Protecting Young Pond Fish | Using Surface Skimmers
It's Spring Now ...
Pond fish, pond fry and fish eggs ... If you have very young fish in danger of being eaten by larger fish you can separate them but still keep them in the same pond until they are a bit bigger as follows .......
Create a fine mesh bag about 2 feet deep. Attach the bag to pieces of foam (or maybe polystyrene) that float creating a ring or square. Add a bit of weight to bottom of net ... eg stones and let it float around the pond. Of course you must catch the fish first and then put them in their safe floating environment. Collect clumps of weed/aquatic plants on which fish have laid eggs or in which the very young fry might be hiding and just place this in the floating hide-out.
Many gold fish are born black and not gold ... they seem to appear from nowhere when they are about 1 inch long. In fact they have been hiding from the larger fish who would have eaten them along with many others that did not survive hatching from the ova or eggs. Because the young gold fish are black they can be difficult for us to see. Gradually they start turning gold until they do become little goldfish - what a delight they are too. All your own work at that.
This one sounds a bit crazy but works. Your fish will learn to recognize you especially if you feed them. To speed up this process move your hands as you approach the pond (or do something similar) ... just don't let the neighbors see you. Keep the movement the same every time for maximum effect.
Pond Skimmers ... also called Surface Skimmers.
A pond skimmer is designed to remove (skim) floating debris by suction and thus remove some of the potential biological debris polluting the water or making it cloudy. The skimming action is created using a pump which can be attached to what is a fixed or floating device ... for those people with swimming pools the skimmer is almost always in a fixed position and is normally an overflow point.
Inside a pond skimmer is normally a plastic mesh or wire basket which catches the debris sucked into the pond skimmer unit. The size of the mesh determines what size of solid can pass through the pond skimmer ... this means a solids handling pump matching the mesh size must be chosen.
Fixed pond skimmers sit on the bottom of the pond or on a brick to elevate them depending upon depth. This type of pond skimmer will normally have a base which can somehow be weighted with stones to prevent it moving. There will be a device for
connecting a pipe leading to the pump at the base of such a pond skimmer.
Some pumps have a separate nozzle to attach a pond skimmer to. Pond skimmers are normally not an essential part of an average garden pond.
You can get a pond skimmer here if you live in USA
No More Green Pond Water In Florida USA
A person in Florida wrote to me with an interesting observation which I would like to share with everyone. Readers who have been with me since the beginning and who have read my book will understand that it is totally unnecessary to have a green pea-soup like pond. It is also unnecessary to keep adding chemicals to kill the algae responsible.
Florida temperatures are very pleasant year round. Apparently the general advice is to build ponds about 18 inches deep. This is a bit on the shallow side but OK. The trouble with shallow ponds is that they go through significant temperature cycles. They warm up quickly and cool down quickly. Fish are not fond of change ... they like steady state systems.
- In Florida ponds would tend to remain at a relatively high temperatures.
- Goldfish and koi like warmth.
- Algae also like warm water and sunny climates.
- As such ponds would have a tendency to green easily and quickly in Florida type climates. This is what the reader and her friends had experienced and had begun to accept as being normal.
The Florida resident through reading my book learned about UV and is now well on her way to enjoying her pond the way it should be enjoyed. There is no reason why any pond should not have crystal clear water all year round. The solution is simple, effective and not too expensive. I have no doubt this lady will now provide really good practical advice to her friends and make pondkeeping for those friends the pleasure it was meant to be.
I remain amazed that so few people are aware of the Blue Light Miracle Worker which is what I call the UV light clarifier ... more than any other piece of equipment the UV in my opinion has made pond keeping a real pleasure. This has been responsible for a major boom in pond keeping world wide.
An UV clarifier or sterilizer as some people call them is an absolutely essential component of an effective fish pond installation. I am amazed because most pond keepers have the pea-soup problem year in and year out. Because they just do not know about UV. Does the problem lie with us in the trade either retail or wholesale? Is the reason the preference to sell chemicals (a temporary solution at best) rather than provide the consumer with the best advice and good case studies? Is there just insufficient simple believable information available out there?
Pond keeping is fun, it is simple, low cost and rewarding if done properly.......The alternative is a stinking, expensive green or murky brown eye-sore. Choose your UV system here .... this supplier is based in Florida
Tips For All Time ...
Choose your type of pond plant here ... your choice of wild indigenous plants from list here. The types are the oxygenators ... floaters or floating plants and marginals
How to build a pond starting with pond liner
Choose your pond filter .... Tetra pond filters review | OASE pond filters review | Hozelock pond filter reviews | Water garden fish pond UV lights | AquaBead large koi pond filters | Tetra fish pond UV sterilizers | Fluidart garden fish pond UV sterilizers
How to choose the right pond pump for all pond situations and where to get your pump of choice in the USA
Peter J May's is the author of "The Perfect Pond Recipe Book"which is probably the most practical and useful basic DIY pond building book ever published. You can read more ... just click here to read about Building Perfect Ponds and at $13 it's a steal
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