You are probably wondering about the new blog title. Why the change? Fish? There has been a big change to the original plan for our garden, and I figure now that aquatic life is such a major part of it, the blog’s name should reflect that.
Since my last post back in late December, there has been a notable addition to the back yard. A pond. A serious pond. Approximately 7,500 litres. I have always loved aquatic plants and keeping small fish in planted water pots and ponds. In our old garden I had a number of water pots, including a large clay pot planted with water red lilies and home to a prolific family of speckled live-bearers (Phalloceros caudimaculatus), small glazed pots with paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) and floating Amazon frogbit, as well as an old corner spa which I had buried, lined and converted into a pond for rosy barbs (Pethia conchonius) and white cloud mountain minnows (Tanichthys albonubes). When we sold the old house, the lily pot came along with us. While the pot itself was in storage, I kept the lilies and a few fish in plastic tubs at my parents house while we looked for a place to buy. When we moved in, the lily pot was the first thing to be reinstated. I thought I would be happy with just one miniature water garden, but a weekend trip to a nursery changed all that.
In mid-January we visited Waldeck’s Garden Centre and Blue Lotus Cafe in Stirling for afternoon tea with Mark’s uncle. The cafe has an outdoor deck partially suspended over a huge koi pond, decorated with overflowing water-bowls. It was so peaceful to sit out outside on a hot afternoon, listening to the trickling water and watching the fish go about their business. At some point the comment was made that we could put a pond in the back yard, and I wasn’t about to argue.
The most logical position was the large section of garden bed on the northern side of the house which was previously home to the raised garden beds. I figured that if we were going to have a pond, it needed to be a decent size so it could accommodate all the fish and lilies I aspired to keep. Even the biggest off-the shelf molded plastic ponds would be too small for this project. I also didn’t want to have to physically dig out and line a pond, mainly because of the cost of disposing of excavated soil, and the difficulties that would arise if we ever decided to fill it in. The most logical option was a raised pond. I had looked at some brick-built ponds on Pinterest, and thought we could construct one using natural limestone blocks to match the exiting retaining around the pool area.
In search of more inspiration, we visited the Woodvale Fish and Lily Farm. One of the gentlemen there, Steve was incredibly helpful, advising against brick or limestone (which could potentially crack and leak) and suggesting we opt for a flexible plastic pond liner supported by treated timber retaining walls. He advised that the retaining system can be purchased readily from Bunning’s, was simple to install, and you could even add a capping plank on top to make a seat. Sounded perfect to me. There are a number of similar retained ponds on display at the farm, and they looked ideal for our situation. After making that decision, we had a quick look around at the display gardens and ponds; although Steve strongly advised us not to get carried away until the pond was built! I loved the perfumed blues and purple tropical water lily varieties; which remind me of those that grow wild in far-north Queensland. But my favourite thing at the farm was seeing the shoals of “tropical” variegated platy fish (Xiphophorus variatus) darting amongst the weeds in the plant filter beds. Was this Perth or Port Douglas?
While we planned for the pond, I couldn’t contain my passion for water gardening, and set up some plastic “summer tubs” on the back patio. These were just some circular builders tubs filled with water to accommodate some leopard danios (Brachydanio rerio frankei) that I rescued from becoming feeder fish as well as some frogbit and Java fern plantlets from the aquarium. because of their small size, I added an air-driven sponge filter to each pond to keep the water clean and oxygenated. I also decided to move my remaining two gold medakas (Oryzias latipes) from the lily bowl and orange-fin danios (Brachydanio kyathit) from the aquarium into the tubs in hopes that they would breed. It didn’t happen. I think the medakas are both male, and I suspect that the skittish danios (despite the floating plants I provided) leapt to their deaths amongst the pot plants. Now that the lily pot was empty, I added a single male paradise fish from City Farmers to control any mosquito larvae. At the same time I also purchased a strange looking silver fish with a blue eye which was living alongside the mixed danios. I suspected it might be a native blue-eye (Pseudomugil sp.), and would be happy outdoors with the medakas.
The first stage of pond construction began on March 1, with me digging up the topsoil and levelling out the site of the future pond. I seriously underestimated how much soil needed to be moved, ultimately filling a full mini-skip. I was very glad we didn’t go with an in-ground option!
Then, well, COVID 19 happened. People went mad for toilet paper, pasta and rice, non-essential travel was off and the project got put on hold. I didn’t think the pond would happen this year at all, and that would we would be locked down for at least 12 months. Thankfully neither turned out to be the case.
One of the biggest impacts of the virus on our family was that Mark’s dad Ray, a FIFO worker, was unable to return home to Queensland. The silver lining was that he was available to help with the pond. And of course by “help” I mean literally do all the work himself; which I am still incredibly thankful for. It was a massive job, and I think it looks absolutely fantastic. There was some hesitation on his and Mark’s behalf about the size, and they thought maybe it was twice as big as it should be. I disagree.
At the end of April, we finally felt confident enough with how things were playing out with COVID to order the materials online and have them delivered to the house. While we had initially planned to use treated timber sleepers, we felt that termite-resistant jarrah would tie-in better with the colour of the external brick walls. The timber and supports was delivered via crane, and we stowed it in the garage until we could make a start. I didn’t expect Ray to get stuck in and basically finished at the first opportunity when he came down at the beginning of May, so I can’t really give much detail on how the build went. But I do know that he opted to concrete-in the corner and side supports to make it more stable. We were a little disappointed with the finish of some of the sleepers, but I guess it adds to the rustic charm.
The next thing we needed was the liner, which meant heading back to Woodvale. We purchased a 0.7mm liner cut to measure, as well as some underlay to protect the sides from any splinters in the sleepers. It was a bit of a surreal moment when Ray said it was tile to fill it up. After 4 or so hours, she was officially a pond. The last part of the build was the installation of the seating. This part didn’t go so smoothly, as some of the sleepers were too wide to accomodate the support brackets. Modifications were required. But in the end she looked magnificent. The doubters were still worried it was too big though.
I have never had a filter in any of my ponds before, relying on low stocking rates, aquatic plants, water changes and shade from surrounding plants to keep them clear and clean. But given the scale of this pond, a filter was necessary. Because of the volume of the pond, we were given two options. Either two smaller pressure filters, or one massive one. We went with the massive one, a Pondlink WIFI UV Pressure Filter 30000 with a PondMAX dirty water pump. I feel like this filter was also a way of getting gadget-happy Mark on side. It has WIFI control and is fully automated, meaning it cleans itself with a tap of the screen. You can even set it up to clean itself on a regular schedule. The future is now! This filter is also fitted with a UV steriliser to prevent algae or “green water” so the pond won’t look like a big trough of pea soup. I have to say though, my favourite feature is that it logs the temperature of the pond over the course of the day. It was very interesting to see just how cool the water gets on a cold morning. Already I have seen it down below 10 degrees Celsius, and winter has only just officially started! Perth is considered to have a mild, warm temperate climate and I know that a lot of fish that are regarded as tropical survive and thrive if kept outdoors in the Perth region. I guess the dips in temperature are tolerable provided that the water warms again during the day. I have since read a paper that found wild rosy barbs in floodplain lakes and wetlands in the Kashmir Valley, with water temperatures between 4 and 31 degrees Celsius! Definitely not too cold here.
The filter was installed alongside the pond, with the inflow and return pipes connected via holes cut through one of the sleepers. The waste outlet was connected to a drainage pipe which diverts the backwash to water our Hibiscus hedge (which has been cut back to let more light onto the surface of the pond). I really wanted a Balinese limestone “spitter” feature, and managed to find a couple of options on Facebook Marketplace. It was either going to be a family of frogs, or a pair of fantail goldfish. I put these to a family vote, and the goldfish won. Setting up a platform and connecting the the diverter to the spitter was a bit of a hassle. But Ray managed to engineer a pipe system connected to length of PVC conduit that meant the water would spout out of both the fishes mouths. We then adjusted the flow to achieve a the most gentle and soothing sound, with the rest of the filter back flow piped along the floor to maintain good circulation. We had initially set up the filter using an external extension cord, but luckily for me, one of my colleagues husband is an irrigation electrician, and we were able to get him out to install a new external power-point on the side of the pond to run the filter.
After getting the filter set up and letting the water age for a week, we were able to add a few fish and plants. The first residents were the leopard danios from the summer tub, as well as the elusive blue eye which I had not seen since I bought him. As soon as he was added to the pond, he immediately teamed up with the schooling danios. Obviously he is a social creature, so hopefully I can find him some conspecifics one day. In terms of plants, winter isn’t really the right time to buy as most are either dormant or unavailable. I did however buy some giant Vallisneria (Vallisneria americana) and curly pond west (Potamogeton crispus), which I potted into aquatic baskets using specialist aquatic planting soil and sunk to the bottom. It took no time at all for wetland insects to find the pond, and we had aquatic backswimmers and dragon flies hunting hovering midges almost right away.
After another week, we added some more fish. This time a small shoal of pond-raised platy fish. Unfortunately we had a few deaths from this batch, but the survivors settled in nicely. Now that there were some more visible creatures, Mark was also starting to take a keener interest in the pond. The reason for not adding all the fish I want right away is that the canister filters take time to mature or build up the bacterial colonies necessary to process fish wastes. The other reason is that the other species I want to add, namely golden barbs (Barbodes semifasciolatus), are not available pond raised. Adding fish that are accustomed to uniformly warm aquarium conditions to an unheated outdoor pond is not good for their health. So I will wait until late spring when the weather is warm. That way, they can adapt to cooler conditions gradually.
A lot of people asked me why we wearing adding koi and goldfish. The short answer is, I don’t like them. They are big, destructive, predatory and messy. I also wanted a tropical looking pond, which means choosing tropical fish. Small subtropical species are such better behaved, and I can have a lot more of them. There are a surprising number of conventional aquarium fish that do well outdoors in our climate, including platy fish, sword tails, several barbs and danios, Florida flagfish, paradise fish and White Cloud Mountain minnows. I was tempted to keep some Brazilian earth-eaters (Geophagus brasiliensis), but they, like goldfish, love to dig and so might not be conducive to aquatic gardening. There are also local native species which are ideal for ponds, specifically the colourful Western pygmy perch (Nanoperca vitiata). But I am a sucker for the exotic.
This past long weekend was the first weekend of unrestricted movement within the state, so we were able to catch up with our friend and fellow fish and gardening nut Ash. After coffee, we visited the Swan Valley Fish and Lily Farm. I didn’t really intend to see much available, but was surprised to see that all the tropical were still in full bloom after a week of miserably cold weather and the 2020 “Stormageddon” Mangga we had just experienced. My eye was drawn to a number of purple flowering tropical lilies in the sales pond, and I thought I may as well get them. I also picked up another five platy fish, while Ash grabbed an emersed Amazon sword (Echinodorus cordifolius) and a sarasa comet goldfish for his shady pond.
Once I got the new fish and lilies home, I added them to the pond. Our pond is slightly deeper than the ponds at the farm, so I placed some construction bricks on the floor of the pond to bring the leaves up to the water surface. Normally this isn’t necessary as water lilies are able to push out new leaves to reach the surface in a short amount of time. But as these tropical types are going into dormancy and need all the solar energy they can get, I didn’t want to risk them being drowned.
The pond is still not finished, we still need to spread blue metal around the base of the pond so we can walk around it safely and there are a lot more fish and aquatic plants I hope to add. Look out for more posts coming soon!
