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On the left is my 300 gallon pond at the end of the patio. On the right the seven original inhabitants that began the summer of 1998. |
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The seven grew to 13 before the summer of 1998 was over. The last hatched late in the fall. I did not think he would make through the winter. But he has not only made it but has grown and has began to change from the black of the babies to the gold of the adults.My pond has wintered over very well. The Aquariums in the house have not had all the attention that they needed but 3 of the four have made it ok. I lost one fish due to old age.
It was a dry summer but I kept the pond filled and now (October 1999) there are 20 goldfish, perhaps more in it. The largest two of the old fish are now 11 inches in length and two of the old ones that have not grown so long are fancy goldfish that are about 4 inches long and three inches thick.
Now after another hot dry summer it is fall, October of 2000 and the fish in the pond have grown in size and number. One of the original 4 is now about 13+ inches in length and his three compadres are 10 to 11 inches. I have two fancy goldfish in there and they have been in since the spring of 1999. They are Orindas. They are about 3 inches thick and 5 inches long. And there was a lot more little ones born this year. I need to move them out, but so far I have found no one who wants them. There are too many to count but I would estimate close to 30 fish in a 300 gallon pond. And tonight or at least in a week or so we will lose the biological converter because of the cool weather moving in.
The aquariums in the house have lost many of the inhabitants through the process of old age, although they have all lived much longer than they would have survived in the wild. I am replenishing the 29 gallon with an additional four Barbs. It is down to one barb and one Blue Gourami. The 90 gallon in the den is down to 3 fish. One has really grown from the size of a quarter 4 years ago to as big as the palm of your hand. This is the Blood Parrot Cichlid, a cross bred cichlid, one Giant Danio of an original tribe of 9 and Farowella that was supposed to have a very short life span, but he has been in there 4 years also.
Year 2004 March 31, the Farowella died today because of a food spill into the aquarium. A friend was feeding this aquarium when he knocked one half a can of food into the aquarium. Later I happened to be in the room three hours later and quickly noticed that the water was all milky. I examined it much closer and the fish were swimming on their sides including the Blood Parrot Cichlid which is as large as the palm of my hand. I looked in the bottom and saw all the food. I immediately grabbed a large siphon and started vacuuming the tank bottom. When the only water left was about a quarter tank, I stopped and my wife and I drew water at about 80 deg temperature (F) and started refilling it. She kept refilling I keep vacuuming. It was an undergravel filter and it was already pumping decomposing food throughout the system. I stopped vacuuming and cleaned the pumps and my wife refilled the 90 gallon tank. After an almost 90% water change. The only casualty was the Farowella. The water did not completely clear up until the 3rd day. By then it was very clear. There has been no ammonia spike and everyone looks happy again. The Farowella lived almost eight years.
The goldfish pond is still thriving as I write this in June 2004. They still act like they were starving each day I go out to feed them. I have to keep out of sight of the inhabitants are the all come to the top and just about jump out in their anxiety to get fed.
All the older ones come to the top as soon as I step on the patio and begin the "I am starving, please feed me" routine. The largest one will take food from between my fingers. I have been feeding them extra large amounts getting them ready for the cold weather when they can not eat on days the water temperature is below 50 degrees F. This is because at that temperature their digestive system stops working and any food will not digest causing eventually infection and death. But in this climate the water sometimes gets warmer and they can eat a little. Only enough so that it will digest properly before the water temperature plunges to 50 degrees or below. In this climate there is occasionally a week or more that the water temperature may warm up to 60 or 65 degrees and they can eat a little, even in January and February.
I do not know which goldfish food is the best, but these have grown so large and have done so well on Wardleys Pond Ten food I highly recommend it. I do not get paid for this observation nor the fact that in the aquariums in the house my tropicals thrive on O. S. I. Tropical Flake food. For me these foods have been excellent.
| The next picture is of my pond lilies. The leaves on these plants were over 1 foot on the average and with that you can tell the size of the fish. The leaf on the left is about 8 inches and on the right little over 11 inches. |  Things other than fish grow in a pond |
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