Pond fever

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com (Aquatic-Plants)
Subject: Pond fever
From: "David W. Webb" <dwebb at ti_com>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 17:12:42 -0500
Conversation-Id: <BMSMTP83885028719a0206807 at dsks52_itg.ti.com>

After going by that pond store that I got my 1 liter bottle of Flourish from, I've been getting this strange urge. So now I'm wondering about what would work well in a pond from a plant perspective. Some species that I might try would include.

Aponogeton sp.
Crypt wendtii.
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, valisneria spiralis, or saggitaria sublata.
Nymphaea stellata.
H. difformis.
R. rotundifolia/indica

Fish possibilities would include Xiphophorus variatus and/or maculatus and maybe a Fundulopanchax or Aphyosemion for algae and mosquito control. Oh, I'd probably toss in some Apple snails too.

If I were to do this, I'd probably just start out with a kiddie pool for this year and if I were pleased with the results, I might actually build a pond later. Substrate would likely consist of Tetra Initial Sticks and a bag of vermiculite mixed in with some left-over coarse gravel/humus mix, with 50 lbs of TexBlast on top.

There are plenty of wild animals in the area, so I don't know if I would be successful, but that's why I want to add plants... for cover... yeah, that's it... :-)

If I do actually build a pond, I'd like to be able to keep my ground cover through the winter. How many of these plants can stand cold water (40F - 35F) for short periods of time? I suspect the killies would come back out after a winter, but I also suspect the livebearers would have to be replaced each year.

Thoughts?

David W. Webb Enterprise Computing
Texas Instruments Inc. Dallas, TX USA
(214) 575-3443 (voice) MSGID: DAWB
(214) 575-4853 (fax) Internet: dwebb at ti_com
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