Would like to make a little pond in the garden with three or four goldfish,
and a couple of waterlilies? Would this be very difficult? ( or very
expensive?)

"Helen" wrote:

Would like to make a little pond in the garden with three or four goldfish,
and a couple of waterlilies? Would this be very difficult? ( or very
expensive?)

No and no. You might want to lurk about rec.ponds a bit.
I'm guessing garden shops there have preformed plastic ponds that are
decent if a bit small.
One hardy water lily can easily span six feet, though there are smaller
varieties.
With a decent amount of plants and not too many fish, you can avoid pumps,
filtration and all that stuff.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

"Gary Woods" wrote in message
...
"Helen" wrote:

Would like to make a little pond in the garden with three or four
goldfish,
and a couple of waterlilies? Would this be very difficult? ( or
very
expensive?)

No and no. You might want to lurk about rec.ponds a bit.
I'm guessing garden shops there have preformed plastic ponds that
are
decent if a bit small.
One hardy water lily can easily span six feet, though there are
smaller
varieties.
With a decent amount of plants and not too many fish, you can avoid
pumps,
filtration and all that stuff.

But wait until the plants are well established and doing their
oxygenation thing before introducing the fish.

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 21.08.2004

"ned" wrote in message
...

[snip]

But wait until the plants are well established and doing their
oxygenation thing before introducing the fish.

That is another old wives' tale. An open surface above a pond will
allow atmospheric oxygen to be exchanged quite naturally fast enough
to achieve the equilibrium concentration in the water within a matter
of a few tens of minutes.

Franz

On Fri, 3 Sep 2004 10:39:01 +1000, Helen wrote:

Would like to make a little pond in the garden with three or four
goldfish,
and a couple of waterlilies? Would this be very difficult? ( or very
expensive?)

Two pieces of advice:
1. Go for the largest pond you can afford and accommodate - small ponds
are more difficult to regulate because the small volume of water is more
rapidly affected by a changing environment, e.g. may freeze solid in
winter.
2. When you buy the fish, check what their fully-grown size will be and
that the pond can properly accommodate that size.