A fish pond in your backyard does sound great, doesn’t it? You can make one yourself, and enjoy the benefits of your very own fish pond – a place to sit and enjoy watching glimmering fishes of all colors. Sitting near the pond can be a relaxing and soothing experience, a retreat right in your home.
It’s not so hard to make your very own pond. You can do some nice landscaping around the pond as well, and create your own tranquil paradise. If you’re prepared to put in some time and care into your pond, you’d be rewarded with a lovely pond that is well worth the effort. Read on to find out how to go about making your fish pond:
Select the kind of pond you want
The first thing is to decide the kind of pond you want – a pond which homes goldfishes or koi or do you want to fill the pond with aquatic plants? Or maybe you want to install a waterfall. A pond which you have fishes in, especially koi can’t have many plants due to space constrictions and also because fish tend to the plants. The size of the pond would be large or small according to the kind of fish,for example koi fishes can grow quite big.
Dig a hole
Dig a big or small hole in your backyard according to your need, but you might have to shell out a few hundred bucks or maybe more if you want the dirt to be hauled away by professionals. Both shallow and deep pools have their advantages – a shallow pool means less excavation and you’d be saving money on construction and other costs. A shallow pool is about a foot to 18 inches deep and it lets you have a better view of the fish. Also, aquatic plants like lily pads thrive in shallow pools.
A deeper pond has more volume which means cleaner water and the fish are healthier. Fish are safer in deeper ponds as predators cannot get to them easily. Fish grow bigger too in deeper ponds.
If you want to keep plants, its best to dig a shelf all round the perimeter of the pond 1 foot deep and 1 ft wide. If you have a waterfall in mind, dig the rest of the pond with a slight slope opposite to the waterfall.
Lining the pond
Line the pond with rubber liners, concrete spray and plastic tubs which will help the pond retain water. Concrete sprays are durable and last long, but a professional would have to help you install. Rubber liners are commonly used but if you try to install by yourself, take care that you seal the strips properly, or else you’ll end up with a drainage problem, and you might even lose your fishes and water. You can use concrete bags with holes in them to line your pond and then install the rubber liner, so that rodents would not be able to damage the rubber liner. Plastic tubs are a great alternative too.
Pond pump equipment
The third step is to install pump equipment which is easily available at local pond and pool supply stores. Install the equipment following the instructions given in the manual, and it can be hidden under rocks or plants. You could buy extensions to conceal the equipment by the side of the house.
Add landscaping
Now that you’ve dug the hole, lined it and filled with water, your pond is ready to be beautified. Put in plants like water hyacinth, anacharis, parrot’s feather, bacopa etc, and rocks, and/or decking and after checking the temperature and chemical balance, you can add the fish.
Add fish
You can add any fish you want after consulting with the pond supply store. Koi fishes can range from $200 – 7,000 but fancy goldfish are much cheaper, at $35 each and look great too.
Don’t forget to add dechlorinator to remove chloramines or chlorine.
