Sam Newman

Thanks for the tip Caryl. I will move the fountain away from the lilly leaves. :thup:

This is my beautiful little pond. I have goldfish and frogs living in it. This year there are so many frogs that at night, they go for walks around the property. I was wondering why my dog was lunging at the end of the chain, until I realised there was a frightend froggy running the gauntlet past him. My dog has probably been eating frogs every night without me knowing. I put the froggy back in the pond and told him not to go by the mean old doggy again. Weather he listens or not is up to him. I bought a solar lillypad fountain, but the flow was pathetic, so I have rigged it up to a larger pannel and now it cranks it when the sun is out. The fish play in the splashes. Neat to watch and it has been helping to keep the water cleaner for viewing the fish, wich are quite active in these summer days. The plants have grown up around the pond well now and are beginning to give good shade for the fish and frogs. The water lillys are starting to take off too. I'm loving this summer weather. There are lots of mosquito larvae for the fishies to eat, so they are getting fat and growing quite quickly.

Ok. Thanks. I will get an Ammonia test kit this week. A big lesson to learn the hard way. I know the algae isn't harmfull to the fish, but if you can't see your fish, there isn't much point in having them. The one that died today was friendly and used to come up and feed from my hand. I'm going to miss him especially.

Yesterday I emptied the fish pond and gave it a proper cleanout as the water was completly green and it was full of rotting vegetation. I counted 30 baby fish and the origional 3 adult parent fish. I refilled the pond with fresh rainwater and put the fish back in the pond with the water fountain. Overnight all 30 baby fish were dead and today 1 of the large fish also died. I am thinking I still don't quite understand how ponds and pond fish work. So dissapointing. Today I planted lots of lilies and watercress in there to help the remaining 2 fish and planted a variety of bromilliad plants around the edge wich complement the existing plants quite well.. So all up this week, I went from having 50 pond fish down to 2. I feel ashamed and helpless. :facepalm: I intend to get a second solar water pump set up and plant some oxygen weed. Really hoping the remaining 2 big fish survive!!!

Thanks very much!

Buffering capacit? What ir that please? I kina understand about the oxygen and elements, but still have a lot to learn about keeping fish

The water was rain water. I collect it from my roof, so may have been something from the zinc coating on the tin or other elements I guess. I should have used water from the pond that the goldfish live in. The baby fishys that were left in the pond are getting big now. I would say the adult fishys would have a hard time eating them these days. I keep them well fed too. I recently bought 1 of these lilly pad water fountains to help keep the water moving. The fish play in the splashes. I would like to get a couple more. I planted some watercress in the pond today. Fingers crossed. 8) And cheers for the heads up re the net.

:thup: That's great! I have a couple of lillys, but left the kaikuya roots drooping in the water this year. Helped a lot. I could plant all sorts if I got a pump, otherwise it would be too stagnant for most water plants. I hope to have this problem resolved soon. I usually throw some bunched up braken in the pond at the end of winter for them to lay their eggs in. Works pretty good as well. If I can get a pump, I will defnatly be planting it out. Cheers.

:facepalm: Thanks everyone. That makes sence. I would say it would be the chemistry or parasite problem as I made sure the tub temp was the same as the pond. The breeding trap is a great idea. I have an old whitebait net that I can convert. I don't know if frogs eat fish fry, but the big fish defnatly do. Especially the 1 I caught in the river a year ago (who has reverted back to orange with a black stripe) Good to get them out of the river. I am currently looking to purchase a cheap solar fountain to float in the pond to help with the algae problem over summer. I have a 12v solar pannel and battery so if anyone knows where I can buy a small water or air pump for around $30 or trade for something, that info would be appreciated. The trees around the pond are getting bigger but not big enough to shade it properly yet. I love the idea of keeping natives in a pond, but understand that they need a good flow, so I am still working on the pond in the stream where the natives already thrive. Thanks again for the help. There are still about a dozen baby goldfish in the pond to save. Sam.

I had great success with the goldfish and frogs breeding in the pond this year. I was worried the little babies would get eaten by the bigger fish or frogs, so I caught 18 of them and put them in a tub full of water. I was oxygenating the water regularly and changing some of the water too. I was feeding them mosqito lavae, wich they seemd to love, unfortunatly, I woke up this morning to find them all dead exept 1. I am so sad. What have I done wrong? I don't think it was overcrowding, as they were small fishys in a big tub. That'll teach me for mucking with natures ballance :tears:

Good work mate! Got to LOVE the mint for its survival qualities. I'm right into choosing my weeds. Planting usefull things like mint to overgrow kaikuia etc. It likes a good chop back too. Grows lovely fresh leaves afterwards. I'm about to plant zambos and gourds into a floating container in my fish pond. I'm really happy, this year there are so many frogs. Has anyone else noticed a frog population boom? :thup:

This is what I have got so far.

My pond is a little different, as I am using a small stream and wish to use the flow to deliver the fishy water to the plants that will be on the island and have watercress and other water plants around the edge. I intend to use the Banded Kokopu, Shrimp and Koura that are already there.I will take a picture of how it looks to post later today. 8) Can you dig it?

I'm using a shovel. The pond is about 3m X 5m wide and 1m deep with a small island in the middle. I am taking my time getting the shape right. The only thing I'm not quite sure about is how much light to let in for the plants and the right amount of algae for oxygen levels. It is nice and cool where it is and there is a constant flow of water, so I would imagine it would cope with a high amount of algae, but on the other hand, I don't want the water temp to be too high for the fish in the middle of summer. I guess I will find out when the pond is finished and then thin the trees 1 at a time until I get it right. I hope to have it finished and planted out by the middle of summer.

Still digging my pond, although I have planted some bananas around the edge. :digH:

Great work! You have got me keen to get something happening. I'm going to start with Watercress and Karawaka's.

Good on you! Waterlogged. Maybe if people spend all day fishing and don't catch anything, they can buy a trout from you. :happy2:

You will know if what your doing is wrong. People coarse fish for catfish. Catch and release. You are supposed to kill them. Some egg released them into the Waikato river, along with tench, perch, rudd, golfish and koi You are not allowed to keep trout because the govt thinks that it would take away from the trout fishing industry. Totaly crazy. Good luck, whatever fish you choose.

Very nice work! You must have had fun making it and enjoy your creation every day. I want to set up a solar system where water is pumped from the river to a duck enclosure. The waste from the ducks feed into a trout run, which then flows into the garden. I have been digging out bananas today to plant around the outlet from the ducks as a type of filter. Not sure what kind of trout I will choose yet. I guess it depends how big I can make the fish run. Probably go for Kokopo, as they are already there and don't require so much space.

That's why, as I have just explained about going through the correct protocols. If I were to farm Salmon, it would be done in cages from disease free stock. As for dairy farms, don't get me started! Good to have conservational minded people like you around Stella.

I wasn't trying to buy Kahawai. I can catch them myself. I was after Atlantic or Sockeye Salmon. I have been communicating with Kate Wilkonson (the minister of conservation) and am well aware of the requirements. I also understand the destruction caused from disease and introduced species eating native fish eggs and Sacred food sources. I would of corse, go throught the correct protocol! in this way. I have a very special river with many fish and fresh water critters running past my property with a small constant bush stream running into it. I feel priveleged to have what I have got and my main priority is to protect it. secondly to improve it. So. anything I can do to help maintain a healthy waterway is cool. Especially if it makes a good food source for me. (besides making friends with the locals {tunna's and kokopo's} and crays, of corse).

Thanks for your reply. Stella's idea of keeping grey mullet got me so keen, now I'm digging a hole in my stream to keep them. Kahawai may be a better idea and well worth a try. Both taste great. Kahawai are a type of salmon and that was what I was really after in the first place. I have contacted the salmon farms in the south island but have had no responce yet. Rainbow trout would be evin better, but because of greedy government regulations, it is illeagle to keep or release them.

Whyle I was collecting a few freshwater shrimp from the stream, I caught a big Common Bully. I put it in my container with the shrimp. I planned on admiring him and putting him back afterwards. When I went to check him out, he was gone. It wasn't until lunchtime when I found the poor thing laying in the sun on the carpet at the back of my mates 4X4. When I picked him up, to my surprise, he was still well and truely alive. So I put him into a bucket of water and let him go back in the pool where he came from. They are touf little fellers! I'm impressed.

Drilling holes is a good idea. I am trying to find a way to run a pipe upstream to run constantly into the bath. The only trouble is my stream doesn't have much fall, so I may need a longer pipe or place my bath below my waterfall. This is tricky to find a suitable place out of the flood level. I can't see how it would work without the flowing water. Im hoping to keep a couple of Koura, a dozen shrimp, a small school of Banded Kokopo, and a few Common Bully, Bluegilled Bully and Black Bully fish.

Thanks for the advice. Wow! Thats hot for down south. I will defnatly sink the bath into the ground then. I don't want to cook these fish. :lol: I will check that I have the temp right before I put anything in there. How many Inanga would you think is a good amount for a bath tub, without overcrouding? CHEERS.