Staffylovers small fish community

[plankton]

You may need an internal parasite/wormer med if the tetras don't pick up then.
Fingers crossed.
Beacons were the first fish I bought when I set the tank(s) up in this house.

[Staffylover]

Pond was looking good, plants were growing in nicely, then after not looking at it for a week discovered yesterday it was stacked full of mosquito larvae after a slight panic decided to bring things forward slightly and add the minnows today,
Firstly built the solar panel a house from seed tray lids so it has at least some protection, and got it set up, I am impressed by how well it's working just hope it continues, I am always amazed when electrical items work as they should!

[Staffylover]

Had to wait for sun to warm water up but this afternoon after some time floating in a bag they were released,
Checked after about an hour and could not even see one of them, watched for ages even moved some of the floating plants, nothing..
Checked again after about 3 hours they were all over the shop - phew! for small fish swimming at the bottom they show up really well, they were schooling about in little groups, round and round all over the place but staying near the bottom, perhaps you shouldn't attribute emotion to fish but they seemed 'happy'
@Ruth @Ric here is my happy fish, it's the best I could do they move so fast, difficult to get them in the frame at all, perhaps they will calm down in a few days so I can get some better ones

[Ric]

They should have a great time in your pond. Its looking really good

[Ruth]

Happy wee guys! That’s lovely! Is that water lettuce floating in there? Saw some in my LFS - shoulda got some!! Pond looks great!

[Staffylover]

I think so, it came in a multi pack of floaters from the local Maidenhead, I only wanted some frogbit for my tank, but I rang round and this was all I could find, it is nice but apparently will die off in the winter, I also really like water chestnut, good size, good roots and attractive leaves worth getting some if you can find it

[Staffylover]

Not much going on in the tanks just now, so will do a tank update in a couple of weeks, in the meantime here are some snaps of the pond, there is so much plant growth there is not much open water space, the water chestnut has died off not sure why but the other seem ok one is even flowering, I do still see the fish sometimes in a group of 2 or 3 later in the evening it's nice to see them, not so much mosquito larvae now but there is a ton of daphnia which is great, I fish a load out at least once a week to feed the tanks no dent in the population yet but getting more algae so think I might have to remove some or perhaps I could put a bit in the 180 tank all my SAE fish are in there at the moment, they might enjoy hunting through it for bugs,

My flower


Lots of bees use the pond to drink I assume, but this one is some kind of pretend bee

[Staffylover]

Water lettuce and dwarf lily are doing well,



Fish are still in there, getting harder to spot them though.

[Martinspuddle]

Given time their number will increase. So what's the plan (late to the party ...again ) you heating the pond next winter or housing indoors?

[Staffylover]

Not sure Martin, at the moment think I will drain the pond for the winter and house the minnows in one of the indoor tanks, I don't tend to venture into the garden much in the winter although I would only have to go as far as the patio, it's right next to the patio doors so hardly much effort!