![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Our new house is fishy.
Dec. 10th, 2015 09:20 pmSo, Breezehome has a fish pond. It's a small-to-medium sized pond, reportedly about 800 gallons, with a little waterfall powered by a submersible pump, & a simple filter that requires periodic cleaning (providing incredible fertilizer water for plants). There are a couple of lily pad plants, some aquatic grasses, & some water hyacinths.
And oh yeah, some fish! I say "some" because we're not sure exactly how many fish live in our pond. The pond is perhaps 2 1/2 feet deep, & there are rocks down there. And shade, from the plants. I've definitely counted as many as 13 fish. But yesterday I cleaned the filters & made a real effort to get all the leaves off the bottom, efforts which resulted in excellent water quality this morning. I was looking in the pond around 11 AM this morning (while taking Shadeaux out for a potty break), with full sunlight, & I saw at least six tiny fish that I had never seen before! So now I think we may have upwards of 20 fish in our pond.
We don't have to do much with the pond over the winter, because the cold temperatures essentially put the fish in a state of suspended animation. We're not even supposed to feed them, because they will have insufficient metabolic energy to digest the food, & they can actually die from having a gut stuffed full of undigested food. But I wonder if we need to buy a predator fish next spring, to control the population. Every ecology needs an apex carnivore. I also wonder if I should add some species to eat the algae - either algae-eating fishes or perhaps some snails?
I used to have a couple of aquariums when I was a kid living in California, but I haven't kept fish in over 25 years. I had forgotten how peaceful it is to watch them swimming around & how interesting it is to try to maintain an artificial little ecological system.
And for a Colorado perspective on the whole thing, as we've been getting our garage set up, we have found certain features that have led us to conclude that the previous owners were using the garage to grow weed. I have to wonder if the pond was installed - at least in part - to provide a source of nutrients for their little grow operation.
And oh yeah, some fish! I say "some" because we're not sure exactly how many fish live in our pond. The pond is perhaps 2 1/2 feet deep, & there are rocks down there. And shade, from the plants. I've definitely counted as many as 13 fish. But yesterday I cleaned the filters & made a real effort to get all the leaves off the bottom, efforts which resulted in excellent water quality this morning. I was looking in the pond around 11 AM this morning (while taking Shadeaux out for a potty break), with full sunlight, & I saw at least six tiny fish that I had never seen before! So now I think we may have upwards of 20 fish in our pond.
We don't have to do much with the pond over the winter, because the cold temperatures essentially put the fish in a state of suspended animation. We're not even supposed to feed them, because they will have insufficient metabolic energy to digest the food, & they can actually die from having a gut stuffed full of undigested food. But I wonder if we need to buy a predator fish next spring, to control the population. Every ecology needs an apex carnivore. I also wonder if I should add some species to eat the algae - either algae-eating fishes or perhaps some snails?
I used to have a couple of aquariums when I was a kid living in California, but I haven't kept fish in over 25 years. I had forgotten how peaceful it is to watch them swimming around & how interesting it is to try to maintain an artificial little ecological system.
And for a Colorado perspective on the whole thing, as we've been getting our garage set up, we have found certain features that have led us to conclude that the previous owners were using the garage to grow weed. I have to wonder if the pond was installed - at least in part - to provide a source of nutrients for their little grow operation.
