Backyard-Pond-Guide.com Blog

These are just some random thoughts about outdoor fish ponds and some things I experienced over the past year.  Hopefully they can give you some insight into your own backyard pond.

The longer you have a pond, the more established it gets.  Let me explain.  When you first put in a pond, everything is new.  The liner, the stones, the plants and flowers, etc.  As your pond gets established, things settle in, things sorta grow into each other, giving it a more natural look to it.  You’ll see what I mean as the years go by.

Your pond supplies and equipment should last you for many years.  I had to replace one of my original pond pumps that I had for almost 15 years.  It was a Mag Drive Pump made by Pondmaster.  It was like the energizer bunny, it just kept running and running year after year.  If you’re in the market for a good water pump, I highly recommend a Mag Drive.

During this past year, late spring, early summer, we lost quite a few fish, if I remember right they were all Comets and one of our big Koi..  They all looked perfectly healthy, but for a stretch of about 2 weeks, we would find a fish or two floating.  The only thing that we could think of that could possibly cause this was for the first time we hired a lawn service to fertilize our yard.  We think maybe some of the fertilizer got into the pond and killed the fish.  My wife drained about half the pond and replaced it with new fresh water.  The fish have been fine ever since.

The pond plants and the flowers around the pond really flourished this year.  By the middle of August we were throwing Lettuce and Water Hyacinths out on a weekly basis because they were taking over the pond.  They really grew fast.

Important note about leaves in the fall.  You want to try and keep them out of your fish pond.  They’re not good for the water or the fish.  We use a net while the leaves are falling and take it off when they’re done.  Saves you the trouble of scooping them out with a net.  Keep it in mind for next year.

As far as the winter goes.  It’s a good idea to keep a small hole when the ice starts to cover your pond.  This allows any gases to escape and thus keeping your fish safe.

I hope all of you have a great 2010.  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to visit my main site Backyard-Pond-Guide.com to learn more about outdoor fish ponds.

Having an outdoor fish pond will bring you years of enjoyment.

Well folks, our pond season is over.  Here it is October 12th and my wife pretty much just closed down the pond for the year.   She pulled all of the pond plants out, put a net over the pond, and quit feeding the fish.  She did leave the water pump running just so we can have a waterfall a little while longer.

It’s been pretty cold at night here in Ohio and most of the fish have headed down to the bottom of the pond to start their hibernation.  Very little movement from them over the past few days.

For those of you that have trees around your pond, I highly recommend that you put a net on your pond to keep the leaves out.  Decaying leaves are not good for your pond or fish.

The pond plants that she took out have been cut down and we will store them down in our basement for the winter.  They do come back to life in the spring so you may want to consider that also.

The fish we have all look very healthy and very relaxed at the bottom of the pond.  It’s amazing that they survive our very cold winters.  It’s like they go into some kind of suspended animation.  They’re really neat to have and they do live a long time.  My wife does treat them like pets of the family though.

I’ll talk to you again soon.  Bob

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted something here.

This past summer has been kinda hectic around the pond.  We lost quite a few fish in July, about 15 of them.  They were all Comets and all looked perfectly healthy.  We lost them all over the course of about a week.  My wife ended up changing about a third of our pond water and it seemed to help a lot.  We haven’t lost anymore since then.

We really don’t have an explanation for it, however this was the first year we ever had a lawn service come out and fertilize our grass.  We think maybe they got some fertilizer in the pond.  We’ll never know for sure, but we did cancel the lawn service.

I’ve added some more pictures of different ponds that others have sent in to me.  Feel free to send yours in too, I’ll put them up.  Talk to you later.  Bob