New to Ponds- Have a few questions!

[Bettafanatic]

This is my first pond, and we have really gone all out. The pond is about 3,600 gallons and is 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. It looks fabulous! lol

Anyways, since it's my first pond, I just have a few questions.

I plan on having a heavily planted pond. Will I be able to grow oxygenating plants 3 feet deep? And since my pond has no shelves for planting bog plants, can I just put them on the bottom and will they still grow? Or should I just skip those completely. And will koi fish eat water lilies? What plants will koi eat?

Since I plan on having a koi pond, how many koi can I fit into a 3600 pond? What's the average stocking guidelines?

And will my koi eat a tadpole since I would like to have a bullfrog or two. Thanks!

 

[Cocoa1878]

Yes you can put oxygenating plants in the water some u can place on bricks. You can also get floating plants such as harthorns (I think that's how u spell it) water Lilly will grow above the surface in 3 feet deep water with no problem.
Yes koi will eat you plants more like devour them and they will also eat ur tadpoles.

 

[Cocoa1878]

Oh and I have bogs in like a big pot where I have my plants and filter my pond maybe you can get a couple of those in a pond that big. You don't need a filter system when you have these. It's hooked to the pump and brings water to the plants. The koi's can't get your plants like that.

 

[Cocoa1878]

Here is a picture of my bog

 

[Bettafanatic]

Wow thanks everyone! How can I protect my plants from my koi though?

 

[jlk]

The only advice I listened to from my pond stores was to build a shelf for plants. An idea for placing plants that cant be fully submerged & to protect them is plastic milkcrates. You can stack them to just below the surface of the water & place a potted plant inside the top crate. Their roots will be in the water & the plant will be protected from piggy fish. I believe theres something similar available from pond stores online but at 10x the cost.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Unfortunately, I have no shelves. When we were digging the hole we forgot to leave them. So all I have to do is plant them in milk cartons? Like the quart cartons? That's easy!

 

[jlk]

No, no! Not milk cartons, milk crates! They are hard, plastic boxes with open design (think laundry basket/mesh) about 1ft high, 1ft wide. You can stack 3 to the water level without being seen above the water. Google a pic of 'milk crate' so you can understand what I mean! Grocery stores probably have them in back in their stock rooms. Pond stores sell something similar at a higher price tag.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Oh okay! Lol I can be slow sometimes. I'll google a picture and check it out. Can I plant them in pots too or will the fish easily get into those?

 

[Bettafanatic]

I looked up some pictures and I got what you mean. But how would I keep the soil from falling out the holes?

 

[jlk]

If its not a huge plant, stick the plant in a pot & stick it in the crate. Most pond stores sell their plants already potted. I actually dont use soil in my pots in the pond- I repot any new plant half gravel below the roots & half above (with holes in the bottom of pot). They seem to grow just fine!

 

[Bettafanatic]

Sounds good. I'll probably do that. I just have two questions:

1. Will milk crates take away from the natural look of a pond? If so how can I hide them?

2. Can't the fish just get to the plants through the open top of the milk crate? Or would the crate be upside-down and the plants grow through the holes?

 

[jlk]

I am guessing your liner is black? Do you have anything on the bottom? Otherwise, black cartons along the sides of the pond will be not as obvious & will be below the water line. Floating plants will also hide the crates as well. Larger fish wont get through. If you have smaller fish, you could put window screen inside the top box where the plant is.

 

[Bettafanatic]

I do have black liner but the sides of the pond are covered in rocks so it would be pretty obvious. I think, though, that if I put a lot of plants in one crate eventually they will grow and hide it. Thanks for your help everyone! I want a bullfrog or two so I'll find an old aquarium to raise them in. I know that bullfrogs sometimes eat each other but my pond is pretty big (20x8) so would they be fine with that much room or should I just get one?

 

[jlk]

Good luck! I know little about bullfrogs & thought about getting some tadpoles back in the spring.... Well, I never got around to it. And I'm glad I didn't because there are 2 decent sized bullfrogs that found their way into the pond by themselves plus another 4-8 smaller frogs, too. And lots of dragonflys. And pair of ducks. And probably tons of other creatures that I have yet to discover. There are no lakes or streams or anything of the sort anywhere in my vicinity either.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Oh wow! That's quite a little ecosystem there. I doubt I'll get that lucky since my pond will be in my backyard, but I'm sure I'll get some insects or something. I think I'll get some tadpoles now so they'll be ready to move to my pond by spring.

 

[jlk]

Mine is in my backyard and I live in the Philadelphia suburbs!!! You may be surprised by what will eventually find their way into your pond!!!

 

[Bettafanatic]

How many bullfrogs can I keep in my pond? Since I wouldn't have much luck catching tadpoles at my nearby lake, I'll just order online instead. I found a pack of six tadpoles. Can I release them all into my pond or will I need to release some of them elsewhere?

 

[jlk]

I dont know the 'right' answer to this but I would probably just set them free in the pond right now and see what happens! Hopefully, someone who has done this before will respond!

 

[Bettafanatic]

Alright ill just see what happens. I'll give one to my uncle all the frogs in his pond left. Thanks for your help! I'm all out of questions now lol