Pond fish videos - with discussion

[MrBushy]

One more!

Hi David, your plants are doing well-mine are slowing down now with the leaves yellowing but your lily pads still cover the surface, the submerged plant (Anacharis/Elodea?) looks like it's on steriods!! Many ponds, mine included, can be largely featureless beneath the surface but you've managed to create a really interesting & varied aquascape which is exactly what Carps love to swim around. Your Shubs are completely at ease both with the camera & their environment-reminds me of those nature documentaries of coral seas with the fish swimming in & out of the reef-you must be very pleased with your efforts, happy fish. Nothing to worry about with the pigmentation loss-wasn't that the bright blue one? the colouring can be quite unstable sometimes.

Here's another short clip of my pond crew taken last Friday, some of my tamest fish are the dark 2 year olds who are starting to lighten-up underneath now & for once the crazy Tench isn't that interested in the camera.

https://vimeo.com/360041890.

[davidmq]

[/quote]
Hi David, your plants are doing well-mine are slowing down now with the leaves yellowing but your lily pads still cover the surface, the submerged plant (Anacharis/Elodea?) looks like it's on steriods!! Many ponds, mine included, can be largely featureless beneath the surface but you've managed to create a really interesting & varied aquascape which is exactly what Carps love to swim around. Your Shubs are completely at ease both with the camera & their environment-reminds me of those nature documentaries of coral seas with the fish swimming in & out of the reef-you must be very pleased with your efforts, happy fish. Nothing to worry about with the pigmentation loss-wasn't that the bright blue one? the colouring can be quite unstable sometimes.

Here's another short clip of my pond crew taken last Friday, some of my tamest fish are the dark 2 year olds who are starting to lighten-up underneath now & for once the crazy Tench isn't that interested in the camera.

Hi John, Thank you so much for your very kind words and I must say that is a relief! I am really happy with how the pond is looking, the oxygenating plants are Hornwort as the E.Densa just has not taken to the pond having added more than three times over the year and all have just died off, there is perhaps a strand of Crispa in there somewhere. I guess I will need to thin the Hornwort down at some stage? I am going to hold off on having a large clean and wait until more of the plants have died back somewhat as the fish look very happy at the moment and see no need to rock the proverbial boat. Other than a higher phosphate level than I would like everything seems fine. The only thing I have never checked is oxygen levels as I have had an issue getting hold of a decent test kit, I wonder with all the submerged plants what effect it could have on O2 levels?

I love your video, it reminds me of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Creation of Adam' with your hand being God's outstretched hand! It looks remarkably easy for you to hand feed, I think perhaps I will try again. I know I have said it before but I love the scale of the fish to your hand, the fish are either smaller than I thought or you are a giant. Mrs Tench is the very large one in your pond? You are almost tickling them like a trout, they are so friendly.

Better add a video. Above water footage Monday16th

https://vimeo.com/360227027.

[f15hie]

So 5 months in and the pond is now settling down, or I am

Water parameters are good and all appears well. The clarity's good and when looking at video the ayirstone stream is 3.5 metres away so I think all is good. Babies are thriving but we will see what survives the winter and have a sort out in spring, all fish packing on weight for winter ahead!

The quality of video has to take into account it was an iPhone in a sandwich bag bear with it, it does get better

http://youtu.be/yldDX8YSLS0

First go at publishing video so hope this works

[davidmq]

f15hie, that is cracking footage from inside a sandwich bag! I am sure you have mentioned this before but how big is your pond and how many fish?

https://vimeo.com/360299555.

[f15hie]

The pond dimensions are 8 metres by 4 metres and 1 metre deep, but the beach area is 4 metre by 1.5 metre. It has a shelf around the remaining 3 sides of the main swimming area.

Fish size is hard to say as i don't catch/bowl them, but the big mirror is about 15 inches long and barrel shaped, the common is about 12 inches long and torpedo shaped. The big black and white is about 11 inches, the big orange with the black spot is about 10, the white one with the orange forehead is about 9 inches, the big white one is about 8 inches, the little white one is about 6 inches and the other other little white one with red on head is about 6 inches. There are also 3 golden tench which make an appearance. Plus the offspring from the 2 big carp, which i think some the koi may have got in on the action as well although they are very young! We also have resident mutant marsh frog and found some newts and 1 we believe was a great crested hiding in caves on the gravel beach area.

Its a well understocked pond and i want to keep it this way for the fish to grow on. The plants are not aiding the water clarity or crystal clear water but its a trade off with the wildlife my Mrs wants to see come to the pond.

Will try a 180 degree pond video tomorrow :0

How do you keep your water crystal clear with plants? and your fish obviously like the camera as they come up and say hello

[MrBushy]

Hi David, Hornwort-yes of course. I'm not very well versed in plant types although I know a lot of them by sight, over the years I've tried many plants in my tank-most of which have been destroyed by the fish. I can't tell you much about the plants either except to nip off the very yellow lily pads at the base where they sprout from the plant-they will only add to your bio load now they're finished. Ask about thinning out in the pond plants section, you will find plenty of advice there. What I can say from a tank perspective is the 'oxygenating' qualities of plants are negligible unless you have a dense forest-the difference between a tank with plants & a planted tank so I would imagine it's the same with ponds. Good aeration comes from both large surface area in comparison to depth together with water movement from filtration current & surface agitation. I've used two makes of O2 test kits over the years, Tetra & JBL both of which give consistent results. Your latest video shows up the blue very well on your Shubs, is it a different camera to your underwater one? The blue doesn't show up very well underwater which is why I asked if the one losing it's colour was the blue one but obviously not looking at this. Around the 07:00 mark all four of them line up just prior to you feeding them, it's like they know what time it is or they see you approaching with the food. Those four bricks near the edge don't look very stable-I'm wondering if a passing cat could knock them in or are they secured?

Leonardo-ha ha! Yes I can see what you mean now & funnily enough I just happened to stop my video at that point as I edited the wobbly bit at the start when I put it in the pond. I have 6 small 2 year olds & the remaining 7 fish are all large but with the exception of Mrs Tench who is the biggest at 14" long & Pepper the Shub who is 11" the other big fish are quite shy & stay away until I throw a handful in. Most of those hanging around in that video are only about 4" long or slightly smaller, I think the babies are tamer because I've handled them from small fry so they have no fear which is similar to the baby fish in my tank-he's happy to be petted while the parents keep their distance. I will have to start a thread on my tank in the relevant section this Winter. Anyway, my video here is from July & taken above water by resting the camera on various points of the pond edge decking.

https://vimeo.com/356298621.

[MrBushy]

The pond dimensions are 8 metres by 4 metres and 1 metre deep, but the beach area is 4 metre by 1.5 metre. It has a shelf around the remaining 3 sides of the main swimming area.

Fish size is hard to say as i don't catch/bowl them, but the big mirror is about 15 inches long and barrel shaped, the common is about 12 inches long and torpedo shaped. The big black and white is about 11 inches, the big orange with the black spot is about 10, the white one with the orange forehead is about 9 inches, the big white one is about 8 inches, the little white one is about 6 inches and the other other little white one with red on head is about 6 inches. There are also 3 golden tench which make an appearance. Plus the offspring from the 2 big carp, which i think some the koi may have got in on the action as well although they are very young! We also have resident mutant marsh frog and found some newts and 1 we believe was a great crested hiding in caves on the gravel beach area.

Its a well understocked pond and i want to keep it this way for the fish to grow on. The plants are not aiding the water clarity or crystal clear water but its a trade off with the wildlife my Mrs wants to see come to the pond.

Will try a 180 degree pond video tomorrow :0

How do you keep your water crystal clear with plants? and your fish obviously like the camera as they come up and say hello

It looks like you have hundreds of fish going into the distance! Very impressive footage from a phone in a bag, your fish look great. I meant to post a reply to you with David's above so unfortunately I don't have any more videos to attach, I hope the mods don't remove this.

[davidmq]

How do you keep your water crystal clear with plants? and your fish obviously like the camera as they come up and say hello

Hey f15hie, I think come the 26th of this month it will be a full year since purchasing the Shubs and it has been somewhat of a rollercoaster of a ride especially regarding water clarity which seems to be very dependent on whether the weather is sunny or not. When the sun is on the pond is becomes somewhat murky, so first thing, it is quite clear currently but by midday on a sunny day it is markedly poorer quality. I will pop a couple of videos up to show the difference. The main issue has been with blanketweed but a dose of pink crystals seems to really help. But when I am here I do spend a large amount of time cleaning here and there. I have undertaken roughly a 20% water change four times over the last couple of months which I suspect is not very high? I am also away for 1-2 months at a time where the fish do not get fed at all which was a concern to start with but I am really happy with how they look. I think the fact that I only have four fish means there is a lot less being moved than if I had a higher stocking rate? Nonetheless, it finally looks how I wanted it to, especially if I were I fish!

I am looking after a small puddle, whilst you have a lake

This was taken before it heated up

https://vimeo.com/360792433.

And these were early afternoon

https://vimeo.com/360795114.

https://vimeo.com/360818502.

[f15hie]

Loving the video's, the camera appears to be in the same place, is it a fixed set up with internet access?

Am going to the Detling Koi show this weekend to discuss filters, drums and showers with the makers, but i think adding another black box maybe the answer early next year. A good clear out and hoover of the pond will be carried out next spring. Hoping as mine is unheated it will be covered in winter to protect from wind chill, cold and the likes and i will move cover off on sunny days, hopefully it will be a mild winter

[davidmq]

Hi f15hie,

Off to Maidstone for the show? The last time I was in that area was for the hospital! Hope you have a productive weekend! Here is a video that was taken today that shows how easy it is for the water clarity to change. The camera is sitting on a brick with a small stone on top to stop it from floating away.

https://vimeo.com/361032595.