I think it does take awhile to get a balance of what eats what, and who eats what in your pond. At least someone will find your pond well stocked with caddis fly larvae which will mean your pond will be a good one to colonise.

I have had to give up on certain plants, as someone would eat them (common snails in my case) and would dessimate some plant types and not others. So water starwort does well and bog bean, but the water lavender starts up every spring and gets eaten by early summer. Also, if your pond is new, the caddis fly larvae will have relatively little choice of what it can eat. So up to a point, the more plants, more choice, and more plants are likely to thrive, but not always the plants you had your heart set on. Caddis flys are fascinating though, their houses are so intricate and unique.

I think wildlife ponds are full of surprises and takes time to mature and get a balance. So plenty of algae and bugs means more food for amphibians, dragonflys, and birds. Just have to wait for them to come.

I once Googled Caddisfly because I'd had one in my brand new pond.

Do a Google search for "Hubert Duprat" and you will see the most beautiful Caddisfly sculptures that he creates using tiny pearls,jewels, etc. I first came across this site when I had what turned out to be a Caddisfly larva wandering round the shallows of my brand new pond. I hadn't a clue what it was, in fact I thought it was something stuck inside an empty bit of twig till someone on this wonderful site told me otherwise. I had even contemplated helping it out of its 'prison'...just as well I didn't!!
Big Kid

Wow!! Thanks for that--really enjoyed the site! So when it comes to diamonds, girls and caddis flies share the same best friends!

Thanks for the advice. I am really fascinated with my pond and have got some frog spawn in it, there are two frogs which live under a rock at the moment. It looks like there are lots of little baby snails too. Does anyone know a good website to buy good plants from? The garden centres near me don't really sell much.
Thanks

Go out with a torch at night and see if you see any different creatures in the pond.

www.bromfieldaquatics.co.uk is a site selling plants etc. It's really useful for getting info and there are great pictures of plants. I haven't actually bought anything there myself because I like going to aquatic centres. Presumably they sell bare-rooted plants as they sell through the post.

There appears to be a problem with the Bromfield site for Macs. I'm on a friend's Mac today and it's not displaying the various buttons that are to the left of 'search' They do actually work, but don't display correctly, so anyone on Mac will have to try each one till they get the right section. It's worse on `Firefox' than on 'Safari' but we don't have 'Internet Explorer'

Big Kid

I have found them useful, especially to get particular plants I have had my heart set on. Plants I have recieved have been small but healthy, and seem to do well. They even replaced a whole box of plants that the Royal Mail stored over and easter weekend, which they didn't have to do. Make sure though that you know when they are being shipped so arrangements can be made to make sure the plants don't get stored at the depot!

The easiest way to deal with them is to use a hosepipe spray to wash them into the pond - live food for the fish!

Apply daily for a few days and they will start start to disappear.

Here's a place for water plants, and they're small, so not too expensive. I've bought some nice umbrella plants from them for only a few pounds.

http://www.puddleplants.co.uk

Pumps,Wholesale,Low Cost,240v,12v,LED,10w LIGHT,For Ponds,Fountains,Hydroponics,Aquariums etc,Also Pond Lights,Misters,Very Competitive Prices

Here is a link that might be useful: BS Pumps U.K