Without a Backyard Fish Pond your "backyard" looks a bit bare and you’ve decided to spruce it up a little with a fish pond. As with all home projects, the choices you make at the start are the ones which will last a lifetime – or a fair while, at least. Here are a few important matters to keep in mind when designing and setting up your Backyard Fish Pond.
The first thing you have to think about is the pond itself. It may seem obvious, but deciding on the placement, size and shape of the pond will influence every other aspect of your project, including what fish you put in and the accessories and maintenance required. You should try to find a spot away from trees so that leaves won’t keep constantly falling on your pond. Similarly, place your pond in a spot where it won’t be affected by run-off rain, which can affect the water’s chemical composition and hurt your fish and plants. Check your house-plans for pipes, electrical wires and other below-ground utilities which could impact where and how deep your pond is: depending on the fish, ponds can go to as deep as 4 or 5 feet, so make sure you know what’s underneath before you start digging. Finally, a bit of careful thought as to the shape of your pond can help you avoid a costly eyesore. Try to fit your Backyard Fish Pond into what’s already in your garden: shaping it around flowerbeds or centering it in the grass may give your garden better structure and visual unity.
Next, the fish. The type of fish you can – or will – buy depends as much on your own aesthetics as the pond you’re building. Koi are sedate and unfussy with their food, but can be a handful due to their size and fast growth rate: unless you have a pond of about 1000 liters capacity or more, you’ll only be able to support a few fish at best. Goldfish lack the meditative air of koi, but are more suited to smaller ponds thanks to their adaptive growth rate: goldfish in a small pond will stop growing, only getting larger if the environment allows them to. Also take note of the differences within each species of fish: black moors, for example, are a lot harder to see in a pond than brighter-colored goldfish like comets and orandas. Choose a variety of breeds regardless of which species you pick for visual diversity.
Finally, you’ll have to handle factors related to accessories and maintenance. These range from the essential – water plants, for example, not only look pretty but also aerate the water for the fish to breathe – to the simply perfunctory, like rocks and deck-chairs. Make sure your water is suited to the fish and plants in your pond: check the pH and temperature regularly, and adjust if necessary with products available from your local pool shop (like water heaters and pH adjustors). Similarly, choose hardy plants which can weather the same sort of conditions as your fish, especially if you have large temperature differences across the seasons. Keep an eye out for other accessories including heat lamps, aerators and filters, and add them if they’re necessary. And don’t baulk at ornaments like water fountains or rocks if you think they’ll help the look of the pond.
Ultimately, however, building a Backyard Fish Pond is as much an art as it is a science. By combining your aesthetic preferences with a few construction and pet basics, you’ll be well on your way to building a pond that you’ll be proud to own.