Since I pulled all goldies and wakins out of the wifes numerous half
barrel setups, and have all kinds of tropicals in them now, jumpers
have gotten to be a problem......so I had to make a barrier around the
edge to keep em in.......I had used 1/2 x 1/2 inch plastic mesh, but
it always looks ruff as its not really stiff to give a nice uniform
curve around the tubs, and when you cut it out for spillways etc it
gets awfully limber. I had a few sheets of 3.4mm polycarbonate sheets,
which I cut into 6" strips, and cut and fit around the spillways and
rocks etc that are in these half barrels, and used Weldon optically
clear solvent to join the ends together.....Now they have a barrier
that rests on the little lip of the barrel liners, and sufficient
height to keep all the jumpers in place.......and with the plastic
being clear, thy are not noticeable or unattractive as mesh was.

REight now we have hal;f barrels with Bettas, Guppys, Platys,
Swordtails, Mollys and 3 different types of Gouramis, and also a
barrel half of assorted cichlids, which are extremely colorfull. Most
half barrels also have the general run of a coryadoras catfish or two,
a pleco, large apple snail, various loaches and schools of neon
tetras......They sure do look good swinigng around in the tubs which
are planted pretty heavy with lilys, marginals, and lots of submerged
plants like hornwart, cabomba, apponogens and some plant simply called
an onion plant which sort of resembles vallisaria (sp?) as it gets
nice long leaves with a spiral to them......that come up tot hre
surface and then float........

From here on out, I am relgating all the half barrels to tropicals and
keeping the goldies and koi in the main pond and enclosure........

Looks like I must have had quite a large spawn of koi sometime this
year, which I have just now noticed in the large pond.......its just
thick with them, in a large school.......Guess they have been hiding
under the thick cover of sensitive vine and lilys up until now.....

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Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
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