Finished. For today, anyway.

All the surviving fish are in the inside wooden pond. The four small turtles in there look overwhelmed. 

I have to put the lights for the basking areas down a bit because it's not warm enough on the platforms. The little ones are basking anyway, which is cute. 

In the works is a charcoal filter system for the fish pond, but ... later. I am so very tired. This week has been exhausting and full of panic and rush. 

Pictures to show my work: 

My reed fencing came in. I think it sets off the garage corner nicely. 

You can see just a bit through it, and it gives the turtles extra security and privacy.

Here you can actually see one of the little turtles basking.

The space behind the wooden pond allows the kids and me to watch the turtles up close, and to feed them.

 I got some dandelion greens on special at the store and I propped them up like real plants on the basking area. As you can see, the small turtles have already torn at them and pulled some out.

The big turtles eat what's hanging in the water.

And my kid, doing a turtle puzzle. He loves his turtles.

The List of the Dead

Two goldfish
Probably one pleco
Maybe two plecos (I haven't found the other one yet)

And Wednesday the female dalmatian molly died. She is survived by one two babies and the male. This list will be updated as I finish draining the pool and collecting the goldfish.

Update:
There are a half dozen fish that were left in the pond last night, but I had been at it for two hours solid of catching, washing, straining, draining, and bucketing, and these last elusive fish just weren't getting caught. It was dark, it was cold, and I was wet. So they probably won't make it.

BABY MOLLY

Our first baby Dalmatian Molly is here! I saw it swimming around a little in the tank this morning.

IT'S SO LITTLE. It's too little to get a decent picture of, even.

The female is somewhere hidden, maybe pushing out more babies. I haven't seen her all day.

Picture Update - new ponds and turtle moving

New indoor pond setup; 250 gallon wooden pond and 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. 

The shelves aren't going to be there; I was laying out a way to keep the turtles inside with a shared basking setup but went with a different plan.

The turtle-catching party.

 The turtles in the wading pool containment area.

The turtle-washing crew. We had to get the hard water calcification off the shells.

Got the parts to build the basking lamp setups for each pond. Lots of GFI goodness.

And now for the turtles!
BETTY

CHEWY (who may be a Western Pond Turtle)

FRACK

FRICK

MINDY

MORK

SHELLY

TIMMY (the original)

My bite wound is healing up to look almost like a heart.

BABY TIMMY in his castle.

Got the light mountings built but I can't find any ceiling studs to screw the rope into.

Anyway, that's it. Everyone is accounted for and I am still exhausted. 

The turtle-catching crew did a fast job of finding everyone and nobody got bitten but me, despite them having found all of the turtles using their feet. 

It's here!

300 gallon Rubbermaid tank!
Just waiting on the wooden pond that I should get tomorrow. Whee!

Project For Later

Apparently you can build your own floating turtle dock with styrofoam, expanding foam sealant, and cement.

I'll have to look into this further.

The Pond Plant Haul

There was a sale at $petstore when I went in last night. Pre-planted pond plants for under $2 each. I picked up all six that were on the shelf and brought them up to the register, where the manager on duty casually mentioned he had more in the back.
He had 30 more in the back. I got them all. Once the turtles are out and it starts warming up a little (next year), I'll put all these in and see where we get. It'll be nice to have pond plants all over.