This is just some general information that might be useful once your pond is completed. Really no particular order, just off the top of my head.
If you have fish in your pond, you shouldn’t feed them once the water temperature falls below 50 degrees and you’re heading toward winter. At the other end of the seasonal spectrum, in the spring, don’t feed them until the water temperature reaches 50 degrees. You can see here that a thermometer might be a good accessory.
In the winter, again if you have fish, and your pond begins to freeze. Make some kind of small hole in the ice to allow any gases to escape. We found that the best way to do this is to pour some boiling water just long enough to make a small hole in the ice. Whatever you do, don’t pound on the ice because you will stress the fish. The best way to avoid the problem is to keep a bubbler or an air stone going to move the water.
Another thing about fish. Fish food is kind of expensive and we found that fish like, believe it or not, Cheerios. Buy a big box of off brand Cheerios and mix it in with their regular fish food. They love the stuff! We also found out that they love frozen peas.
If you ever get a turtle for your pond, get him a piece of driftwood to float around on. They like to get up on something and sun themselves.
About the only predators we have to worry about are the Blue Herons. I don’t know how they find ponds in residential neighborhoods, but they do. We’ve had one show up two or three times. But each time we were fortunate enough to witness the arrival and were able to scare them off. However we have heard several stories about people who have had their entire ponds wiped out, every single fish. From time to time my wife has netted the area but that does take away from the beauty of the pond, so the net never stays in place for long. We also bought a fake Heron and set it near the pond. We change its position every once in a while, that way it helps us feel that we might be doing something useful. I guess the best way is to be vigilant when you’re home and hopeful when you’re not.
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