My Pond

I enjoy my pond. But let me tell you, there is a lot of work involved!

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The original reason for my pond was these turtles.

I really enjoyed those turtles but they got too big. They are now living in a big manmade pond. When they were here we used to buy feeder fish for them. One specific fish survived. For some reason they did not eat her, even after we bought more fish. The fish survived for a long time before I decided that the fish needed a pond.

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I started with one of those plastic liners. It was really easy to put in the ground and it even ended up being pretty level. I got all the rocks that are around the pond from freecycle.

I found out pretty quickly that if you wanted to actually see your fish you had to have a decent filter system. When I added a UV light filter it really helped to keep the water clear. One expense I find that I have to do yearly is buy a new pump. This year I bought a combination UV light, filter and pump system. I will be curious to see how it does.

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Plants - wow, they flourish. At least they do in my pond. I typically buy the pond plant baskets and plant my pond plants (bought at Lowes) in them with rocks on top. By the end of the year the lily pads have grown out of the baskets. This year I had to divide them and I have a bunch in a huge round container of water. I will offer them to someone on freecycle. .

Fish - well I had koi before we tried to move to Texas but I gave them all away when we left. The koi did fine but I felt that my pond was really too small for them so this last summer I stocked with pretty orange feeder fish. Some survived the summer but I think I may buy somemore to restock soon. They cost less then 25 cents each, can't beat the price. Honestly, I don't feed the fish because the plant life does sustain them. If you want them to come to the surface when you come to visit then you should feed them.

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Cleaning - well, it should be done more often but I only do it once a year. I do try to take out the plants as they die off in the winter but I am not always successful. My pond is frequently neglected. However, in spite of that I get some beautiful flowers and the the fish survive in spite of me.

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In spite of the neglect and time, I would actually like to have a bigger pond.......somehow I think that they are addictive.