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Aquaria
I kept fish from when I was 10 or 11 years old and until recently had
a freshwater tropical aquarium; this is the kind of tank I have had in the
main, although I have some limited experience with tropical marine fishkeeping
also. I disposed of my last aquarium, because at the time I had a pond in
the garden so no longer felt the urge to maintain fish indoors as well. Now
that I have moved to an apartment I am wondering whether I shall be able
to resist the urge to install a [small?] aquarium to compensate for the loss
of the pond - watch this space.
Pond
Apart from a small indoor pond, rather exotic, when I lived in Abu Dhabi
(UAE) about 12 years ago, I had never had a garden pond until about 6 years
ago when I had one constructed in the garden of my former home. It consisted
of a smallish main pond with water circulation between it and a smaller 'header'
pool about 8-9 feet away which flowed into a small 'stream' and back into
the pond. From the pond the water was first pumped into a biological
filter, then flowed into the header pool. I kept golden orfe, green tench
and ghost koi in it quite successfully. I had a problem with blanket weed
(who doesn't?) because the surface area of the pond was probably less than
the size necessary to establish a more natural balance, but it all seemed
to work. I controlled the blanket weed using pads of barley straw with lavender
and this seemed to stop it growing too unmanageable at least. I put in a
small gravel 'beach' to enable frogs, etc. to come and go and a small colony
indeed established itself, with the small stream becoming a regular bathing
spot for the local smaller birds. This is one aspect of moving home
that I regret, but as I am now living less than a hundred metres from a beach
with both sand and rock pools close by, I have found much of interest.
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