If there is chlorine in your hose water, that wouldn't be healthy for the minnows. I had trouble with rosy reds, a variant of the fathead, in a barrel pond without a pump; I think they needed more oxygen. Also, check the temps in your tank - they can get quite hot in the summer sun - you might end up with a fish fry! I use mosquito fish (gambusia) instead of minnows - I find them very tough little fish, needing no extra aeration and tolerating hot water well. Here is some info about minnows at the link below. Scroll down partway, and there is a list of fish, including several types of minnows, and how to care for them.

Alex, actually they looked fine until I potted them up and then left them in a corner of my conservatory to await for whatever attention I could spare them. In other words, I've got too many plants and too little time. But they do have quite pale and faintly spotted leaves, with a tendency to blacken. I know, it sounds like I'm growing them in a cellar! Also, spider mite seems to really love them. Hopefully, they'll come through to be fine plants and you and I can road test them for UK conditions.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! Don't do it! (Sorry, Tony). We bought our house two years ago, the previous owner had this somewhere, everywhere, and did not control it. We are still pulling it out. It was climing through, around, under and over almost everything in the back part of our yard. It is still on the other side of the fence in a vacant lot so it continues to creep back in. I do agree it looks great in the concrete island in the roadways, but would never, ever plant it in my yard. No matter how much you pull it out, it just comes back and no amount of round-up seems to kill it. Think twice, and if you do plant it, never let it get out of control. Just my opinion! Cherie

There is no reason a real jeweler can't tell you a gold content of the ring with a simple test. From this test you can narrow down the likely country of origin. Given that it has a 750 on it, it's likely European (18k in the US. A piece with a 750 quality mark would also be qualified to have a makers mark on the piece. I also don't think it's too ancient. I collect antique jewelry and most often see higher gold content from my european antique pieces, plus significantly better quality in the pieces made over 100 years ago. An older european piece might not say 750 on it...but again, a jeweler can tell you what the content is easily. Even my older pieces, which are rougher in construction than a piece made say in the 1880's are all made with more detail than that piece. Celtic pieces with designs as simple as that wouldn't have had the 750 mark. Even pieces from the early 1700's and down into the 1600's would have more done on the workmanship side than that piece. This does not mean it's not a nice piece of jewelry. It has a high gold content, and it's a decent piece, I just would be pretty shocked to find out it's ancient. I'm guessing (as guessed above) that it's some sort of lodge piece (which would explain the rustic design and masculine styling) from anywhere from the 50's on. Personally, I'd never count on a museaum to date my jewelry. I'd count on a historical jeweler, but if I walked into our local museaum (a very nice museaum) they'd ask to do a display of my collection, but I'd bet you a billion bucks they could never identify the pieces individually. You need a jewelry expert for that. And even a great shop can't tell you much about a piece if they don't understand the basics of jewelry design over the centuries. Let me guess value....ok not specifically, but I'd guess it's worth it's weight in gold :oP Not much else given the workmanship (again it's nice but not spectacular given it was probably a lodge piece) but it's a very good quality gold if the mark is right and worth whatever 18k gold is trading for by the ounce lately :)