Just thought of something- what about the ducks and geese we have each year? I guess they mostly fly in and out. But they do hang on the edges and walk up to the banks at times. They never bring their babies back here though- the bass will take them. Would an electric fence kill anything? Or hurt a great blue or other water fowl? I know the GB gets fish- along the edge. Sunnies mostly. But the blue eats what he gets and moves on. This should be another post maybe- our pond is very established- but we have some large mouth bass in there that are BIG 18"? I think some should be fished out and relocated. They eat everything. A tennis ball fell in the water once and a bass took it- let it back up in a few seconds. We once found a bass at the edge of the pond with a big sunny lodged in it's mouth. The bass was dead- the suuny lived after we freed it. Our kids scared a frog to jump into the pond one eve. Bass took it. What's anyone's opinion about getting some of those great big bass out? We never fish and eat. If anyone ever fishes here, everything gets thrown back. We would relocate them to a big lake nearby.

the first pond guy was facing jail so he found some poor soul who believed in him enough to lend him money to pay the lien guy and most of what he owed us if we didnt press charges.We decided since he owed so many people so much money we better grab what we could to help pay for the mess and he wouldnt be able to pay anyone anything sitting in jail. Also, we found out there is a contract you can get them to sign off on that says you won't be responsible for unpaid sub-contractors. Now we know! *******petem definately contact your utility company!******

Debbie, it could easily be a formal tropical water garden with its rectangular look. It would require a pump and some simple filtering, but that could be made to look formal. Many water plants have that tropical look, like taros (colocasias), and tropical water lilies are so beautiful. Submersible pumps don't cost much, and your first job could be to pump almost all the muddy water out and refill with fresh. Leave just enough water in for the fish. Then set up a skippy filter in a large fake old-fashioned looking flower pot and put it in. Then go all out with the tropical plants! These pics from the Singapore botanical garden. :) Mary

Jenn, My weekend television (and as far as I know, my backyard) was "alien" free! LOL Judith, Glad you're feeling up to posting a little. Sorry to hear you've probably decided to not build a pond. Right now since it's below freezing I dread going out to do any work on my ponds, but come warmer weather I'll sure enjoy the benefits. Gagesgranny, Some type of cover is the best way to protect the babies. I have used the black plastic bird & deer netting in the past, but only in the winter to stop leaves. Looks like it will be become a more permanant fixture around here. Sue, I don't understand the banning of koi and not goldfish in a lot of places as I thought one was as potentially as much a hazard as the other, but I'm no expert either. I read about the koi being seized from a restaurant and was also happy to read they had been given back to the owner. My goldfish are just as special to me as my koi are so both are fun to have.