Discussion
I've just spent a weekend at the inlaw's new house, which has quite a large pond. I assume it's man made, but is fairly wild and 'we' would like to get it into a bit of a nicer state. In fairness it probably works quite well as there are carp and some other small fish (roach?) which seem to be surviving ok - but it doesn't look very nice.
There is some fencing 'we' need to tidy up, which isn't problem. But they'd also like to attract ducks and maybe introduce some more fish.
How do you attract ducks? If you buy them won't they just fly away?
How do you know if introducing fish is the right thing to do? Will it mess up an ecosystem which is probably plodding on ok on its own?
Is it wrong to want to introduce trout to catch and eat
There is some fencing 'we' need to tidy up, which isn't problem. But they'd also like to attract ducks and maybe introduce some more fish.
How do you attract ducks? If you buy them won't they just fly away?
How do you know if introducing fish is the right thing to do? Will it mess up an ecosystem which is probably plodding on ok on its own?
Is it wrong to want to introduce trout to catch and eat
bluetone said:
Simpo Two said:
Maxf said:
How do you attract ducks?
Bread works for me 
Failing that, have you tried smearing yourself with duck pheromones?
If you buy a pair of ducks from a breeder they will attract other ducks and will be tame so wont fly away. If the pond is big enough then wild ducks may visit the pond anyway but they will be very timid and fly off if they see you moving around in the house. You will need a BIG BIG pond though even for a couple of ducks and it must have a natural supply of water otherwise you will end up with a ruined pond (they will eat the plants and weak fish) that is basically just a duck toilet. General pond filters will not cope with Duck poo becasue they do so much. You will however never see a slug in your garden again 
The little blighters breed like mice too.
Trout need flowing water. We had trout (rainbow and brown) perch, chubb etc but it was a natural river and pond not man made.
The little blighters breed like mice too.Trout need flowing water. We had trout (rainbow and brown) perch, chubb etc but it was a natural river and pond not man made.
Edited by Vron on Sunday 29th March 20:04
We saw a couple of ducks, but they cleared off as soon as the back door opened. I'm not sure how it is filled. There is a ditch running alongside it, but I doubt that amounts to much. I think its a round 6ft deep (maybe deeper in the middle, but I couldnt reach my stick in that far), so maybe fed from groundwater?
Trout was tounge-in-cheek, even if it had flowing water they'd decimate the other fish!
Trout was tounge-in-cheek, even if it had flowing water they'd decimate the other fish!
Before introducing any fish to such a pond is notifiable to what used to be the rivers authority now known as environment agency iirc,
Tench, perch, dace, rudd,and bream will all live happily with carp but you can overstock a pond, again iirc the environment agency can provide the help and advice on this foc, and will help you in your quest to retain ducks and such other wildlife.
HTH
Dave.
Tench, perch, dace, rudd,and bream will all live happily with carp but you can overstock a pond, again iirc the environment agency can provide the help and advice on this foc, and will help you in your quest to retain ducks and such other wildlife.
HTH
Dave.
Ducks - You can buy domestic type ducks no problem at all and they shouldn't fly away. Alternatively this time of year there are places rearing Mallards for those who stock their ponds to shoot, a few of those would look natural and if you got them at a few weeks old you could rear them to be tame. (I reared a dozen from eggs from our pond a few years back and they were very tame) If you just want to try and attract wild ones you can place nesting boxes down on the ground (on an island away from most predators ideally), ours are little more than a box with a 20x20cm square tunnel entrance.
Fish - Trout need a good supply of fresh water to be happy, we ended up splitting our pond, because the water was harbouring an eye disease, and stocking only the fresh end
Fish - Trout need a good supply of fresh water to be happy, we ended up splitting our pond, because the water was harbouring an eye disease, and stocking only the fresh end
Any tips from the daytime crew?
I'm leaning on just tidying it up, pulling out the dead 'matter' and seeing how it goes.
How do you go about cleaning a big pond? Its 'L' shaped, maybe 12m long, 5m wide, then has another 2x3m section making the bottom of the 'L'. I'll find out the depth next time I'm there, but a scaffolding plank only just touched the bottom, so it has to be 6ft, and that wasn't the middle.
How would it be filled? There is not stream filling it, but it sits well below ground level (maybe 3ft), and is sited close to a small ditch which I assume will act as an overflow?
I've been looking at remote controlled sailing boats as well, but thats a whole new thread
I'm leaning on just tidying it up, pulling out the dead 'matter' and seeing how it goes.
How do you go about cleaning a big pond? Its 'L' shaped, maybe 12m long, 5m wide, then has another 2x3m section making the bottom of the 'L'. I'll find out the depth next time I'm there, but a scaffolding plank only just touched the bottom, so it has to be 6ft, and that wasn't the middle.
How would it be filled? There is not stream filling it, but it sits well below ground level (maybe 3ft), and is sited close to a small ditch which I assume will act as an overflow?
I've been looking at remote controlled sailing boats as well, but thats a whole new thread
When you say "clean it up" are you refering to any debris in the pond or are you talking about water colour.
To get water crystal clear , bag up some barley straw into netting bags/ onion sacks and place in the water, the decompsition of the barley straw releases ensymes into the water which kills off the green algae leaving the water clear, It's a natural way of doing it.
Most ponds & lakes look pretty dire this time of year anyway with dead reeds & suck like around them.
Do you have a pic to post to give us an idea on what you're actually trying to achieve ?
If there is a good head of fish, then there is probably a good balance within the pond, disturbing this too much could do more damage than good.
Silt problems can be sorted out with fine filtered chalk application, more info on this can be found on the interweb.
A pond that size, if natural could well be spring fed. If not, and as you say sits some 3m below the surrounding ground then it's probably just in the natural water table.
To get water crystal clear , bag up some barley straw into netting bags/ onion sacks and place in the water, the decompsition of the barley straw releases ensymes into the water which kills off the green algae leaving the water clear, It's a natural way of doing it.
Most ponds & lakes look pretty dire this time of year anyway with dead reeds & suck like around them.
Do you have a pic to post to give us an idea on what you're actually trying to achieve ?
If there is a good head of fish, then there is probably a good balance within the pond, disturbing this too much could do more damage than good.
Silt problems can be sorted out with fine filtered chalk application, more info on this can be found on the interweb.
A pond that size, if natural could well be spring fed. If not, and as you say sits some 3m below the surrounding ground then it's probably just in the natural water table.
Sounds like the pond is collecting ground water (and rainwater directly of course ) You could maybe invest in a water butt to help keep it topped-up in the summer months? You could buy some oxygenating plants to improve the water quality/for the fish perhaps? (at this point I am out of ideas having never owned a pond nor any fish!)
) You could maybe invest in a water butt to help keep it topped-up in the summer months? You could buy some oxygenating plants to improve the water quality/for the fish perhaps? (at this point I am out of ideas having never owned a pond nor any fish!)Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff