Fishponds, Frogs and Butterfly Koi

Fishponds, Frogs and Butterfly KOI

Annie's Water Garden

The Fish Pond was among the first things built on the property. I always seem to need to have one, no matter where I live. The chiming, gurgling whisper of a little stream of water spilling over stones down into a pool is restful and brings peace of mind. Colorful Songbirds come there to refresh themselves and happily hop about on the rocks. The singing Leopard frogs are very welcome friends to my gardens.

The FISH - The beautiful Butterfly Koi glide through the water like orange-metallic angels, their long fins and tails billowing out after them. There are speckled ones with black, gold, orange, pink, buttery yellow and white in many combinations of those colors and with endless pattern variations. A few are dark orange which appear as black in the water. Two of the Koi are very large. One of the large Koi is orange with black & gold speckles and splotches. there are red and black Koi, solid orange Koi, orange ones with black fins, and black and metallic gold speckles and many variations in combination with white and pale pink. Koi are ravenous feeders and help keep the algae in-check.

The AMPHIBIANS - The fish pond is also a habitat for a variety of Frogs, like the Bullfrog, Peeper frogs (my tiny harbingers of Spring), Cinnamon and black-colored toads and my beloved Leopard frogs. There are also Tree Frogs that come in all colors, including a beige or tan tree frog who has a square shaped head and a trill not unlike that of a Basque shepherd. Other frogs of unusual color and size live on our property, thanks to the Water Garden which serves as a breeding area for them. By late June, our property is filed with a multitude of Dragonflies that also eat flying insects and the summer delight of children, the Firefly...Lightning Bugs!

And yes, I do have a problem with snakes from time to time. Comes with the territory!

GHOST KOI

January 2003 - We now have two other Koi in the pond, as well, acquired this past summer. They are a very different looking variety of Koi - black with large round scales along their spine like armor plating. Their bodies remind me of prehistoric sharks. Hideous looking things, really.

The three Koi kept the algae problem inn-check this past summer and I did not have to treat it or do anything except enjoy my pond. I hope this is the solution to that problem.

September 2004: I recently discovered that those big, ugly, charcoal black Koi are a unique breed of Koi developed in the UK, called "Ghost Koi". They are a cross of Koi and Carp, developed to be more hardy in colder climates.

In the photo below, you see my pond with lush vegetation right up to the pond's edge and indeed, some of the groundcover, grew down into the water. It was exactly how I had imagined it. I just loved it! However, so did the water snakes & poisonous water snakes, both of which ate my frogs and fish, and allowed the possibility that someone could get bit! So, after fighting with them for two or three years, I decided to make some changes. The foliage was moved way back, the ground covered dug out, and pea gravel was laid down all around the pond's edge. Colorful river stones and a few big stepping stones were laid here and there. Now it is much easier to work on the pump or clean the pond. You can walk all the way around and enjoy the pond from every angle, so it is, in that respect, much nicer. It stays cleaner and the snakes don't like the pea gravel. It didn't eliminate the snakes, but I only found one this past summer, as apposed to two or more a week! I have been adding Oriental garden objects and it looks really lovely.

March 2003: I cannot, find the big orange and black Koi. Her mate disappeared last year. I later found him laying in the shrubbery below the pond. There was no evidence of fowl play - no scratches or other damage. Apparently he did one of his spectacular leaps up out of the water and landed out of the pond on the bank, and flopped down under the shrub where he suffocated and died. Poor thing. Now the female is nowhere to be found. I hope she is merely hiding under one of the cinder blocks in the deep end of the pond. She did that last year, and then suddenly one morning in early Spring, she emerged from her Winter hiding place, like a Houdini. She measures more than 8 inches in length. She is red-orange with white, gold and black splotches. A very beautiful fish. Her mate had more black and less red, but speckled with gold and orange and white.

April 2003: A band of Raccoons got into the pond in March and ate nearly all my fish, including my beloved Koi. The water plants were thrashed and ripped out. I am devastated!

May 2003: I have found that a number of young fish survived the raccoon attack. Most of them are black and small. I think there are three or maybe four that are bright orange. They were so traumatized by the raccoon attack that they stay hidden most of the time. I only catch fleeting glimpses of them, which is why I am not certain how many there are.

June 2003: Yipee! I found one tiny fancy one the other day. He is black with a bright red-orange dorsal fin. Really fine looking little guy. Because of it has pointed fins, I know it is a male. Females have rounded fins, that look a lot like rowing oars.

The NEW KOI
Sept - Oct. 2004 - My sister gave me about a dozen baby Koi from her pond this summer. They are really growing fast! They have also helped the other Koi get over being afraid of me, as they all now come up to the water's surface when I go out to feed them. Happy Me!

Below:
A 2-year-old male orange Butterfly Koi swims gracefully
side-by-side with a young pale pink Standard Koi

Story and More Images to be added

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