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  • Results 1 to 14 of 14

    Thread: fish in the flower beds, I did it again!

    1. #1
      Jonna is offline Senior Member
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      fish in the flower beds, I did it again!

      This is the third or fourth time this year that I have overflowed the pond. I use well water in the pond and have to go to the pump room and flip up a breaker to turn on the well pump. I forget to turn it off if I don't hear water running. Today I put the hose in the pond to add a little water and then I got distracted and came inside without turning off the well. About an hour later when I looked out from the kitchen, I saw water covering much of the patio.



      I went out and the Mollies and Guppies were swimming in my flower beds again. It's never easy to chase them back into the pond and until the water goes down you can't keep them in there. We hooked up the pool vacuum and covered the end with the skimmer net and started pumping the pond down. At the same time you have to beat the bushes and chase the fish back towards the pond.


      (see the white Molly in the middle of the pic? That's a big one.)

      It's like herding cats. We got some sand bags and tried to block them coming out of the pond and herd them through one opening. We got all the adults and most of the tiny babies but I'm sure we missed some of the eyelash sized ones.



      They say that we can't hook a timer to the breaker. So, I need to find a manual timer that I can set and that will go off if I haven't shut down the pump. It's bad when I forget and the pond overflows, it is worse when I forget I'm adding water to the pool and it overflows into the pond, that happened a few weeks ago. I threw in a bunch of de-chlor and none of the fish died. Still... this is not good.

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    2. #2
      Joey S's Avatar
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      You're right, it's not good. I turn on my kitchen oven timer. Of course you won't hear it if you're still outside. Try Cindy's clothsline snappy thing and clip it to your shirt. Sooner or later you'll remember why it's there. Or put several rubber bands on your wrists.

      I have an overflow hole in the back of my skimmer. At least if I overfill, the water goes out the back of the skimmer and not over the sides of the pond. By that time, I would have a good 4 inches too much water.
      For the love of Koi
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    3. #3
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      I am glad everyone is safe and sound Jonna. (The Fish Herder)
      ...Joyce

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    4. #4
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      Glad you got your herd back in the pond. I use a tight rubber band on my wrist to remind me to turn off the water


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    5. #5
      maryvonne is offline Senior Member
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      I have to set timers for everything I do these days otherwise I burn stuff in the oven or over fill the pond too. Since Pete retired I seem to be busier than ever and it's harder to multi task than when I was younger. Glad you got all your fish back into the pond.
      Maryvonne

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      1600 imp gal.
      4500 imp gal. (home for the Victoria lily)

    6. #6
      cindy's Avatar
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      I set the kitchen timer and put a hair band on my finger

    7. #7
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      Wow! I've never heard of a fishherd before . . . . new occupation!! Hope that you got 'em all. Can't imagine how much fun it is to herd fish . . .

    8. #8
      gray cat's Avatar
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      Glad all is well. I love the idea of a tropical fish pond. I saw several in Hawaii this May. They were beautiful. I wish I could have one here.
      Nancy



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    9. #9
      mtsklar is offline Senior Member
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      Glad to hear it worked out.

      I would not totally trust these devices but you can buy a "garden hose timer". You would have to check if the timers have increments less than an hour.

      Matt

    10. #10
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      I got a timer that hangs around my neck.

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    11. #11
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      I just use a little digital kitchen timer and put it in my pocket. No telling how much water I'd waste if I didn't use it. Every time I start to fill the pond or the pool, the first thing I seem to do is go to the opposite side of the yard or back inside the house and get involved with some other project . . . .
      John

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    12. #12
      Jonna is offline Senior Member
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      Yep! That's what I do too. I like the idea of a timer hung around my neck or something attached to me. I need to look for a portable timer down here. Of course, I guess I could just set the timer on my iPhone but I don't have it on me if I've been going in the pond. Maybe I could find a big timer that hangs on the wall and makes a LOT OF NOISE when it goes off. I'm just so grateful that these fish seem to be so hardy. Talk about a water change, that was a big one.

    13. #13
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      I'd love to have little fish like that in my pond. I had natives in there for a while, but they didn't breed and eventually they all died. I will say that I had fewer predators then.

    14. #14
      Jonna is offline Senior Member
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      These Mollies and the flame tailed Guppies breed like bunnies. My problem was keeping them from breeding themselves out of a home. Last year I put 10 small Angel fish in that pond and the population is now pretty stable. The Angel's have gotten really big (eating all those fry no doubt) and are between 4" and 6" top to bottom. Now I need to figure out how to control the population of cichlids I have in the indoor pond. They have about 100 fry that are 1" to 2" long now. Everything I read says they are a very aggressive type of cichlid but so far I haven't had any problems. I worry though that when these fry get to breeding age WWIII will break out.

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