Hi! I didn't know this section was here, so I've copied in a thread I'd put elsewhere. I am unable to work so spend amy hours working on, or just sitting by, my ponds.

About my ponds:
Do you get frogs? No
Frogspawn? No
Tadpoles? No
Toads? No
Toadspawn? No
Toadpoles? No
Smooth newts? No
Palmate newts? Yes - by the dozen!
Great crested newts? No
Do you have fish? Yes - by the hundreds!
What sort? Goldfish, Koi
Do you have a pump? Yes and no - see below
Filter? Yes and no - see below
Do you have oxygenators? (underwater plants) Yes
Do you have marginal plants? Yes
County/ region or town: Conwy, N.Wales
Type of pond: wildlife/ ornamental/ fish Fish

How big is your pond? 50L, 2 x 200L, 350L
How old? Oldest 4 years

Type of location? City, rural, etc Light urbanisation between rock outcrop and the sea

Anything else interesting about your pond?
It all started with a model railway...... My partner has a garden layout and wanted it to run over a bridge, so we dug a hole in the ground, put in a sheet of liner, planted a few plants to look pretty and installed the bridge.
Then we decided a few fish would be nice, so we bought 6 little goldfish (2" long) 4 summers ago. They grew and grew and grew and (much to our surprise) bred. Only 8 survived from that hatching, but even so the pond was too small for 14, so we decided to buy a formed 200L liner with a ledge around for marginal plants. Another hole was dug, which resulted in a railway embankment for the railway.... The following summer over 300 fry survived. They had stayed on the ledge until they were big enough to be safe to move out to deeper water. So partner decided we'd have another 200L pond with a waterfall between the two (but with seperate pumps & filtration for each). Another hole was dug and a mountain side for the railway to climb... I decided to reclaim the area of the little pond & thankfully I didn't just chuck earth in. As I drained it, I discovered palmate newts from about 3/4" to 4" long. Panic! I had destroyed the habitat as the pond drained, so ended up with 27 newts in a bucket of mud. That's when the 350 L pond arrived. This time I left it above ground, with rustic fencing and logs around the front and a stone wall at the back. This pond has no pump or filtration. I put mud and all the plants I could into the pond, then filled it with a some water from the other ponds and rainwater from our barrels. I left it 3 days then put the newts in. They have bred for the last 2 years. Hopefully they will again. Hedgehogs overwintered in the log pile last year. There are 5 Koi in one of the ponds now and we have given away more than 400 goldfish since we started our "accidental" breeding programme. We could do with taking out 30 - 50 at the moment if anybody would like them? I'm in N.Wales, near Llandudno. (Sorry for the essay!)
PS. Today I've discovered a colony of bees nesting in the stones at the pondside!

(This post was last modified: 26-06-09, 01:22 PM by 23maddie.)

Good grief Maddie that is some story and a really successful one at that. Any chance of some photos I would love to see it.

I'm aching to afford a camera I can attach to the computer. Hopefully soon!

Pond photos at last! I'm actually not too pleased with the ones i tried to take of the fish. I'd be grateful for suggestions, please.

The first pond has baby newts in it. The rushes prevented me getting a clear shot. Tis is the smallest pond, surrounded by rocks, with no water feed except rain and no filter.



The second pond runs from the first but is filtered. It also has a waterfall running into it at the top end that looks like it is coming from the biggest pond. Last year's baby fish are in there.





The top pond is the largest - 3500 litres. It is filtered and is where the goldfish breed.

More of the big fish..





The fourth pond is surrounded by vegetation. There are no filters in it. This is where the larger newts live with 4 goldfish

(This post was last modified: 26-07-09, 11:39 AM by 23maddie.)

Good grief that is fantastic Maddie love all the fish, it must be perfect for them to breed the way they do. Wonderful

Thanks Heather. I found it hard to get perspective in the shots. The 3 linked ponds are about 34' long altogether and vary in widths. The "adult" newt pond is around the side of the shed from the others. I took the pics through the foliage at the edges, but there is open water in each pond too.

Lovely photos maddie, it must be great to have all that in your garden!

Great pics and lovely to see more of your wild garden! I see what you mean about the fish photos but only thing I can suggest is using an application recommended to me by CookieMonster. Will see if I can find the link if you are interested, they were doing 30 day free trial and I found it to be wonderful.

I would like a pond in our garden but thought it had to be filtered and have some sort of water movement such as a fountain, which meant electrics, so I've never done anything about it. Was most interested to hear about your rainwater fed unfiltered pond, may look into creating one next year. One question though, how does it stay clear?

RJ x

Brambling Wrote:Great pics and lovely to see more of your wild garden! I see what you mean about the fish photos but only thing I can suggest is using an application recommended to me by CookieMonster. Will see if I can find the link if you are interested, they were doing 30 day free trial and I found it to be wonderful.

I would like a pond in our garden but thought it had to be filtered and have some sort of water movement such as a fountain, which meant electrics, so I've never done anything about it. Was most interested to hear about your rainwater fed unfiltered pond, may look into creating one next year. One question though, how does it stay clear?

RJ x

The link would be great, thanks.

The unfiltered pond is as clear, if not clearer at times, than the others. It has a variety of plants in it, including oxygenating ones, lots of water snails and is not overstocked with fish. Newts do not like running water and are happy with a bed of sludge in the bottom. Basically, we leave it alone as much as we can, just skimming off duck weed and cutting back plant roots to maintain clear water areas.

You have a wonderful garden, Maddie. Lovely photos.

looks gorgeous, maddie! did you use a polarising filter on the fish shots? that sometimes helps.