An Update

Update:
Changed Baby Timmy's basking area to his old dock and he seems much happier now.
Took the ramp that was Baby Timmy's old dock out of the Musketurtles' tank and gave them some eggcrate. They have all been up on top and they get up a lot easier now.
Mollies are all pregnant except the boy (duh). Snails are reproducing like snails. Started with one, now have over 9000. (Actually probably close to 300 but that's a lot from one.)
Brought in some plants / plant clippings. Accidentally scooped up a baby mosquitofish so that one went in with the Mollies for now.
All the turtles are scarfing the latest bunch of dandelion greens. I might make it a point to pick the neighbors' weeds this coming spring just to harvest enough to keep from spending $3 a bunch.
Baby Timmy ate a fly.
I put pond lights into the fish pond and it looks GREAT. Wish the water was a little clearer but my husband misinterpreted my directions for feeding them and ended up overfeeding for two or three days. It'll go away with more filtration and less feeding, I figure. The little fountain makes the water just fine and nobody is gasping at the surface. I also put in more fake plants and it looks really cool, especially now with the lights.
Sheldon's been doing turtle jazz hands at Morkie. I just know he's going to show somebody his willie and I'm going to see it and be forever traumatized.
Big Timmy's been relentless with his fluttering at Betty this week. When I feed them, I have to shove him away with a stick or she can't eat. She is having none of it, though, and simply steps on his head and moves him out of her way. He comes back immediately, though.
I'm thinking I want to bring Betty in for some hardcore basking to get rid of those retained scutes. I have a box made up and an area I can wall off so she'll have plenty of room. I can poke at the spots on her shell and move the air pockets, but that makes me worry she'll get fungus or something in them, you know?
I think my goldfish might be about to lay eggs. I think that Poseidon the Pleco might eat them all though.
That's probably it for updates.

HOLY PLECO BATMAN

I SAW ONE OF THE PLECOS THIS MORNING

IT WAS HUGE

I MEAN HUGE HUGE

And so pretty. I saw it for only a second but wow, it was SO BIG.

Pictures Galore: 1 Month Pondiversary

Here are some pictures. The pond has been around for a month; I'm amazed - I thought it had been much longer. We have five outdoor turtles, one indoor turtle, pond plants, three plecos, and over 100 goldfish. And an active plant nursery that I have to tend to today - I need to pot some of the water mint cuttings before their roots get tangled in the mesh planter. Going to just set them in some rocks. Oh, and 17 water lily plants in various stages of growth. Man, I think I might be proud or something.

The plants before the turtles ate them.

I remember when the fish were this small.

Our wasp friend (one of two, it seems).

Kitty TV

Feeding frenzy.

I have a lot of fish.

They like the ring.

So many colors!

Getting so big!

I think that one with the black stripe is Bobak. 

Look at the size comparison between the big and small - the big ones are about a month into pond-living while the smaller ones are about two weeks. 

These are baby mosquito fish. 

Carrot greens in with the hyacinth and baby mosquito fish.

This is what the fish do to oranges.

A TURTLE HAS BEEN SPOTTED (I think this is Original Timmy)

Chewy, hiding under a floating raft thing I got for them to bask on.

Oh, to be a turtle.

This is one of the newbies; might be the second male Timmy.

I think this one is the female - I don't remember and I can't see the claws.

I SEE YOU

Thursday's Update

Well, I may have accidentally gotten another pleco. A dark black one. It's cool. It's in the spa / plant nursery right now because it's kind of green in there.

I have five or six rooted cuttings of water mint now, and I would cut more but there's a huge spider web that attaches to both plants and I don't feel like disturbing the spider right now. It's pretty impressive and the kids like watching for the spider at night. There is also a tiny black spider on one of the mint cuttings, which was a surprise. I didn't even see how a spider could make it over to where the cuttings were, but spiders are pretty good at moving around, I guess.

Got a hula hoop to feed the fish in. They kept eating the turtle food so I got them the hoop to hopefully train them to eat in it and leave the other food alone. It's been known to happen, and goldfish are trainable.

Built / rebuilt a better basking area that we can see from the window in my room. It's an old desk top and bricks. It's partially submerged and right in the sun most of the day. I see one turtle already checking it out.

I need to get an underwater camera.

Update for Tonight

I put the bottoms of two cat crates into the pool, upside-down, with a brick on each, to make two secret turtle houses for them to hide in.

Also, as I was rearranging the brick alignment around the center basking float area thing, I found one of the plecos. I think it was Butt. I put it inside one of the houses while I moved the bricks around so I didn't step on or smoosh him. Once I was done with the center part, I walked over to the other side where there is a shelf with a brick holding it down (it was half a basking area originally but now it's a place for fish to hide). I removed that brick to move the shelf and, what do you know, I found the other pleco. That was half the reason why I moved it.

Two plecos, all four turtles, and baby fish accounted for. It's a complete night.

Another Pleco!

I went to $petstore tonight for a ton of small fish (200) to help with the algae. While the girl was counting out all those fish, I searched the tanks for a pleco similar to Butt. Well, in the tank next to where M found Butt, I found one that was almost as big and the same kind (which was still on sale!). I paid for my 201 fish and went out to my car, all excited because it was still light out and I could watch the new fish swim around some.

Then my car wouldn't start. For two hours.
Some of the fish died in the bags. Pleco made it home, though. I had to go back to $petstore to buy a small aquarium so that more fish wouldn't just keel over inside the bags (100 per bag). Small 10 gallon tank, 200+ fish, and one pleco in a bag.

I finally made it home but with 39 casualties. The rest of the fish went into the pond but it was too dark to see them exploring it.

We've named the other pleco "Cheek" so it'll be a matching pair. Kind of. We're not sure if the other one is a boy or a girl or even where he / she is right now, so.

Trust

There's a lot of trust and letting go that I have to do while making and maintaining this pond.

I trust that the pleco has survived the night and is resting in his / her secret dark place that I found the other day. There's nothing else I can do - I can't hover, I can't keep lifting up the rock to make sure there's still a fish there, and worrying does absolutely nothing.

I trust that Timmy is keeping himself cool during the heat, which has been pretty hot lately. There is plenty of shade, though, and the water isn't overly hot, and again, worrying does absolutely nothing. I do intend to get more shade plants out there for him, though.

I don't do 'letting go' very well, nor do I do patience. But I'm learning to do both because I can't do anything else.

Mosquitofish Arrived

We ended up with 30 or so mosquitofish that are happily eating everything on the surface of my pond. And some in my plant nursery.

Speaking of plants, I should have my 12" long Anacharis stems by the end of this week ($1 each!), and I got some Pennywort that was on special. I've been looking into getting some lilies but there's no way I can put dirt / clay / soil into the pond so unless I can find a way to plant them without that, I don't think they'll work out. (Now, I *may* be able to stick the tubers into a closed container with a hole in the top and fill THAT with soil and gravel, but there'd be no drainage. A large rubbermaid container would work and would be easy-ish to pull out of the pond for repotting / soil changes, though. We shall see.)

Oh! And last night Butt (the Pleco) seemed to be having a jolly good time in the pond. This morning, in preparation for the new fish (which are tiny), I put an upturned pot over the pool drain and stacked bricks on top of it. I was going for the last brick over on the other side of the pond (it was being used as a stabilizer for one of Timmy's basking areas that he never used) and what do you know, Butt was under the shelf the brick was on, just sucked up to the side. So I put it back. I have to build Butt a nice hiding area. And one for Timmy too. And another basking area since I just took down the other one.

It's PLECO!

I was having a lousy day and needed cheering up so I went to one of my new favorite places.

I brought a jar of pond water over to $petstore for testing and so I would have an excuse to look at more fish.

My pond advisor, M, tested the water and declared it to be perfect. I said I had just wanted to make sure because it was growing more algae lately. She asked if I was ever going to get a Pleco. I said the water might be too hot. She said they can stand up to 85 degrees - and then showed me a Pleco as long as my first finger (meaning the turtle of doom was less likely to eat it).

I bought it.

I think her (?) name is Butt.