Where do find the potted plants for my half barrel pond???

[Tiger1]

I want to set up a 30 gallon half barrel pond with a 2 gallon biofilter spilling into it(skippy design, wish me luck with this build). Where is everyone getting the beautiful potted plants to put in container ponds. And how many comets do you think can live in this setup?

 

[jlk]

Do you have any local pond stores near you? Thats where i purchase all of my plants. You can also try online purchasing online. Honestly, i would only suggest one or two small comets and thats with the caveat that you have plans to find them a larger and more suitable home in the near future! Comets can grow (quickly!) to be 12-18inches in length and 30 gallons would not be big enough for even one!

 

[Tiger1]

It took forever, but I finally found a pond place that existed where they were listed. Thanks, got some submersible plants dirt cheap for now till I'm all set up. Getting lily and bog soon after. I'll stick with just a couple baby comets to start, then. I'm sure pond place will gladly take the more mature fish off my hands. About how long and how big will it take for them to be "too big"?

 

[jlk]

The better their environment, the faster they seem to grow! My 1 comet was barely an inch long in May. Hes now over 5inches (and in a pond). My 2 shubunkins were both barely an inch long in May and they are both well over 6inches now (and in a pond as well). Based on this, i would say they grow atleast an inch per month in ideal conditions! Hope this helps!

 

[toddnbecka]

Rosy red minnows would be a better fit than goldfish.

 

[PHP]

30 gallons is not the right size for comet goldfish at all.

Comet Goldfish are known to get around a foot long and need at least 100+ gallon ponds.

Personally, I'd either go with Mosquito fish or Rosy Red Minnow (Or both).

 

[Tiger1]

Caught some mosquito fish from neighborhood lake and have them in tank on stand by until I fishless cycle barrel. Will look into rosy reds. How about guppies, for added color?

 

[toddnbecka]

Guppies aren't colorful from above, would look like the mosquito fish.

 

[Alspond]

Caught some mosquito fish from neighborhood lake and have them in tank on stand by until I fishless cycle barrel. Will look into rosy reds. How about guppies, for added color?

If you live far enough south, Sailfin mollies can be quite colorful in the summer.
Might be in the same lake with your mosquito fish.
We have them in an outdoor pond and they show red and blue green in their mating displays which are almost nonstop when the water is 75+

Plattys or swordtails will do fine if the water temps stay above 50.
Too many hours at 50 they will die.

Al

 

[Tiger1]

My barrel is finally almost done, complete with homemade skippy filter and fish observatory. Just need to paint PVC stand under observatory black. Can't really see the mosquito fish but the color of the rosy red minnows are nice against the dark background. I'll get a few more of those.

 

[Bige]

Well done! Looks awesome.

 

[glassbird]

OOH! I like the observatory! I have wanted to do that with my pond set-up, but it would draw neighborhood kids in like a magnet, and I know some of them were not raised with enough manners to keep their hands off.

I bought pond plants on eBay last spring. I bought a mixed collection of three types, but there were actually 4 different plants in the batch that I received. Which worked out well, because now I know to get more of those next year, and I would never have known about them otherwise. I would give you the name of the seller that I used, but I don't remember it now.

 

[PHP]

Looks great!

I as well like the observatory. I've seen a few set-ups around my area with an observatory like that and it was quite fascinating. Now I wished I knew about them when I had my pond. Ah well.