Sunday, May 23, 2010

Pond Fish and Algae Control

AA

Q: I would love to do some pond stuff, but winter...etc Tyler, Tx and such....can I have a pond here with out a lot of trouble and algae, would like to put some koi or gold fish in it..... the east side gets morning to noon sun against the house....any ideas?

Steven - Tyler, TX

A: Pond algae can easily be taken care of with the right mix of plants: such as pennywort, hornwort, primrose creeper, water lettuce, and parrot feather. I keep a pond near my driveway where it gets to 120 degrees in the summertime. No algae problems so far! The hot afternoon sun definitely can promote algae growth. Your plants, however, will need at least 4 hours of sunshine per day.

Koi and goldfish are both from the carp family. I wouldn't put koi in your pond if you want to add
plants... because koi will eat the plants. Regular feeder gold fish actually look very nice in a pond and will grow to about 6 inches long. They are more hardy than koi and do not have problems with disease like the koi do. Shebunkins are another good choice for a water garden. They are also from the carp family, but are like a calico goldfish. I have goldfish and catfish in my pond. I also have some small koi, but luckily have not had a problem with them eating all my plants. I believe it is because the pond is very shallow.
AA
Check out my videos about ponding at: www.pondplantgirl.com/video.htm
AA
GARDEN BLESSINGS!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

you can also use treatment equipment such as is found at www.ecosmarte.com for controlling string algae. they also generate oxygen to the water which help the fish and flowers thrive.

Leigh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leigh said...

I also suggest to use barley straw extract (1 barley straw bundle 1000 gallons of water). This naturally adds beneficial enzymes and creates peroxide which kills both filamentous and planktonic algae. More great tips can be found here.

Leigh said...

Sorry, here's the link: http://blog.lochnesswatergardens.com/algae-it%E2%80%99s-not-easy-being-green/

Anonymous said...

Its great blog! Here very nice information for pond algae control. I like the brief description.

Pond Filters