My husband started by making me a wheelchair ramp off of the front door because the steps were hard for me to do, and he was afraid that I would fall and hurt myself. Then, he added on a small deck so we can sit outside in nice weather.
Now, he has built a semi-circle out in front of the deck, and when it is finished; it will be a small fish pond with a fountain.
That will not be until next spring, but I am looking forward to having the pond and getting some plants and goldfish to put in it.
It should be a nice cool-sounding noise when we sit out on the deck with our morning coffee, and listen to the birds chirping and the fountain splashing.
Good luck with your pond.
Make sure it will have a filter system running 24/7. Aquarium or pond, they all need a filter system. There are actually fountains with built-in filter for sale. Don't overstock your pond with too many fish.
How big will it be? In gallons?
Thank you for the great tips, Thor ! ! We are planning on having a filter system in it, and if we can get a fountain that already has a filter, that seems like a good way to do it. Both of those would need electricity to run them, so if it is all in one unit, then one plug-in would run everything.
My husband said that it should be around 50 gallons when it is full, so not real large, but big enough that I can have a few goldfish. I would have guess more water than 50 gallons, because it will be bigger than my horse trough was, and that was about 50 gallons. (I used to have to haul water before I got hooked to county water, and it took most of a 55 gallon drum to fill the water trough.)
I actually had a couple of goldfish that lived in the horse trough in the summer, and then inside in the fishtank during the cold winter months. They did fine with out any kind of filtration system, but of course, the horses and deer were drinking the water; so I had to refill it every couple of days, which meant the fish always had fresh water.
50 gallon is enough for only 2 goldfish. Any more might cause ammonia spike since goldfish are messy.
Since it is going to be an outdoor pond, you might as well make it bigger. Something like 500 to 1500 gallon will do better as an outdoor pond with fish. The more water you have, the less the weather will affect the pond.
I talked to my husband about the size of the pond, Thor. Since he already has the semi-circle built, and just needs the inside covering on so it will hold water; the one he is building out front will have to stay the size it is, and either have only a couple of the little goldfish in it, or maybe just be a splashy fountain and not have fish at all.
He said that there is plenty of room out in the back yard to make a larger pond out there that could actually hold the fish better; so we might end up having to do that instead.
Regardless, it is not going to happen until next spring/summer; so I will have a better idea of what we can do by then.
I didn't realise that a goldfish would need so much water ! I remember having one when I was a kid, and we just had it in one of those little oval goldfish bowls. We had to take it out pretty often and change the water because it got dirty fast; but the fish seemed to do ok as long as we did that.
10-17-2014, 12:45 AM, (This post was last modified: 10-17-2014, 12:56 AM by Happyflowerlady.)
Here is a link to a picture of the deck that my husband has been building, and you can see the place where the founain/pond is going to be. It is the semi-circle of wood in the front.
Yes, I know that it is just lattice behind it . (I keep telling him that the fish are going to just swim out of there...)
By next spring we can put a liner in it, and the pump/filter and add the water and fish. I guess, it is actually not what you would call a fishpond, since they are usually in the ground, or at least partially in the ground; whereas this is more like a fountain, which is often built above ground.
I can at least put some pond plants in it, so it will be pretty when we look at it. Once those are doing well, I can try a goldfish or two and see how they do.
Goldfish grow depending on the size of the tank, so even if I start with little ones, they should grow in there.
My husband has been working on his fountain and little pond this spring, and he is much closer to having it finished now. Once he has it working, then we can put in some water plants, and of all goes well, then we will get a couple of goldfish from Walmart and see how they do in there
The birds are already liking it, and we saw one that was getting a drink from where the water dribbles down from the top.
The pump takes the water up to the top of a tall piece of driftwood,which is covered with plastic leaves to look like it is real, and then the water slowly cascades down over the leaves and into the tiny pond at the bottom.
The birds can sit on the branches of the driftwood and get a drink of fresh running water, and probably even take a bird bath if they want to.
It still has more work to go; but here is a picture of how it is looking so far. It is hard to see in the picture, but the water is trickling down from the top of the driftwood, and down over the leaves.
I can imagine the tranquilizing effects of your goldfish pond. Size or volume do not necessarily matter as long as you don't overpopulate the pond and it has a proper depth. The problem of ammonia is a challenging one. Other than changing or recycling the water, you can line the pond when the pH rises to neutralise the ammonia since it is acidic. How about planting some water plants at the bottom to purify the water? Some plants like Elodea and water lily can perform a good job in this regard.
We are still working on the final appearance of the fountain/fish pond. At this time, we have decided that we wont add any fish for at least the first year. We want to be sure that we have the fountain working right, and then add some water plants and then let those grow for a while.
By the time we are sure that the fountain and pond part is working okay and the plantss are doing fine; we will be getting towards fall, or at the very leas, into the heat of summer.
Even though the fountain is in the front of the house and sheltered by the big trees in the front yard, it still getss really hot in Alabama in the late part of summer, and might be too hot for fish, unless it was a much deeper pond.
Whether we can put goldfish in it or not, by this summer, we should have the fountain finished and be able to enjoy seeing it and listening to the water cascade down from the fountain. Just this will be a wonderful addition to the front of the house.
Goldfish tend to grow to be quite large, especially the pond-friendly comets, which are capable of reaching around 10 to 12 inches in length. Depending on your winter climate, and it sounds like you already plan to bring the fish inside for the winter, you will need quite a large holding tank to keep them in during those colder months. If your pond is dug at least three feet deep in one section, the fish will have a place to go when the pond freezes as the pond shouldn't freeze that deep. Goldies will hibernate when it turns cold, so they won't move much, nor will they eat much. They will likely just stay in one random position for most of the winter, so if your pond is deep enough you won't need to bring your goldfish inside at all. Some people like to maintain an air hole in the ice and that can be done with a floating heater, or the ice itself will probably store enough oxygen in bubbles just beneath it to keep hibernating fish alive for months. Also, your pond should have at least one section that is a bit shaded from the direct sunlight in the summer, so digging the hole beneath some nice big trees can help to give the fish a respite from the hot sun. It also helps to plant water lilies or other plants in there to give the fish something to hide beneath to get out of the sun. I disagree that 50 gallons is only room enough for two goldies, but if you desire more than two, I would get the fancy type, such as orandas, as they grow more slowly and never get quite as large as the comets. Also, the fancies do best when indoors as they are slow swimmers, so keeping them outside only in the summer is a good idea, but make sure the pond is deep enough that predators can't easily catch them. Again, around 2 to 3 feet in the deepest section would be best for that purpose.
Something like 500 to 1500 gallon will do better as an outdoor pond with fish. The more water you have, the less the weather will affect the pond.