Amateur needs advice
 

I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
can you please advise on what plants to buy.

"Jacqueline Sanders" wrote in message
...
I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have
been
told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
can you please advise on what plants to buy.


Aeration is important for any body of water with fish in it. Fish use up the
Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and it needs to be replenished for them to survive.

The two primary means for replenishing DO, plants and aeration. Many ponders
have a fountain, stream, waterfall or other sort of waterfeature that breaks
the surface of the water. This is a great way to aerate the water. Moving
water is a great aerator.

Plants are also a great aeration solution, but remember that at night plants
can actually use O2 and starve a pond of DO. I have never seen this in my
pond, which is heavily planted, but I understand it has been a problem for
other rec.ponders.

Really any plant submerged in your pond will help. Anacharis is a popular
aerator, http://www.iheartmypond.com/Plants/Submerged/Anacharis/. It grows
like mad, acts as a supplemental food source for fish, it's cheap and it
aerates nicely.

Also check out http://www.iheartmypond.com/WaterQuality/Aeration/, for more
on aeration.

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

"Jacqueline Sanders" wrote in message
...
I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have
been
told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
can you please advise on what plants to buy.


Aeration is important for any body of water with fish in it. Fish use up the
Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and it needs to be replenished for them to survive.

The two primary means for replenishing DO, plants and aeration. Many ponders
have a fountain, stream, waterfall or other sort of waterfeature that breaks
the surface of the water. This is a great way to aerate the water. Moving
water is a great aerator.

Plants are also a great aeration solution, but remember that at night plants
can actually use O2 and starve a pond of DO. I have never seen this in my
pond, which is heavily planted, but I understand it has been a problem for
other rec.ponders.

Really any plant submerged in your pond will help. Anacharis is a popular
aerator, http://www.iheartmypond.com/Plants/Submerged/Anacharis/. It grows
like mad, acts as a supplemental food source for fish, it's cheap and it
aerates nicely.

Also check out http://www.iheartmypond.com/WaterQuality/Aeration/, for more
on aeration.

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

Jacqueline Sanders wrote:

I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have
been told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the
fish can you please advise on what plants to buy.

No, you don't _need_ plants. As someone who came to ponding from the other
direction though, I can't imagine why you would _want_ a pond without
plants :-)

Plants don't, as such, provide air (specifically Oxygen) for the fish. As
long as you have decent water movement and sufficient surface area for the
number of fish you're keeping, the Oxygen is dissolved in the water from
the air above the pond. Plants do add somewhat to the amount of Oxygen,
during the day, when they're photosynthesizing, but at night the process
runs backwards and they absorb Oxygen and excrete Carbon-dioxide. This can
occasionally result in _lowering_ the oxygen available for the fish, so
it's best not to count on plants giving them the oxygen they need.

That said, the plants you can or should have depends to a large extent on
your location. If you don't use plants to shade the pond and take up
nutrients, you'll get algae instead. If you have a pond the color of pea
soup, you won't see the fish. Algae is either controlled by restricting
the nutrients or sunlight it gets (using other plants - like lilies, water
hyacinth, duckweed or azolla to shade the water; practically any kind of
plant to take up nitrates, phosphates and potassium) or you can use a UV
light to kill it. I don't like the UV solution, because I feel it masks a
high-nutrient situation that you should be aware of, but many koi keepers
use it successfully.
--
derek

Jacqueline Sanders wrote:

I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have
been told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the
fish can you please advise on what plants to buy.

No, you don't _need_ plants. As someone who came to ponding from the other
direction though, I can't imagine why you would _want_ a pond without
plants :-)

Plants don't, as such, provide air (specifically Oxygen) for the fish. As
long as you have decent water movement and sufficient surface area for the
number of fish you're keeping, the Oxygen is dissolved in the water from
the air above the pond. Plants do add somewhat to the amount of Oxygen,
during the day, when they're photosynthesizing, but at night the process
runs backwards and they absorb Oxygen and excrete Carbon-dioxide. This can
occasionally result in _lowering_ the oxygen available for the fish, so
it's best not to count on plants giving them the oxygen they need.

That said, the plants you can or should have depends to a large extent on
your location. If you don't use plants to shade the pond and take up
nutrients, you'll get algae instead. If you have a pond the color of pea
soup, you won't see the fish. Algae is either controlled by restricting
the nutrients or sunlight it gets (using other plants - like lilies, water
hyacinth, duckweed or azolla to shade the water; practically any kind of
plant to take up nitrates, phosphates and potassium) or you can use a UV
light to kill it. I don't like the UV solution, because I feel it masks a
high-nutrient situation that you should be aware of, but many koi keepers
use it successfully.
--
derek

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:

===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You don;t get air from plants!
You get dissolved oxygen from plants during daylight hours. You have
been told wrong yet again as plants are not a necessary part of a
pond. Its a personal choice if you want pants, not a necessity by any
means

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Sooooooooooooooooolow to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:

===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You don;t get air from plants!
You get dissolved oxygen from plants during daylight hours. You have
been told wrong yet again as plants are not a necessary part of a
pond. Its a personal choice if you want pants, not a necessity by any
means

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Sooooooooooooooooolow to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS

Nedra Sucks wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:

===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You donSPLIFF

Thanks for the amateur advice.
--
ah

Nedra Sucks wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:

===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You donSPLIFF

Thanks for the amateur advice.
--
ah

ah wrote:

Nedra Sucks wrote:

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:


===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You donSPLIFF


Thanks for the amateur advice.

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on them.

Paul

ah wrote:

Nedra Sucks wrote:

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 14:53:48 GMT, "Jacqueline Sanders"
wrote:


===I have recently starting keeping fish in my pond , mostly koi and have been
===told that I need to have plants in my pond which provide air for the fish
===can you please advise on what plants to buy.
===

You donSPLIFF


Thanks for the amateur advice.

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on them.

Paul

Paul wrote:

[...]

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on them.

I have little experience in the maintennance side--I just build 'em ;/

Surely koi don't eat all plants?
--
ah

Paul wrote:

[...]

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on them.

I have little experience in the maintennance side--I just build 'em ;/

Surely koi don't eat all plants?
--
ah

"ah" wrote in message
news:79QFd.5674$SS6.871@trnddc07...
Paul wrote:

[...]

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on
them.

I have little experience in the maintennance side--I just build 'em ;/

Surely koi don't eat all plants?

Is the pope catholic?

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

"ah" wrote in message
news:79QFd.5674$SS6.871@trnddc07...
Paul wrote:

[...]

You will need to protect you plants from koi as they like to dine on
them.

I have little experience in the maintennance side--I just build 'em ;/

Surely koi don't eat all plants?

Is the pope catholic?

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