Actual Baby Dragonfly

That other insect wasn't a baby dragonfly - it was a damselfly nymph. I saw an actual dragonfly nymph yesterday (three of them!) and then this morning, I saw the shell from when one climbed out and shed its skin and flew away! The difference is very obvious. This thing was about the length of the end of my pinky finger.

  

Eggs and More Eggs

This morning I got a load of new hyacinths from my pond exchange group and, as I was putting them into the pond, our huge orange dragonfly flew over and LAID EGGS. She flicked her tail in the water while flying, splashing and curling her tail down into the water next to the plants over and over. I looked it up and whaddyaknow, that's how they lay eggs.

I think she approves of the new plants. Adult dragonflies only live a few months so I sure hope her babies approve of the plants too. I need to see what the eggs look like so I can move some to the spa nursery to keep the goldfish from eating them all.

And the snail I gave my sister might have laid eggs. Huge mass of dots in a squishy jelly. Might be eggs.

Hand-Feeding Fish

Amazing day. I blew up my new floating raft and had a relaxing float through the water, watching the fish, drifting around, being calm. And then the fish ate their fish pellets out of my hand. 

Amazing, amazing day. 

BABY DRAGONFLY! (update: damselfly)

We have a baby dragonfly damselfly in the spa / plant nursery! A BABY DRAGONFLY DAMSELFLY!
I am so excited. (and yes, I put it back in the water after finding out what it was)

Big Fish

This evening, I put my feet into the pond as I sat on the side and I dropped fish food pellets in the water nearby. This brought the fish to me and I could get a close-up view of them next to a measurable object - my foot.

The largest fish are more than half the length of my foot, and the smallest goldfish are about the length from the tip of my big toe to the pad of my foot. So the big fish are about six inches long and the smaller fish are about three inches long.

I also bought some more floating toys and a mask / snorkel set for later. I'll be away from the pond for a few days this week so my sister'll be taking care of it all, but when I get back, there'll be a relaxing float around the pond in my future for sure.

Worms

Since the turtles don't eat in front of me very often, I've been thinking of other types of food that they would like to entice them to eat just so I know they do. Worms would be easy to raise and I could leave them in a feeding area to ensure a good count of how many were eaten (likely all of them).

A bonus to the worm thing is that we could have the in the old aquarium and throw all of our compostable trash into it and the kids could see the worms eat and learn about composting. Red wiggler worms can double their population in 90 days or less, so it would be really easy to keep a sustainable level of worms for turtles and composting.

I am very excited about our new worm / composting possibility. I'll start after next week.

Multiple Snails! (and stuff)

I found several more snails in the nursery area and did some research: They look like Apple Snails, which are  very popular in pet stores and aquariums. They're still small yet, but there were three. Research tells me that some types of apple snails can reach a size of six inches in diameter. SIX INCHES OF SNAIL. And turtles eat them so I won't have any overgrowth problems. I think these are the blue apple snails, which don't seem to get that huge.

All the turtles came to the surface while I was out feeding the fish (I only feed them a tiny bit now to stop the algae overgrowth we had) except Original Timmy, but I saw him this morning out the window. I have to get more little houses built for them; they all try to crowd into the two we have made out of pet carriers. Everybody looks healthy and happy out there.

I found a floaty thing in the garage for the kids and let them both float themselves in the pond to be near the fish. One fish nibbled on my oldest's finger, which made him giggle. I was, of course, near them at all times because it's still a body of water.

My small lily pad is still small and lily-paddy and growing just fine. I'm thinking I will create a small fish garden with that one and another small plant and one small fish for my sister, who's been wanting a fish of her own again. My big lily pad is still amazing and is now a little bigger than a half dollar. The others haven't reached the surface yet but I raised the planters so they'll get a little more sun. Maybe it'll encourage them to grow.

Snails, turtles, more baby mosquito fish, tons of huge goldfish... This is such a fun pond.