I have wanted to do a small patio pond on my back porch for the longest time, and we finally have. It's a 40 gallon trough that we drilled and put an XP3 on. So far my only inhabitant is a small calico (of course!!) fantail named Speck. He reminds me of the fish in Touchofsky's avatar, which I always liked!



It gets a little afternoon sun:

I bet that little calico is loving it in there! It's very pretty ! What kinds of plants do you have?

In the pond I have anacharis and water hyacinth. The fish is still too small to do any damage to them.

Beautiful! I wish I had a patio off my apartment!

the is a nice pond for the patio

thats really pretty! where did you get the contanier from? my local tracter supply has them.

I actually got it from a local hardware store. They had larger ones too, but they would take up the whole patio!!

how nice! I would like to try that myself!

thats cool! ive seen some pretty big ones at tracter supply too. ive seen them up to 300 gallons or so.

Awesome looking pond! If only i could have something similar myself!

Hes looking pretty lonely lol

Oh boy.....now you got me thinkin', which is not a good thing,


I love your little pond! Your fantail has gotta be in Heaven.

That's very nicely done. Looks great!

It's beautiful !! I really like that. So simple and effective. Will you be able to keep him there all year round, that's what I worry about setting up something outside.

What a great idea! How lovely

Thanks for all the responses!! I would keep him out over winter although I do worry about such a small body of water freezing, and also it is above ground. He will probably go in the 100 gallon during winter, or maybe I'll bring the whole pond indoors. There are so many tanks and animals in here already, no one would notice.

isn't that the truth! thats my house too! nobody would notice 1more fish or heck even a tank

That looks wonderful, Jen - good job! I adore your water hyacinths, they look so healty. Mine, well, the fish got a hold of the roots, and the plants look rather sickly and small. Yours are beautiful! The little one looks so happy. Planning any friends for him in there?

I just bought water lettuce last night and am eager to add those, too! I've had big goldfish for so long that I've never been able to have pond plants survive. We plan to get little Speck a friend eventually. I already have a quarantine tank up and running for another tank, so I'll probably wait till after that.

Which floor do you live on? I'm on the eleventh floor of an apartment building and I'd be too scared to put anything like that on my balcony. Kudos to you for trying something new!

Hi Jen, I LOVE the pond, it's beautoful, as is the fish! Of course I want one immediately if not sooner.

If you don't mind my asking, how much does a filter like that cost? I know canister type filters are usually pretty pricey, but I may try to save up after my other giants get their new filter. We have a patio that could have something like that maybe, although there are some cats around here that wander onto the deck sometimes...hm, maybe I could figure something out. I wouldn't mind having that in my living room either, but my cats (which are indoor only) and my Craig (fiance, lol) would freakl out completely. I am lucky that my fry tank is still in the kitchen and that "that dadratted fish hose" is still in a spot on the counter!

Thanks for the pics!

Jen, that looks fantail-astic! I wish we could get power outside for a filter, I've got 2 massive bowls that I keep fish in, but I have to keep them minimally stocked coz I cant get filtration

That is gorgeous Jen Cute little fish