The koi pond is leaking, so we are in the process of emptying it so we can get some work done on it. One thing going is the large bed of water irises.
Used two hours, one pick ax, a splitting maul, 3 saws, a tow rope and a jeep to get 1/5th of the water iris bed out of the pond this afternoon. And there were some real “Hold ma beer and watch this” moments.
Look out! Here comes the pick ax! Duck!
Yea, when I relined my fish pond, the lizzard’s tail was not going back into the new pond. Some plants sound like a good idea, but once you get them home…
I’m starting over on mine as well. The damn fish have grown so large I can’t keep the water clean, even with 2 pumps and filters.
In the summer it is almost completely covered with beautiful water lilies. Those will stay.
The fish will go when I can find someone who wants them.
Then I’ll start over with just 3 or 4 little ones.
Our fish are gone, I could never get them to rise to the fly, so they were more bother than fun. It was a tricky cast too, under the mesquite and over the cactus…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Sushi?
John Bouck said:
I’m starting over on mine as well. The damn fish have grown so large I can’t keep the water clean, even with 2 pumps and filters.
In the summer it is almost completely covered with beautiful water lilies. Those will stay.
The fish will go when I can find someone who wants them.
Then I’ll start over with just 3 or 4 little ones.
John Caughey said:
Our fish are gone, I could never get them to rise to the fly, so they were more bother than fun. It was a tricky cast too, under the mesquite and over the cactus…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I know what you mean, John. Sometimes I can’t get my fish to rise to the fly either.
Michael… “Sometimes” ??? What did you do with the ones that did? (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
We feel the pain Daniel. We have to start in a month getting ours cleaned out and re-sealed. Least we don’t have to use a truck or a Jeep to get out the plants ( We hope they are still in 5 gal buckets. Our take about two day to get our pond drained to see the bottom of all the crap that is settled there.
Photo shows a few of the Koi’s cumming up from the bottom of the 3 to 4 foot pond and looks like a few more baby’s.
Most in the pond is around 2 to 3 foot long and been in there for over 30 years or more.
Anyway… we feel for ya and it a messy job.
Noel Wilson said:
We feel the pain Daniel. We have to start in a month getting ours cleaned out and re-sealed. Least we don’t have to use a truck or a Jeep to get out the plants ( We hope they are still in 5 gal buckets. Our take about two day to get our pond drained to see the bottom of all the crap that is settled there.
Photo shows a few of the Koi’s cumming up from the bottom of the 3 to 4 foot pond and looks like a few more baby’s.
Most in the pond is around 2 to 3 foot long and been in there for over 30 years or more.
Anyway… we feel for ya and it a messy job.
We don’t have that many fish, but the concrete pond is cracked, due to improper construction by the original owner, so we are just going to line it. At the same time, we’re potting the lilies, and a few of the irises, so we won’t end up with the two-thousand-pound floating iris bed again.
Gee, I just have goldfish. 10 cents a piece from the pet store. The original ones that survived are now 6 or 7 inches long. Every year they make more, and every year I loose a few to some critter. But they always come up when someone walks over to the pond. They are eating machines, and they are always looking for the next meal.
Bought a different saw and removed another couple pieces of iris bed from the pond. Also cleaned the filter and pump. The fishes are starting to poke their noses out of hiding.
Yea, it brings a smile to my face when I see them come out of their winter hiding places.
We lost all our Koi 3 years ago. Went away for a weekend and came home to someone had dumped soap in the pond. Killed over 30 fish - a lot of them 10 years or more old. Wife said no more Koi ponds.
Steve we had a similar disaster, some one or thing, got in the pond and moved the steel drain cover 4 feet away… (I had a stainless steel half dome with many small holes in it) and all the fish were sucked into the pump feeder line and they drowned or worse.
I took the time to rebuild the system, but my sister and her husband keep saying tomorrow on the fish … they’re happy with the sound of water!
Great Blue Herring’s are our worst enemy…
Starting the filtration system up tomorrow on our Koi pond, fish are moving around looking for food! Guess I would be to after not eating since October!
Oldest Koi in our pond is 16 years old (four of them).
Those Herrings are awful… we have Herons here… that’s bad enough, but a Great Blue Herring!
Sean McGillicuddy said:
Great Blue Herring’s are our worst enemy…
I thought it was a red herring that folks had to watch out for.
I’ve had Herons and Ospreys help themselves to a meal. The Osprey was the most spectacular. Splashing in from 30 feet in the air and flying off with
the largest fish. Not to mention splashing a few gallons of water out of the pond from the impact. I’ve sen them fishing quite a bit out at the local lakes,
but not 5 feet from me.
Seems like every 5 years or so we have this conversation, next up are the various nets and flashers and sounds we use to protect our babies. I used to tap the wall with my foot and they’d come to me for food.
