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Tiny pond

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Made myself a tiny pond in the garden today. Used a cement bucket of 65 L and dug that into the ground. Even got it level! Unreasonably proud of myself!

Need to get some substrate or gravel to go on the bottom and some plants. Not planning on fish as it is only 65 L and wasn’t planning on getting a pump either. But will be looking at some snails to go into the pond.

 

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Wow! Hats off to you! Definately an invitation to wildlife so very positive. If you get into the whole fish thing it can be very complicated and time consuming but you could look at getting hold of some frogspawn next year, if conditions are right? Not sure about the snail thing unless they are just water snails.........my lovely bantams devoured loads of snails who have since returned with a vengance and wreaked havoc on some of our plants! 

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Nice one CT. Beasties will arrive before you know it. Within a few weeks at least 3 types of beetle had arrived to ours, and now (we dug it last October) we have at least 5 types of beetle and some of their larvae, pond skaters, we’ve had frogs and now have millions of tadpoles (the first of which I’ve seen today with front and back legs), we’ve had a newt, and loads of different birds use it to drink from and wash in. We didn’t put any substrate except large pebbles on the ‘beach’ but I sort of wish we had - the flat parts are now absolutely covered in tadpole poo and algae. Also we put the plants in plastic baskets but I’m going to take them out and just wrap them in hessian because the baskets look awful.

Keep us updated with photo’s CT.

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I do have a garden toad, so hope it will be pleased with this addition. Not so sure about frog spawn though... as the pond is very close to my bedroom window... 

I did buy two of those baskets, as they were only €0,60. But will see how it turns out and what I will get. I want to get a few big rocks to surround the tub, so it looks a bit more attractive.

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The ferns and ivy where there when I started. Placed the pond between the ferns and I really like the result too! I hope I get some critters to come and eat any mosquito larvae. Wasn’t planning on fish, but if it gets too bad, I might need one...

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So I might have accidentally bought a few fish today... 

Started spotting quite a number of water crawlies, including a few snails and such. But also masses of mosquito larvae... not really keen on those.

Did some research and decided to get a few white cloud mountain minnows. They are supposedly quite hardy and can tolerate low temperatures. Hopefully I only got males, as I’m not planning on having more than the five I now have. Did add a small water pump to create some water movement. It’s decidedly not a fountain, as the pond is about 3 m from my pillow and I like my quiet at night!

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I love your little pond.

I had those furry lettuce things in my pond once - if you are lucky it will flower, but I don't think they survive the winter.

You could see if you can get some Frogbit, it has dainty little water lily shaped leaves and dinky little white flowers. It sinks down to the bottom of the pond once it gets cold and then starts popping up again when it warms up. It does need thinning every now and then or will completely cover the surface. Failing that, I could send you some, if plants can go in the post ?

Sticklebacks are a good fish to have too. Unfortunately I have goldfish in mine but I only found out about what they eat after I'd put them in.

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These minnows are eating machines! Started attacking the mosquito larvae when they were still in their bag.

The sticklebacks that are sold here unfortunately grow too big for my tiny pond. These little minnows supposedly only get to about 4 cm. Winter will be a challenge for fish and plants, but will see how it goes.

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Thanks Peter! The pond is in the shade for most of the day apart from about half an hour in the earlier morning and about an hour halfway through the afternoon.

Just heard lots of splashing when I was doing some stuff in the garden. And a giant frog managed to climb out of the pond! It is most welcome as long as he leaves the fishies alone!

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So got the fishies out today as I don’t want to risk them freezing to death. Caught 3 fishies, 1 frog and 1 giant toad. 😳 Started with 5 fishies, so 2 must have died/been eaten. But quite pleased with 3 surviving a rather hot summer in a small tub.

Got them an aquarium which I have been running for the past week and they are now settling in their little plastic bag. Will release them in 20 min and see how they do then.

I replaced all plants and stuff back in the pond, so my amphibian friends can get back to their home.

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Wow, that's amazing, CT! I love the bit about frogs and toads! Your little pond is so lovely - a veritable oasis! I don't know how you find the energy and inspiration for that and your gorgeous crochets; I'm generally knackerd and brain dead by 5.00pm!  - and that's on a good day! 

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