Your first problem has showed up, a filter that needs constant maintenance.
The next problem could be sick fish, but you can catch that by watching
your water, if it starts to murk up, check the water quality and fix the
problem, bigger filter or fewer fish.
Right now you are fine.... and probably will be fine until next spring when
you come into the warm season with bigger fish and a filter and plants that
aren't as mature as the pond was during the fall. ~ jan
The fish in the pond are as follows. 3 x 3 year old goldfish which
are now approximately four inches long. 2 x 2 year old carp, a ghost
and a mirror. The mirror (or is it the ghost) is now 10 inches in
length (started at 4 inches) and the other one is approximately half
that size after starting at about 3 inches in length.
In the spring we introduced five more gold fish (well, yellowy gold
with black markings). They were all tiddlers when we put them in and
they're now up to between 2 and 3-1/2 inches in length.
The last edition (made last week) are three golden tench, about 1-1/2
inches in length.
We feed twice a day in summer and obviously a lot less in winter. The
pond is not continuously circulated (partly because of the blocked
filter problem) but is circulated/filtered for approximately half the
time.
The water is crystal clear and the fish are amazingly healthy looking.
Bright eyed, bushy tailed and very lively. We have two water lilies,
a healthy spear plant and some other green stuff growing in the water
which occupies approximately 50-60 percent of the surface area
depending on the season.
Frogs and tadpoles are regular visitors.
We live next to a small dam (about half an acre) and we are
considering saying goodbye to the large carp next summer and placing
it in the dam. The fish in there grow to about 8 pounds in weight and
there are dozens of them.
Until I posted here I thought we must be doing something right. Now
however, you've all got me very worried. If I'm going to get
problems, what should I be looking for and when do you reckon they'll
start to manifest themselves?
Best regards
Patrick
See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/
~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website