MINI POND TOUR // MY PLANTS AND FISH PICKS FOR A CONTAINER WATER GARDEN
I have always loved Goldfish. I remember going to my doctor's office as a little girl, sitting in front of the fish tank, mesmerized by their whispy tails.
Despite having never been to Asia, I would say my garden has a heavy influence of Bali and a dash of Japanese zen. Whenever I picture exotic gardens, fish ponds are one of the first things that comes to mind. Not everyone has room or the desire to have an extensive pond system running through the backyard though. I certainly don't want to deal with the maintenence #lazylibra.
I must have watched 10 Youtube tutorials and even checked out a book from my local library on pond building before deciding that I didn't want to do ANY of that. I just wanted a little water garden where I could have a couple of Goldfish!
Finally I found the perfect solution on Pinterest. It is called an Aquascape Patio Pond. I bought it on Amazon and you can find them in a variety of shapes and sizes. This one is a 32 inch diameter tapered bowl that holds up to 20 gallons. I really wish I had gone with the 40 inch, largest size bowl. I promise this is not at all an ad, just my idiot proof way of keeping fish! The big 40 inch one holds up to 30 gallons of water and was on sale when I checked yesterday, so I may go ahead and order it...
I keep three Goldfish in the pond. One is an Orange Fantail and the two others are Oranda's: a black and an orange. They are my first fish ever, and I really know very little about them other than that. They are not the cheapest Goldfish at Petsmart since they are "fancy", but maybe the $3-$5 range. They have grown a remarkable bit! They are also very tricky to photograph.
I am getting a little concerned that they are going to outgrow the bowl eventually, hence why I wish I had gotten the largest size. The fish produce a lot of waste already, so I use a pump that moves enough water for a pond 4x this size to prevent ammonia and other chemicals from building up that can harm the fish. It definitely isn't maintainance free. I do around a 30% water change weekly, and that is me being lazy. It could use more. I am always adding dechlorinated buckets of water to make up for evaporation in the summer too.
The coolesr thing about the bowl is that it has a built in shelf for plants and it is open underneath so that the fish have a place to go and hide from predators. I keep a few plants on the shelf including a black stem Colocasia, a Canna Lily, a pot of Corkscrew Rush, and a Golden Pothos plant that I propogated from a housplant cutting. There are holes on the shelf that the fish can pop in and out of. The pond would be a cool place to just have some water lilies ot lotus if you aren't into having to keep fish alive.
I feed the fish a fat pinch of pond flakes twice a day. I'm not an expert, but so far it has seemed to be about right. I have heard that a good rule of thumb is not more than the fish can eat in five minutes. As the temperatures drop they will need less food, and eventually even none during the coldest months of winter when they are dormant. That is a bad word around here, I really can't even think about fall right now!
Sitting next to the bowl, hearing the running water, and watching the fish play around is so meditative.
Have a Plantiful DAY!
XOXO
EVE
Despite having never been to Asia, I would say my garden has a heavy influence of Bali and a dash of Japanese zen. Whenever I picture exotic gardens, fish ponds are one of the first things that comes to mind. Not everyone has room or the desire to have an extensive pond system running through the backyard though. I certainly don't want to deal with the maintenence #lazylibra.
I must have watched 10 Youtube tutorials and even checked out a book from my local library on pond building before deciding that I didn't want to do ANY of that. I just wanted a little water garden where I could have a couple of Goldfish!
Finally I found the perfect solution on Pinterest. It is called an Aquascape Patio Pond. I bought it on Amazon and you can find them in a variety of shapes and sizes. This one is a 32 inch diameter tapered bowl that holds up to 20 gallons. I really wish I had gone with the 40 inch, largest size bowl. I promise this is not at all an ad, just my idiot proof way of keeping fish! The big 40 inch one holds up to 30 gallons of water and was on sale when I checked yesterday, so I may go ahead and order it...
I keep three Goldfish in the pond. One is an Orange Fantail and the two others are Oranda's: a black and an orange. They are my first fish ever, and I really know very little about them other than that. They are not the cheapest Goldfish at Petsmart since they are "fancy", but maybe the $3-$5 range. They have grown a remarkable bit! They are also very tricky to photograph.
I am getting a little concerned that they are going to outgrow the bowl eventually, hence why I wish I had gotten the largest size. The fish produce a lot of waste already, so I use a pump that moves enough water for a pond 4x this size to prevent ammonia and other chemicals from building up that can harm the fish. It definitely isn't maintainance free. I do around a 30% water change weekly, and that is me being lazy. It could use more. I am always adding dechlorinated buckets of water to make up for evaporation in the summer too.
The coolesr thing about the bowl is that it has a built in shelf for plants and it is open underneath so that the fish have a place to go and hide from predators. I keep a few plants on the shelf including a black stem Colocasia, a Canna Lily, a pot of Corkscrew Rush, and a Golden Pothos plant that I propogated from a housplant cutting. There are holes on the shelf that the fish can pop in and out of. The pond would be a cool place to just have some water lilies ot lotus if you aren't into having to keep fish alive.
I feed the fish a fat pinch of pond flakes twice a day. I'm not an expert, but so far it has seemed to be about right. I have heard that a good rule of thumb is not more than the fish can eat in five minutes. As the temperatures drop they will need less food, and eventually even none during the coldest months of winter when they are dormant. That is a bad word around here, I really can't even think about fall right now!
Have a Plantiful DAY!
XOXO
EVE
Comments
Post a Comment