New pond (I need help)

Hey all,

It has been a while since I have been active on the forum, I feel like a year an a half of so. Not that I was super active before.... been a little busy. lol


So...skipping to today, I now have my own place and am pursuing a pond! I am so excited for this project, but I definitely need help and a little inspiration. I have a 125 (i think) preformed liner. I'm trying to figure out what I want in it and am a little stumped. I'm not sure. A year ago I had envisioned a pond with WCMM, but I also want something a little bigger and more robust...Barbs maybe? I plan to house the fish inside during the winter. Since the pond is only 18" deep, it may not be the greatest during winter. Additionally winters here have been give or take.... mild to wild, I know the fish will survive inside. Anybody want to throw out a couple suggestions?

The pond will be in a flowerbed in the front of the house. The flower bed isn't the biggest or most interesting. I'm going to need visionary help with landscaping the area to give it a little more curb appeal. Right now it is a dirt pit with landscaping block haphazardly lining the bed. This weekend I will be resetting the block properly. I'd say the location gets full sun maybe 6 hours. Morning sun is limited by the neighbors house and trees and evening is limited by my house. I entertain the idea of elevating the pond in the bed, that is mound the dirt up around the pond so it sits at a high point in the bed. I have a ton of ideas for the back yard and what I would like to do with landscaping, but I am at a complete loss for the front with this pond.

The pond is close to both a gutter and a drain. I am thinking about running the gutter to the pond and tying an overflow into the drain. I will have to get a filter sock or something to catch solids from the gutter.

What do you guys think? I will add pictures tomorrow when it is light out. I have not started anything yet, so y'all will be seeing this project from scratch.

 

Hey all,

It has been a while since I have been active on the forum, I feel like a year an a half of so. Not that I was super active before.... been a little busy. lol


So...skipping to today, I now have my own place and am pursuing a pond! I am so excited for this project, but I definitely need help and a little inspiration. I have a 125 (i think) preformed liner. I'm trying to figure out what I want in it and am a little stumped. I'm not sure. A year ago I had envisioned a pond with WCMM, but I also want something a little bigger and more robust...Barbs maybe? I plan to house the fish inside during the winter. Since the pond is only 18" deep, it may not be the greatest during winter. Additionally winters here have been give or take.... mild to wild, I know the fish will survive inside. Anybody want to throw out a couple suggestions?

The pond will be in a flowerbed in the front of the house. The flower bed isn't the biggest or most interesting. I'm going to need visionary help with landscaping the area to give it a little more curb appeal. Right now it is a dirt pit with landscaping block haphazardly lining the bed. This weekend I will be resetting the block properly. I'd say the location gets full sun maybe 6 hours. Morning sun is limited by the neighbors house and trees and evening is limited by my house. I entertain the idea of elevating the pond in the bed, that is mound the dirt up around the pond so it sits at a high point in the bed. I have a ton of ideas for the back yard and what I would like to do with landscaping, but I am at a complete loss for the front with this pond.

The pond is close to both a gutter and a drain. I am thinking about running the gutter to the pond and tying an overflow into the drain. I will have to get a filter sock or something to catch solids from the gutter.

What do you guys think? I will add pictures tomorrow when it is light out. I have not started anything yet, so y'all will be seeing this project from scratch.

I kept Paradise fish one summer in my tiny pond. They did just fine. However, I bought them from someone who'd been keeping them in ponds every summer and moving them indoors in the winter and breeding them for generations, so maybe it was a particularly hardy strain.

 

Just adding: you can't keep other critters with the Paradise fish in a pond, as they are extremely predatory! They most likely will keep the pond free of any unwanted guests, such as mosquito or damselfly larvae, but you may have to supplement their diet.
Looking at my old correspondence with the guy who sold me those fish years ago and see he also recommended Notropis Chrosomus , which I believe are called Rainbow Shiners in the US. My pond was too small, but maybe yours is big enough. It is a shoaling fish, so you need a minimum of six and they get to be 2-3 inches long. They can be kept in an indoor cold water aquarium, too, but it has to be big enough. Medakas, Guppies and of course, the White Clouds you mentioned are also possibilities for keeping outdoors while it's still temperate and then moving inside for winter.

 

Catappa I'll have to look into it more. I've never heard of them before. Sourcing them may be difficult, but I'll add it to a list of potentials. I have thought about shiners before but I do not have a proper tank to house them inside over winter. Those I'd have to source online, though I did consider it. I had even considered pygmy sunfish....to be truthful still am... AquacultureStore.com sells US natives. I think I was looking into rosy reds as well. Some of the project ideas are starting to come back to me!

 

Catappa I'll have to look into it more. I've never heard of them before. Sourcing them may be difficult, but I'll add it to a list of potentials. I have thought about shiners before but I do not have a proper tank to house them inside over winter. Those I'd have to source online, though I did consider it. I had even considered pygmy sunfish....to be truthful still am... AquacultureStore.com sells US natives. I think I was looking into rosy reds as well. Some of the project ideas are starting to come back to me!

Now that I see how small your pond is, I think only really tiny fish are suitable, such as the White Clouds, Guppies or Medakas. I wouldn't advise other kinds of minnows, such as the Rosy Reds. Minnows need to be kept in a group and generally are quite active and need well-aerated water and lots of swimming room (in my experience). For something completely different: how about Sticklebacks?
They are easy to care for and can be kept outdoors and also in a cold water tank indoors. They're very small and interesting and you might even be able to catch some locally.

I'm curious as to how you plan to plant your flower garden. Everything should be lovely by this summer!

 

4-8 comet goldfish. they could probably survive the winter. OFR has a front yard pond that's maybe 20" deep with goldfish and koi.

 

Shubunkins I think can go too