A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 pond help for pond newbie?

hey ya'll! I want to make a pond but don't know ANYTHING about doing it. I don't want a big one just maybe something like 6 feet x 6 feet and maybe 2 feet deep or so. I'd like to have some fish/plants in there too. I have a cat so hopefully he wouldn't jump in there (or the other wild kitties around here ) but anyway...would I need a pump for it? what would I use for the liner? would it be easier to just get a pond kit? where's the cheapest I can get them and what prices do they range? ok I really need help sorry all the questions!

Hi! Depending on how adventurous (and how do-it-yourself) you are, you can either get a kit that includes a pre-formed mold and pump, or you can simply buy the plastic liner and add a pump separately. If you are going to have fish, then you really will need a pump.

I've found that Home Depot and the similar home fix-it stores have decent prices on pond stuff...and the wholesale clubs sometimes have the entire kits at great prices.

Given how far north you are, you will probably want to dig it at least 3 feet deep at one end if you want the fish to overwinter in the pond...otherwise you will need to bring them indoors.

A 6x6x3 pond would hold about 800 gallons and could home 40-60 fish. You would only need to buy half a dozen though and they would fill out the rest of that space for you. You will also want to make sure you don't get goldies that are egg shaped, like orandas, moors, etc. The fancy bodied goldies don't do as well outside and definitely need tropical temps year around. A pond this size also wouldn't work for koi.

wow that's alot of help! thanks lol! so could I do like cindy and go to walmart and get a couple 25 cent goldies? what about other fish? can I get others that are about the same size as the goldies and get along with them? what would I do with the ones that won't fit in the pond like if they get overpopulated? sorry about all the questions lol

Jamie
My first fish were 25 cent fish and they do great. I still have them too. They will populate quickly so don't get to many. You can mix shubunkins and comets with regular goldies but they will all breed together. You also have to make sure you get fish that will last your winter outside. The ones I named above will.

On another note you will definitely need a pump and filter with fish.

Lowes or Home Depot are about the cheapest places to get most of the supplies but it still isn't a cheap undertaking.

Donna

There aren't really any other fish that walmart is going to carry that will work in a small outdoor pond. They won't be cold hardy and would simply die in the first winter...just as fancy goldies would.

Check your local pet shops to see if they will take the surplus babies as feeders...otherwise, makes lots of friends at your local fish club so you can pawn the fry off on someone else.

ya'll for all the help! I'll have to keep looking into it, but will let ya'll know how it all goes!

Jamie, My pond does not have an expensive pond liner. Someone gave us a roll of fairly thick plastic, clear. I think it's the kind a lot of mild winter people put over their porch screens to extend the season.
It wasn't nearly wide enough (4 ft wide) to cover the bottom of the pond we wanted so we rolled it out and used pvc glue to make it as wide as we wanted. We even used pvc pipes and glue for the drainage pipes, cutting holes in the 'liner' we made.
It has been in for 15 years now. We've remodelled the pond once to clean it up a bit when we introduced a nasty black algae with a pond plant from someone else's pond. But reused the same home-made liner. No leaks.
I love free stuff. And if not free, CHEAP!

tina did ya'll just dig a hole and lay the plastic down and put rocks around it to hold it down?

Pretty much. But drainage is a big plus for maintenance. I live on a hillside so that makes drain piping easier to do. But that is how a lot of ponds without hard shell liners are done; hole, raised edge, pond liner, rock or brick edging. I've put in a few like that at garden shows.
I don't live in an area with hard winters so I'm kind of clueless about winterizing a pond.