish when I'm ready to 'renovate' the pond. Plan is to increase the surface area and try to have a depth around 600mm. Needless to say, I've been putting this project off! | |
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October 26th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hello Life. The pond is beautiful and so is Sandy! Are those dolphin in there?
Beautiful fish!
Ken | |
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October 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Beautiful fish, Life! I love Sandy! Beautiful dog! | |
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October 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Beautiful pond! It doesn't look man-made at all! haha Looks so natural! Beautiful fish as well And Sandy's so cute. You should post his picture in the caption fun section  | |
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