Very nice Evan, but give us some dimensions, ... looks like maybe 25 x 6??? And you said before you were going get it deep enough for Minnesota winters (hard for a Georgia boy to even imagine). That's thousands of gallons, you will have plenty of room for bigger fish. Looks like you have a single depth through out (but you could easily create some structure in there to put plants on so that should be fine) which was no doubt much easier to construct for your dad. And I like your divider idea, which might mean that you could keep a few different predatory fish without too much trouble.
My HUGE Native Garden Pond
Started by
Guest_Yeahson421_*
, Dec 15 2010 07:35 PM
56 replies to this topic
#41
Michael Wolfe
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 08 December 2012 - 01:59 PM
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#42
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 08 December 2012 - 03:27 PM
Oh, of course! The inside dimensions are 26' x 4'8" x 4'. We calculated it out to about 3,631 gallons. And we do have one depth throughout, which, in addition to being easier to make, also helps with freezing. And yeah, the plan is to make shelves out of concrete blocks. That was the plan all along. Now, I'm wondering if I could get darters, shiners, and dace to all spawn in one pond. If so, here's what I'm looking at for stocking.
First Section (By waterfall and outlet of filter): (10'8" x 4'8" x 4', <1,490 gallons due to 45 degree angle): Various Dace, Shiners, and Darters (I'm looking for suggestions of things people are looking for)
Second Section: (7'4" x 4'8" x 4', 1,024 gallons): Orangespotted Sunfish, Northern Longear Sunfish
Third Section: (7'2" x 4'8" x 4', 1,001 gallons): No idea
Somewhere in here I would like to put Blackbanded Sunfish, but I'm not sure where.
What would you guys put in here?
First Section (By waterfall and outlet of filter): (10'8" x 4'8" x 4', <1,490 gallons due to 45 degree angle): Various Dace, Shiners, and Darters (I'm looking for suggestions of things people are looking for)
Second Section: (7'4" x 4'8" x 4', 1,024 gallons): Orangespotted Sunfish, Northern Longear Sunfish
Third Section: (7'2" x 4'8" x 4', 1,001 gallons): No idea
Somewhere in here I would like to put Blackbanded Sunfish, but I'm not sure where.
What would you guys put in here?
#43
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 08 December 2012 - 05:39 PM
I think stocking of a setup like this depends on what you are "looking" for. I mean if you want to have something that is fun to look at, then I am not sure that you will ever see a darter much in 4 feet of water. In which case, I would go for more minnows and chubs in the first section, some sunfish in the middle section, and then maybe something larger like a few chain pickerel in the last section. All of these are fish that you might be able to actually see and interact with a little bit. I have shiners in the back yard, and sunfish are of course easy to teach to eat food thrown in, and maybe even the pickerel (or didn't you say one time a bowfin) would be large enough for you to see and maybe feed.
Now if you are looking to breed/raise fish, then it would be totally different...
Seems like you are going to have a bunch of fun with that set up!
Now if you are looking to breed/raise fish, then it would be totally different...
Seems like you are going to have a bunch of fun with that set up!
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#44
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 08 December 2012 - 07:39 PM
Breeding is indeed the main goal. So, what I'm 100% sure about is that I want the first pond to be stream fish, but what I'm not sure about is whether or not the darters would eat all of the other fishes eggs. Also, would the Black Bandeds be able to survive and breed in the same pond as Orangespotted Sunfish and Northern Longears? And what about Grass Pickerel for the last section? Would you think they'd be visible? Or what if I did go with Bowfin, could I put anything in with them?
#45
Guest_smilingfrog_*
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Posted 11 December 2012 - 08:33 PM
I like the divider idea, but how will you keep the fish from crossing the spillways? Will they be netted or something?
As far as suggestions for fish that others are looking for, southern redbelly dace, redside dace, rainbow darters, fantail darters, and Iowa darters are all highly sought after at the Minnesota Aquarium Society / NANFA darter hunts each May.
If you went with a bowfin, an appropriately sized largemouth bass or gar would probably make a good pondmate.
As far as suggestions for fish that others are looking for, southern redbelly dace, redside dace, rainbow darters, fantail darters, and Iowa darters are all highly sought after at the Minnesota Aquarium Society / NANFA darter hunts each May.
If you went with a bowfin, an appropriately sized largemouth bass or gar would probably make a good pondmate.
#46
Guest_don212_*
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Posted 11 December 2012 - 10:01 PM
cool, but bass eat sunnies, and pickeral eat anything, i built a small pond, got a lot of good advice from forum, ck out my outside pond thread, way up there arent trout good insectivores,20 mil reinforced vinyl and 45mil rubber are comparable in strength, but rubber is more flexible so easier to work with, and less likely to be cut on a rock, but costs twice as much, someone suggested bentonite clay to me , seems like it might be practical in your larger pond, and more realisticlly natural, at 6 ft you could probably afford gradual slopes, but for 6 ft you may run into some serious excavation issues, probably need equipment, may hit stone or water, there are charts for pump requirements, can't find mine but basically about 1 gphx total gallons, plus 100gph per horizontal inch of waterfall, and an adjustment for waterfall head(ht above pump)
#47
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 11 December 2012 - 10:47 PM
smilingfrog, I plan to have the tops toothed with maybe eggcrate or something similiar. And okay, those should all be doable. Any other suggestions would be great! And yeah, that would actually be pretty cool!
Don, if you go to the bottom of page 2 you can see that the pond is already poured with concrete. There's also some information on how I plan to have it set up.
Don, if you go to the bottom of page 2 you can see that the pond is already poured with concrete. There's also some information on how I plan to have it set up.
#48
Guest_NVCichlids_*
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Posted 12 December 2012 - 05:30 PM
Maybe I overlooked it, but what are the dividers going to be made of? I see any spawning going on being eaten by other fish either in the same section, or in a bigger fish section.
#49
Guest_don212_*
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Posted 13 December 2012 - 07:53 AM
i think the eggcrate suggestion was to place sunken shelves on eggcrates providing a removable feature, with cover under the shelf, and shallow water for planting, spawning etc on top.
#50
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 23 December 2012 - 01:37 PM
We're planning on having the dividers either being made out of opaque acrylic or plywood coated with fiberglass. Also, I understand that that's what the eggcrate suggestion was for, but it would also work great as a means of making teeth on the top of the dividers.
#51
Guest_Gavinswildlife_*
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Posted 22 August 2013 - 07:33 PM
How did it turn out?
#52
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
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Posted 22 August 2013 - 09:43 PM
All the fish died.
#54
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 22 August 2013 - 10:31 PM
All the fish died.
Back to your old game, huh Martin. Remember, some of our newer members don't get the long standing joke. This is Martin's standard reply , along with his identification default of green sunfish, which he is probably correct 50% of the time without even looking at the photo.
#55
Guest_Yeahson421_*
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Posted 23 August 2013 - 02:21 AM
It's actually going to be filled in the next few days. I'm contemplating a new thread and having this one deleted as it has changed so much.
#56
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
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Posted 24 August 2013 - 12:21 AM
along with his identification default of green sunfish, which he is probably correct 50% of the time without even looking at the photo.
According to Bruce, it is 90% !
#57
Guest_gzeiger_*
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Posted 24 August 2013 - 10:36 AM
I've never seen you miss, or at least not be proven to have missed (hard to call it for sure when there's no picture, and there was the one epic thread where "rancid hotdog" was a serious contender).
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