melauriga

I bought a 20g tub pond at Lowes a couple of weeks ago because I thought it would be cool to have water lilies on my deck. Unfortunately, I can't find a whole lot of detailed information on the web about how to plant such small "ponds" and don't want to buy yet another book. It seems most people put all the plants in their own pots, apparently to keep the roots from taking over. I had posted questions in a couple of places about how to plant these but no replies.

So I thought what the heck, I'll experiment with planting it El Natural style. I got a mini cattail and a dwarf waterlily. They are Topfin brand and come in a mesh bag planted in cocoa fiber that you are supposed to just drop in the pond. I assume the roots will grow out of the mesh. I added some hornwort, water lettuce, duckweed, valisneria, rotala rotundifolia, bacopa caroliniana, and didiplis diandra from my aquariums. Oh, and the substrate is cheap topsoil capped with gravel. I have no idea if this will work or if its still too cold outside for the aquarium plants but there are always more plants to trim from my higher tech tank if they don't make it.

I am thinking about how to control mosquitoes breeding in this. I know there are chemicals you can put in ponds to kill them but I don't know how safe they are. I could put fish in there when it warms up but I really don't have room inside for more fish in the fall.

flagg

You have a couple of options for fish.... here in new york you can get free Gambusia affinis from the Dept. of Environmental Protection (I think) and they do a great job of eating mosquito larva. You can also get mountain cloud minnows as they tolerate cold water and will also eat bugs. I've also had good luck with guppies and they even bred for me. At the end of the summer, just bring the fish to your LFS.

-ricardo

musrusticus

Hey Flagg, I think you're actually quoting Zach de la Rocha (not de la Roach) in your signature...