Rat powered sub, hm? You don't think the smell is gonna give it away to customs?

No, no, the medicated food of choice will be launched under water when the rat powered sub enters the Sydney Harbour and it will float to the top wrapped in a McDonald's takeout paper bag. Perfect disguise. I'll go and collect it in my super deluxe 125 feet power yacht/crusier/pleasure palace and no one will be wiser.

Oh my, CaptK, I get the feeling you have been inhaling too much Melafix. I did that once, not a pleasant feeling!
Nice try though, but I doubt its gonna work...

Rat powered submarine ! I should go away more often - the posts get more interesting.

I just had a brainwave, John's digital phone can take pictures !!!! Sooo, I just have to wait until daylight and he can take some pics of my patio pond.

All the fishies and all the tanks look great. My pond is still cycling slowly, ammonia 1, nitrites 0.

There you go! Finally a decent use for them camera phones. I really don't see their attraction but you can't buy a phone without one, these days.

Gee, you make it sounds like football score. At the final whistle, the score is ammonia 1, nitrites 0. It was a most exciting encounter between to well matched teams. Ammonia scored early and managed to hold off nitrites even though nitrites tried their best.

Henry, take it easy on the Melafix !

Cant wait to see your pond pics Annette!!

Personally, I prefer Pimafix. Nothing like a whiff of Pimenta racemosa first thing in the morning. Nite!

Oh dear, it's worse than I thought.

Annette, I am beginning to think that CaptK not only inhaled that stuff, I think he drank it!

Oh, c'mon, ladies. Would I subject my beloved koi and fish to any meds without trying some first?!

Just go easy on the formalin then, and remember, the Maracyn's develop their best taste in spaghetti sauce!

... especially if you let it simmer on low overnight.

OIC, so who has been raiding the medicine cabinet, eh?! Cooking with Maracyn, indeed!

John got home just as it was getting dark but managed to take a few shots, they're not great but you can see the general set-up. Just remember, atm it's purely functional, we are yet to pretty it up.

and another ...

last one for now.

Not bad pics. Nice size tank. The fish looked so small in it. How many litres of water have you got in there now.

Well, the fish are kinda small, most of them. Precious is the largest at about 9cm (3 1/2") without tail.

There are approximately 500 litres (125g) in the pond/tub at present. I feel a bit pretentious calling it a pond, it's really a tub but can pass as a patio pond.

Today ammonia was at 1 again and there was hint of nitrIte, less than .25 but enough give the blue a cornflower hue.

That's a good size for the goldies. Sure beats a 100L tank. I suppose it could qualify as a small pond. You got a fountain in it so it must be a pond!

And underwater lights!! The whole setup looks neat, Annette! Are you planning on putting some sort of floating plants in there, like a mini lily or something?

It's coming along nicely.I'm sure the fish will be thrilled with the extra space too.

Thanks Andrea, Sharon & Henry. I have increased the water capacity to 150g and now have 11 fish in the pond. The cycle is very slow, this is the third week, the ammonia has dropped to .25 but the nitrites are between 2 - 5. It's difficult to match the colours exactly. As it would be a headache to keep changing the water the pond gets dosed with Prime daily (hopefully not for too much longer).

John has bought some plants and pots to start his little garden. It's starting to look nice. I had an idea to camoflage the 'big black tub', how about a sort of skirt or ruffle like on the base of a bed? I'm thinking of an earthy coloured material, perhaps with a pattern, maybe even jungle green netting. Against the material I could put some bamboo criss-cross latice and weave some artifical vines around it. How does that sound? I'm still coming up with ideas.

Andrea, we would like to get a lily plant, they had some nice flowering ones at the koi farm, but we are waiting for the water to mature.

Hello, I got some new fish for the pond from Wet 'n Dry Pets, Kingswood. One male calico-blue shubunkin called Crazy Horse and two female chocolate pom-poms. One is named Coco and has chocolate pom-poms, the other is Jaffa with orange pom-poms.

The new additions sparked an outburts of breeding activity and my white orandas (Blizzard and Snowflake) have been at it all morning laying eggs in a plant. I don't expect to see any fry, as soon as the eggs are laid they are gobbled up.

If you are just tuning in there are a couple of pics earlier in the thread. Ammonia is 0 and Nitrite is 2.

I also rescued a long finned calico fry from my lfs, they say it is an oranda (?) The poor thing is so small and looked emancipated, I was worried it might be sick and is quarantined in it's own little tank. After a couple of days it appears to be putting on weight already, it is a very slow eater so probably wasn't getting it's share.

I wanna see pics of pom-poms! I wanna!

Ok, I just have to wait until John is home in the daylight.

Annette, your pond is looking great. I love the fountain. The pond looks huge. Lucky fish!

Congratulations on your new fish. Can't wait to see more pictures.

Congratulations Looking forward to pics as well

Your pond looks great!Well done

Looking forward to seeing the pics Annette
Love the pond ones too, looks great with the fountain anymore pond pics to share as well????

For Koko's best moments. See pge 3 about rat powered submarines.

I am so jealous. I just started my little 25 gallon pond. Already I want more! I love your setup. Very nice!

You have a very lovely pond Annette. I have a 35 gallon rubbermaid
outside with the common and comets. They seem to love it.

-Alex

Thanks Andrea & Alex, maybe something should start a thread "show your pond". It would be really interesting to see one or two pics from everybody.

Cant wait until u get it !

Pics? Pics? I know I am a pest....

Guys, there is another thread with pics. I'll bump it up.

That's a nice deep pond, the temp will be very stable and the fish will love it.

What are the ceramic tiles laid on? I presume you are planning to keep it above ground/patio floor to keep small inquisitive mammals out? You can build a frame from 2 x 4 to support the tub and make it level and nail concrete board to that (very easy to cut and nail) and then tile that with matching or contrasting ceramic tiles. You could also bend the frame around and create matching seating etc and put little cupboards under for pumps, nets, buckets etc.

If you have something that deep on your back patio you're going to have to put high latches on all doors and gates to your back yard to comply with pool regs.

Hi Yabbie, actually the tub is 2 foot high, not 2 1/2 as I thought. The ceramic tiles are laid on concrete and I used Clark Rubber flooring mats to sit the tub on. They are about 1cm thick and very strong. The tub is mostly on an even surface now. There is no need to support this tub, it is designed to be free standing.