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Senior Member
 
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Last Login: 2/21/2012 6:48:40 AM
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| I've been very interested in ponds for a very long time, and I really want to have a small pond when I get the money. I know there are some good container ponds you can get in hardware stores and other places, and they seem like an easier way to get into outdoor ponds. I want to get a pond that's about 300 gallons. I really don't know where and how to get started, so I was hoping anyone over here could give me some advice. I'm not really sure about keeping fish in there because the main purpose is to attract more wildlife like box turtles, snakes, and anything else, but I might add some bream minnows or mosquito fish if I can get this pond. How much would everything I need for this pond cost at the least? If I can ever get this pond, I was hoping to make it as low cost and low maintainance as possible. What are the supplies needed for a 300 gallon container pond (possibly with no fish)? I also have possible problem with building this pond- I'm not sure if our house owner would agree with the idea. My plan was to make this pond very easy to remove inf necessary by keeping the container above ground abd keeping it in place by stacking big flat rocks from a pond store all around the pond. That way, if I ever needed to, I could just drain the water out, remove the pond, and remove all the rocks and plants around it. How would that work? We also have a sprinkler system under ground, so would a pond still be possible without messing the sprinkers up? Any and all advice would be great!
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Advanced Member
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Last Login: 5/6/2012 12:15:29 PM
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| I'm also interested in ponds. My dad and I are plannig on building one next spring. Ponds done right aren't cheap, but the basics would cost less than $500 dollars on a relatively small pond like what your thinking of. I'd go to your local libraries and check out their water garden books. Generally they have a great variety and it is the best way, short of an expert, to learn about water gardens. Nature ponds are great and there is a lot of information on them.
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Neons4ever (7/20/2010)
I'm also interested in ponds. My dad and I are plannig on building one next spring. Ponds done right aren't cheap, but the basics would cost less than $500 dollars on a relatively small pond like what your thinking of. I'd go to your local libraries and check out their water garden books. Generally they have a great variety and it is the best way, short of an expert, to learn about water gardens. Nature ponds are great and there is a lot of information on them. Yeah, I really want to build one! I just got my AFI issue today (by the way, your answer to a question is in the fish chat section!), and it had an article about a pond made out of an old canoe. I might consider that too, but I'd rather have an actual pond. I also had a question about filteration and mosquito control. I have heard of ponds that have no filteration, and are still easily suited to support 1 kg of fish per 200 gallons, I think. Would you reccomend a filter if I'm probably only going to have 2-3 bream if I get this pond? I was alos a little worried that mosquitos might get a little out of hand, so if for some reason I didn't get fish, how could I keep the mosquito population down without posionin the water or making it unsafe for other animals?
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Advanced Member
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| No. The plants involved in a nature pond would take care of them. The breems should take care of mosquitos and the good thing is that you don't have to worry about them being eaten. Plus they are cheap. Which question was it?
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Senior Member
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| Ok, thanks for the advice! I actually noticed that we do have room for a small pond, maybe 120 gallons or so, and it's close to the power outlets, but I'm not sure how it would look there. I'm going to go look at some books at a book store if possible today. I'll have to bring this topic up to my parents. My dad is all for it, but I'm not sure about my mom, and the house owner. I gotta get the money first though! By the way, it was the question asking how you would encourange someone to keep "difficult" species of fish.
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Average Member
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| im not totally sure if this would work because i dont know much about pond liners but here's an idea if you want your pond easy to remove and above the ground: if you look in books you'll see that some ponds are above ground and rectangular, they kind of look like little swimming pools, and theyre surrounded by bricks and whatnot. you could do that but if you want to attract wildlife you'd need shallow areas of water. (this would be a lot easier to draw but try to work with me) you can take cinder blocks (theyre bigger so itd be easier than trying to work with a bunch of little bricks) and make your little rectangle or whatever shape, and thennn where you want your shallows, usually around the edge, you fill in up to where you'd want your edge to be with either dirt or more cinder blocks so it be like and put your liner on.. however liners work..
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then in your shallows you can put plants that invertabrates and small animals will hide in and other animals will eat, you gotcherself a food chain and if you leave part of a shallow pretty free of plants and make it more shallow with large round pebbles in the water it should attract birds looking for a bath. and also... if youre going to want to attract wildlife you may have to create a slope leading up to your pond with dirt and rocks and landscape it with some plants so they feel pretty comfortable and if you wanna double your wildlife, the plants you landscape your slope with could be plants that attract butterflies, for nectar and as larval host plants and also plants that produce berries or other foods for other animals
all of it may not work depending on where you live. last year my summer homework was all about creating a backyard habitat and whatnot >.< i could keep going if you wanted me to XP
29 gal: 2 mollies, >15 guppy fry, >10 molly fry, 1 farlowella cat
20 gal: 2 pearl gouramis, 7 cherry barbs, 1 female crowntail betta, 6 female guppies, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 1 bumblebee catfish
10 gal: 2 black kuhli loaches, 11 male guppies
10 gal: >15 guppy fry, 1 rubberlip pleco, 1 nerite snail
5 gal: 1 celestial pearl danio, 1 male 1 female guppy, 1 nerite snail
2.5 gal: 1 male crowntail betta
Pond: some sunfish, some flagfish
Container Pond (20g): least killies
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Senior Member
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| That was really helpful! Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure about how I'd make a good slope going up to the pond, so I'm not sure if certain wildlife could get in there that easily, but I know raccoons, snakes, frogs and toads, birds, and opossums could get to the water. I want to get a pond that's deep enough for 2-3 bream or goldfish to be comfortable. That being said, if I got bream or goldfish, would I need to take them inside during winter? I don't know if I can accomodate 2-3 fish of that size inside.
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Advanced Member
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Last Login: 5/6/2012 12:15:29 PM
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| Not the goldfish but I'm not sure about the breams.
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Average Member
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Last Login: 8/21/2011 7:52:03 AM
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well i think most ponds are about 3 feet deep so they dont freeze solid or something like that. im not sure because i dont have to worry about freezing XP Your pond could be about 5ft long 3ft wide and 3ft deep. and your shallows could be about a foot long and a foot deep. now, if you want to include that 1 foot long in to your initial 5x3, thats your decision. if you wanted just the deep part to be 5x3 then your final pond would be 6x4x3, still a relatively small pond. if bream are native in your area then they should be able to tolerate the winter. for the goldfish, it depends where you live. for storing them in the winter, you could invest in one of those big clear rectangular storage bins and stick an HOB on it, toss in some fake or live plants and do water changes. no need for gravel or anything fancy because its temporary. the shallow plants, if it freezes where you live, will need to come in before the first frost i believe is how it goes. water lilies which are planted in the deeper parts of ponds may need to come in as well, again, i dont really know about winter prep for ponds because i live in south florida lol. or you could go with small cold water fish like white clouds, throw about 20 in there and they can eat small inverts, or just ten and you'll have 20 soon lol. if you go with smaller fish, like mosquito fish or white clouds you wont have to worry so much about water quality as you would with the goldfish or bream. with the bigger fish you would need some type of filter to keep things clean whereas the plants will do a fine job of filtering with the small fish.
if the pond was about 3 feet deep a slope shouldnt be too difficult and you can always just do it on one side. it would be around 3-4 feet long.
29 gal: 2 mollies, >15 guppy fry, >10 molly fry, 1 farlowella cat
20 gal: 2 pearl gouramis, 7 cherry barbs, 1 female crowntail betta, 6 female guppies, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 1 bumblebee catfish
10 gal: 2 black kuhli loaches, 11 male guppies
10 gal: >15 guppy fry, 1 rubberlip pleco, 1 nerite snail
5 gal: 1 celestial pearl danio, 1 male 1 female guppy, 1 nerite snail
2.5 gal: 1 male crowntail betta
Pond: some sunfish, some flagfish
Container Pond (20g): least killies
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Advanced Member
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Last Login: 5/6/2012 12:15:29 PM
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Yeah three feet is safe for your area. Around, oh, Wisconsin and above is when you really need more. What will really make your pond a nature pond is a gravel beach. It's exactly what it sounds like, a large sloped mound of gravel. It allows the wildlife to actually reach the pond without risking falling in; unless they've been eating fermented fruit.
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