P.S. Thanks for giving the "new guy" props and puttin' the pressure on
me.
*sheesh*

Hi BV,
Theo isn't a new guy - he's just returned to the fold.

LOL, no worries, I know what BV means, made me chuckle :-)

Work, well, I took 2 months sabbatical to releave some stress and get this
project going. I considered a mini-digger, but it was good for me as a
sitting IT bod to get some physical action, so shovel it was, and the reward
when it's all finished is so great.

Never really left the fold Bonnie, lurked here about every month or so :-)
But I did stop reading everything, mainly because I understood that for me -
as great as all the info is on here - nothing seems to beat my own
"experience". Hmm... that sounds pretentious, not how I mean it...

It sometimes is like reading a medical book, and thinking "Hey, I got that
desease as well !" :-) It seems one has to develop ones own way of living
with a pond, go through some of the mistakes ...still it's great to be able
to fall back on the vast knowledge that is on here, especially when things
go wrong.

Example: one day, 3 years ago I found myself testing the water for the
umpteenth time, it almost looked like a lab next to the pond. Felt a bit
silly, also because I read somewhere these tests kits are often less than
accurate. I stopped doing that and concentrated more & more on the actual
fish behaviour. After a while, you know when they are happy and you also
see the first signs of stress. You also learn to read their behaviour
related to water temps, differences between individuals etc... The golden
orfes are invaluable for that as well, as they seem to be "stress-fish",
they react first when something is wrong with the water, herons, etc.
It's only then that I start doing water tests again to see what's wrong.
Of course, I would never recommend that on here, especially not for new
ponds, but it seems to work for me so far (touches large tree) after
carefully watching their behaviour for 4 years now.

Other example: 4 of the Koi started to "float" at the top at a particular
spot in the pond. Out came the test kit again (flukes ! chloramine !
ammonia ! pesticides ! aliens !), but as soon as I approached the pond, they
were happily swimming towards me. It's only later that I understood (also
asked here) that some fish sunbathe. That spot is the first to catch some
sun, and as soon as it does, there they are, side by side, motionless.
Other fish never do it. So many individual differences as well.

Oh well, babbling again :blush:

Theo

You just saved my fish from being invaded by me this weekend. I was getting
nervous that every morning a bunch of them seem to gather by a particular
rock. I was thinking that maybe the aliens have invaded my fish.

Come to think of it, this is the first area to get sun in the morning, and
as soon as I get near they start moving to greet me.

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"Theo van Daele" wrote in message snip
Other example: 4 of the Koi started to "float" at the top at a particular
spot in the pond. Out came the test kit again (flukes ! chloramine !
ammonia ! pesticides ! aliens !), but as soon as I approached the pond,
they
were happily swimming towards me. It's only later that I understood
(also
asked here) that some fish sunbathe. That spot is the first to catch
some
sun, and as soon as it does, there they are, side by side, motionless.
Other fish never do it. So many individual differences as well.
snip