Читать книгу Keeping Koi Carp - Owen Jones - Страница 5

1 Caring for Your Fish Pond during the Summer

The summer is the best time of the year to be seated in the garden with your favourite ice-cold drink and gaze at your fish and the rest of your garden. It is the busiest time of the year for both your pond and your garden flowers and the birds and the bees are at their most active as well.

If you would like to keep on enjoying your garden and pond into the evening, you can arrange external lighting at strategic points to highlight the best locations. However, in spite of wanting to just relax in the warmth, there are still some chores that you will have to do to care for your fish pond during the summer.

The first thing you have to do is ensure that you fish are getting enough oxygen. The problem is that warm water contains less oxygen that cold water, so you have to take extra precautions in the summer. This is fairly easily corrected by mechanical, automatic methods. There are three basic methods of oxygenating fish pond water.

The most important technique is the use of a fish pond filter. Endeavour to have the water pumped several feet above the pond water level. The water is then passed through the filter and it should fall down a few steps back into the water. Every time the water falls, it will pick up more oxygen, which it will return to the pond.

The second way is also the most impressive - the fountain. Most fountains have a couple of settings to permit various water patterns. All the patterns will aerate the water. A high, single jet of water will make the most noise when it returns the pond, while a pattern of say, ten less-powerful sprays will hardly make any noise at all.

The third method of aerating the pond water is the 'bubbler'. This device sucks air from above the waterline and releases it below the water line - it is the type of oxygenation device that indoor fish tanks utilize, but on a larger scale.

The use of these three methods in the summer will make certain that your fish always have enough oxygen no matter how hot it gets.

The next matter is feeding. Fishes' metabolism increases during the summer. They also have to build up fat, because they will not eat much during the winter. You can ensure that your fish get plenty of insects to eat by fitting a light by the water side. You can either take a feed off the pond pump or you could place a solar powered light there in stead.

The insects will be attracted to the light and fall into the water. The fish will soon find out about the insects. Insects are fishes' natural food, so this is the best way to fatten them up without running the risk of putting too much food into the water which could rot and adversely affect the properties of the water. Lighting up your pond in the evening is also a fantastic way of getting more pleasure from your pond.

This is the last chore that you have to carry out in order to care for your fish pond during the summer - keeping the water pristine. There will be a build up of algae, which has to be cleaned out, but basically, you are now set to get pleasure from your pond during the summer months.