Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction happy to be here! New pond owner

Hi Everyone! My name is Bethany, and my husband and I are in our early thirties, living in Charlotte NC, raising our six (yes six!) children, and beginning a few homesteading adventures. We dug a small garden pond in our garden area about 4 months ago, and so far it is doing great... we are hoping to set up a functional ecosystem and get started the RIGHT way (for our goals anyway).

Here are our conditions: pond is roughly 15,000 gallons, 3 feet deep, full sun, high water table- holds water very well, receives rain runoff and has a drain for overflow, and once in a while we top it off with our well water via hose

Issues so far- thousands of tadpoles (no fish yet to eat them). water is brownish but there is about 8-10 inches of clarity at surface, starting to see some brown algae and had a bunch of tadpoles die after a big rain... low oxygen??

What we want to accomplish- we would like to try our hand at farming tilapia, raise a couple ducks on the pond, have a few waterplants that provide oxygen and food for ducks and fish, but don't take over the small pond. Also hoping to use the pond water to also fertilize our garden.

Mainly we are hoping that with the right support and information, we can avoid big problems commonly associated with ponds.
Any direction or advice is appreciated. Thanks!!!

Do you have a place to overwinter tilapia?

Also, we love photos. Please post some

Welcome to the forum! Just be aware that ducks poop a LOT, and they do a lot of dabbling for food. You might have water quality issues with the ducks in the pond that might affect the fish.

I thought I read that tilapia can be harvested in 3 months? if that is the case, we would harvest before cold weather sets in. If it's not the case, I guess we would be looking into a heater for part of the pond? As far as ducks, I've read ducks provide good surface aeration, and provide fish "food"... as well as fertilizer for the pond. Do you think that is possible? Hoping to figure out how to create a good balance of fish, ducks, plants... and make it work... HOPING!

Also, I added photo's on the photo gallery. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=337994&#Post337994

I think the aeration aspect of the ducks is overstated, they might provide more fertilization than you want in a fish pond, and I don't know what they are talking about when they say "food" unless they are talking about Largemouth Bass and Ducklings.......

Those are Toad Tadpoles in the pond.

Take a temperature reading of the pond. Tilapia like warmer water, and if the water is in the upper 70's, harvesting eating size Tilapia in 3 months is certainly feasible.

Ducks will make the water fertile = good for watering garden, bad for keeping vegitation/algae under control in the pond.

How would ducks provide fish food? Perhaps a roundabout way for the tilapia via FA.

Get some kind of aeration system. Don't rely on the ducks. Kind of a sign already with the tadpoles dying that the ducks won't provide a good enough source.

We'll see what other think about stocking plans, but would you be open to the idea of a few CC. They would use a differnt part of the water system besides tilapia, so you could have both. You are only going to get so many #'s of fish out of a small pond.

Are you open to the idea of feeding fish?

CHOMP CHOMP