"Derek Broughton" wrote in message
...
Benign Vanilla wrote:

Rocks on the bottom are a bit of a maintenance issue. The spaces in
between the rocks will collect a lot of detrious (sp?) which over time
can

detritus. You're welcome :-)

Danka.

become toxic to the fish, and just plain smelly. If you want a few large
rocks for show, great, but if you plan to line the pond with small
rock/pebbles, I recommend you don't. You will live to regret it.

Have we finally put this argument to rest? Last time I was around here it
was still as lively a topic as s**ting the pond.

I do not subscribe to the "the gunk on the pond bottom will kill your fish
if they even look at it" idea. But I also don't like a rock lined bottom. I
used small rocks in my VF to help the plant baskets sit level by nestling
them into the rocks. Cleanup the following year was a pain in the arse.

Also, I have a "channel" that runs around the edge of the
pond that is apparently meant for reeds to grow in.. but I have
absolutely no idea how to grow reeds! Do any of you know how? My next

Get ground wet. Watch plants grow :-) Really, there's nothing to it.

Here, here.

The type of critters I am looking to put in the pond aren't the
usual koi and goldfish etc. My whole vision is to populate it with some
of the local aquatic life I find around my southern california home.
This is smallmouth bass, catfish, mosquito fish and crawdads. Now I am
very aware of my limited space i.e. 160 gallons, but I am pretty
confident that if only a very few of these critters are put into the
pond it should not be too crowded.
...
Anyway, do
you think I should transplant these fish while they are young and
small? And what about the crawdads... would they even stand a chance in
there? I have seen them living in some pretty low creeks before,
something like a few inches of water. But I just dont know if a small
pond would allow them to roam enough, can crawdads live in small ponds?

I dunno about crawdads.

Dunno, as in "dunno anything about them", or "dunno if it's a smart idea"?
I would think they stand as good, or better, chance of survival than
smallmouth bass and catfish. Be warned, it is likely _not_ legal to stock
native fish in your pond without appropriate licenses. Particularly
something like a smallmouth bass, which is native to the US but quite
possibly not native to your area. Here in Nova Scotia, they're an
invasive
species.

I've read the crawdads, can be harmful to fish. Other then that, I dunno
nuttin' about no crawdads.


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.