Nano Pond update

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Pyramid_Party

Pyramid_Party

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 6, 2008
4,916
4
68
Monterey, CA
Howdy,


A little while back I decided to build a small backyard pond. I gained the inspiration from another MFK member. Here is my build thread http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...399129-Need-help-with-outdoor-pond&highlight=

The Pond is a 55 gallon rubbermaid with soil and pea gravel. Plants include, parrots feather, anacharis, water hyacinth, and Mini cattails which have not sprouted yet since I just planted it. No filtration, plants are the only filtration. Stock is 1 Flagfish, 6 Pygmy sunfish (elassoma Okefenokee), 3 clams, tadpoles and a lot of unidentified fish I caught recently from a stream.


I have never fed anything to this pond, all life in it has sustained itself on algae, insects, and insect larvae. For the past few days though I have given the pond some fish flakes and surprisingly the fish took it.

Pond maintainence includes trimming plants, occasionally removing excess algae, occasional top offs, and some waterchanges (weekly, or biweekly).

I am starting to culture scuds and daphnia and I will stat seeding the pond with these organisms to give the pond more life and make more food available for the inhabitants.

And that's about it. Here is a short video I shot today. Enjoy!

[YT]RIVivGnGboo[/YT]
 
Yeah it's a lot of fun. Sometimes the pond clears up and you can see the ground. The Sunfish I rarely see cause they are so shy. They hide a lot and when there is a lot of algae in the pond it makes it even harder to see them. The other day I was pulling out some hair algae and saw a fish inside it. I thought the fish was dead, it was one of the sunfish and it was alive so I put it back.

You get mosquito larva sometimes but the fish take care of it quickly. It's pretty nice and low maintainence.
 
I'm using a 50-55 rubbermaid for some roseys but it bowed(some cracks too)so I can't fill it up
 
Yes after some time the plastic will break down. I don't know how many years though. I am not concerned about it cause this pond will probably be up for another 1-2 years only. But this is nice for those who want to have a pond but don't have the space or money or knowledge to build bigger ones.

But when stocking something like this make sure you stock it with animals that can live in conditions like these. A filter could be added and you might have more options, but without a filter it's close to being a swamp. Mine isn't bad at all though and doesn't smell. If you do a little maintenance, like I say, cut over grown plants, remove some excess algae, change some water sometimes etc, it's really manageable.

Also if you bury the bin in the ground it will make it cooler at the bottom when hot, and warmer when it is cooler for the fish. Also it will keep the bin stable and help it with not bowing. But you have to make sure the hole the bin sits in is level.
 
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