I've been lurking and reading for a little over a month now. My husband,
Randy and I decided over Memorial Day weekend to put in a pond -- we just
kinda jumped in a did it! It's small, just a 60 gallon pre-formed liner, but
we like it. My dad had the brilliant idea to put fish in it without our
knowledge about a week after we put it in the ground. I thought the fish
were doomed for sure since it was filled with city water and we had no
plants yet. But, the 8 goldfish (2-3 inches long) and "Big Freddy" the 6
inch guy seem to be doing fine. Very active and they come to me when I go
out to feed them. It's probably too many fish for the size, but what do you
do? My dad was being sweet, y'know?

We need to have a permanent solution for the electricity -- the orange
extension cord running to the garage is not very pretty. And I want to
landscape around it with more rocks and pea gravel. We were lucky enough to
have all the rocks we needed to surround the pond and build the bench from
rocks that used to be a patio. Our driveway is native stone and when the
house was built in the 30s the patio was stone too. Over the years someone
pulled out the stones and piled them in the corner of the back yard. So we
just started going through the pile and building the perimeter. There's
still plenty left over for more landscaping.

I opened a webshots account so I could show you guys pictures and see if you
had any suggestions for me. I really have no idea what I'm doing -- but I'm
reading everything I can get my hands on. We have had consistently clear
water so far -- it did get a little dirty a couple of days ago when we had a
huge rainstorm. And I'm doing a 20% water change once a month.

So...whaddya think? http://community.webshots.com/album/159023062ZIhpAQ

I sure enjoy reading all the posts in the group! There's so much to learn...

Angie
Tulsa, OK