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35 Gallon Kettle Pond***New pics 7/19 pg 4

28K views 65 replies 30 participants last post by  GrampsGrunge 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all, this will be my first official post :). I started this container pond about a year ago. It has been great fun, and i have had somewhat better luck with plants outdoors than i have had indoors. The pond is stocked with 3 pond comets and 2 australian rainbows. There is no filter but lots of hornwort instead:icon_lol:. there is also a dwarf water lily which should flower in a couple of weeks now. I also have a couple of bog plants on the side shelves.
 

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#28 ·
Alright, so last month I pulled out a lot of the marginals as there was just too much plant in each pot. That is why it may seem that they look kind of small, but by the end of the season, I am fairly confident that they will have outgrown the space available in the pots once again. I just changed about 10 gallons of water so there's a lot of debris that has been stirred up, clouding the water in my pics, nothing to worry about!











Current stock list:

2 x common goldfish (babies that were born in my pond several years ago, from the original 8 or so goldfish that I had)

10 x zebra danio (I'm going to have to literally drain the pond to catch them when fall comes around.

2 x Pearl gouramis... Just added these a week ago, have only seen them once or twice, but I am pretty sure that they are doing well. They are very shy, and don't take any of the flake food that I feed. I assume they are finding plenty to eat in the pond itself.

And just for fun, here is my 1 year old 40 gallon Mixed Reef Saltwater aquarium:

 
#31 ·
:icon_winkSo, I went out and bought a couple of platies to throw in the pond. Also, the Pearl Gourami have been rather skitish, and I have rarely seen them since I put them in. I occasionally catch a glimpse of one, but I cannot say with any certainty that the pair is still alive (although they very well could be). I'm hoping that the prescence of smaller fish will encourage them to come out more.:icon_wink
 
#32 ·
So, new fish are all doing good. Sure enough, once I put the platies in the female gourami started to come out of hiding a lot more, and would often feed with the other fish. I have yet to see the male, and it has been a couple of days since I believe I last saw it. There's a fairly good chance he didn't make it, but you never know... also I am trying to identify these fish from above so I might be seeing them both and counting them as the same fish :hihi:
 
#34 ·
It's definitely a variety of elephant's ear, it has red stems and it doesn't get too big if you pot it in a smaller container
 
#36 ·
Will have pics up soon... was out of town for most of the summer, so there has been little to no feeding/trimming/waterchanges going on. Just had someone dropping by to top up once a week
 
#37 ·
So here are some pics:





As you can tell, the decaying plant matter and the fish made quite a mess, so I will be siphoning and changing water a couple of times a week for the next week or so. Here are some pics of some of the stuff I pulled out while cleaning:









I also pulled out a bunch of platy fry, and there seems to be a couple of goldfish fry as well. Will post pics of them once I have them inside!
 
#39 ·
Well, the season has ended so the pond isn't that appealing to the eye but everything appears to be doing well. I threw in some rotala clippings from my indoor tank and planted them with the water lilys and they appear to be growing very well although the water temp is probably in the upper 50s and lower 60s during the nights right now.
 
#41 ·
It's been a rough winter this year with the temperature getting down below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm glad to say that all my fish have survived, and I'm looking forward to implementing some changes in the coming season
 
#44 ·
Doing well, I felt that the pond was probably getting too much direct sunlight from around 12-5 which was leading to some high temps, up to 88-90 degrees and some algae growth (as well as insane plan growth rates)

However, in this heat the plants often decayed super fast leading to lots of organic matter accumulating in the bottom really increasing the need for regular weekly water changes. Also, this high heat couldn't be good for the longevity of my goldfish so for this season, i decided to move my pond to the other end of the patio.

Now it only really gets direct sunlight from 10-2, so it's not as harsh but definitely enough light for the lily and all the plants. The plant's are growing well, some slower than others. The fish are fat and happy and the water is crystal clear. I do about a 15 gallon water change every other week where I just use a 5 gallon bucket to bail water and replace. I also siphon out all the junk at the bottom once a month.

I'll put up some updated pics soon. Thanks for asking!!
 
#49 ·
Don't think we've had that issue yet. In the 5 years or so years I've had this thing I've only had 2 fish disappear on me so it's possible that a bird or raccoon could have gotten them. In general, we don't have too many raccoons around here is what I'm trying to say haha

One time we did find a bird of prey of some sort perched on the ledge taking a good look. It was seriously big too, at least a 3' wingspan.

I do have some driftwood in there that the fish can hid in and under as well as between the pots, so they do have a place where they can get away from predators so that might help. Have you tried making a hiding spot for them?
 
#54 ·
Thanks!

Bump:
I love the look of your kettle pond! I'm in Kansas and started a 100 gal stocktank off my deck this past summer with two goldfish. They ate all the duckweed even though I fed them everyday. Next year, I'm going with tropicals and bring them in for the winter so I can have a beautiful pond like yours!!! LOVE IT!!
Yeah tropicals in ponds are awesome! I like to try breeding different species every season. Livebearers are easy! Just pick your favorite color variety platy or swordtail. Put in 5-6 and you'll end up with 100+ to get rid off by the end of the summer. I don't know if you have an indoor tank, but try keeping rainbows in your pond if you have a tank big enough to keep them. They will literally be the most colorful freshwater fish you have seen after a summer in the pond!

Also, as a side note... duckweed is awesome for goldfish. I think it helps prevent digestive issues if you feed it every once in a while.
 
#53 ·
I love the look of your kettle pond! I'm in Kansas and started a 100 gal stocktank off my deck this past summer with two goldfish. They ate all the duckweed even though I fed them everyday. Next year, I'm going with tropicals and bring them in for the winter so I can have a beautiful pond like yours!!! LOVE IT!!
 
#55 ·
So summer time is almost here!! Will be planting some stems and the red tiger lotus from my tank in order to grow them out in my pond. Hopefully they do well and I can sell them off at the end of the season for some $$.

This season I'll be attempting to breed some Pearl Danios (Danio albolineatus) and a nice strain of red blonde guppies. Pics will come as soon as it warms up!!
 
#56 ·
Just did a clean out of the pond and planted and added the guppies, pics coming tomorrow. Any guesses on how many I finish with at the end of the summer? I have somewhere between 16-20 right now
 
#57 ·
Pictures please? Assuming that the guppies practice flock breeding, and that selection pressures will prevent them from crowding them all out from the pond, as well as predation by parents, siblings, and externals... I'd say about 800 in a month and a half, assuming that half of those guppies are females, and they are all adults.
 
#58 ·
Soon haha, I'm wrapping up the semester so super busy. I'm not sure aout 800 lol!!! The containers barely 40 gallons and I do have goldfish and danios in there so there is predation and competition for space. I'm trying to up waterchanges, but I doubt that the pond can support more than 200 adults tops. I won't be pulling the fry to grow out, so they will be competing for space with previous batches of fry.
 
#59 ·
I ended up with around 150ish guppies from the initial group that I started with last season. Looking forward to the warmer weather and trying some new stuff. Planning on some bristlenose plecos and some kind of livebearer/easy egg layer for sure. Suggestions are welcome
 
#61 ·
They are nice red blonde guppies - made around $80 selling them locally for 2/ $1 and the only labor involved was feeding them and catching them. Fun summer project. Doesn't make sense to do something like this with "ugly fish" as you'll just end up with 100s that no one wants
 
#62 ·
That is good, people often throw a bunch of fish together without any thought and end up with a bunch of mutts.
Mutts are not necessarily bad, they are a needed step to attain some strains of livebearers, like the bleeding heart platy for instance.
My experiments so far produced at least one birth of 40+ identical platinum wags. The father is a rainbow, with a super red tail, the mom has a very faint red rear before the black wag tail.
They also have the black lips gene and the comet gene, which is quite hard to get rid of. The same male with another rainbow female with a darker red tail, has produced rainbows with good colouration, gold coloured metallic wags, and gold coloured rainbow.

Every batch of fish the lighter female throws is without the red caudal area, so I am of the opinion that the gene for that area must be controlled by the female, plus it provides me with a fish that is idealy suited for trying to create interesting mixes with. A colourless (unless you count the millions of colours its pearl undercoat creates) fish with black lips and fins. I'm doing sister to brother crosses, as well as crossing with a coral red with red irises, a marigold maculatus full tuxedo (magnificent fish), and back with the father also.

I can't wait for the summer, I have 25000L of water and I'm not afraid to use it. My new broodstock should be the perfect age by the time I'm ready for outdoors. I also have 3 disused small ponds (because of overhanging trees), and 3x 100gal half square bins. There was this old guy two blocks up when I was a kid, with a kiddy pool full of guppies and duckweed. We just needed to bring our own buckets. Outdoor guppies are awesome and robust.
 
#66 ·
A lot of it depends on how big your pond is, what size goldfish, how many of which size goldfish, and if you cycled your pond for a few weeks prior to stocking the tank, etc. Pretty much everything you'ld need to do with your home aquarium applies to a stock-tank or in-ground pond. An airstone by itself would help. But if you want to grow better submerged plants it would be better to place a small fountain pump/filter or sponge filter with the outlet flow not disturbing the pond's water surface.
 
#65 ·
I don't have any filtration or air running in my pond. It depends on 1) your stocking level, 2) how heavily planted it is, 3) the size of the container and how much shade it gets (determines temperature swings)
 
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