Inexpensive Pond construction Ideas
Barrels, as such, are too deep for fish-keeping purposes. If they win not stand being sawn in half they should be half-filled with shingle, this win take up the space that would otherwise be occupied by dank water; the water at the bottom of a deep vessel contains very little oxygen, and fishes spend far more time than is generally realised in resting on the bottom.
Moreover, water-lilies do not thrive so well in a deep barrel—the deeper the water a lily is in, so much more win it require a larger surface of water for its leaves.
The old kitchen sink as suggested for the rockery may be brought into service for the water-garden. If loam, with a covering of shingle, lines the bottom, such beautiful plants as Water Lobelia (plate iv), Water Forget-me-not and other shadow-water lovers can be grown. In time, with good fortune, the whole of the sink will be covered like a carpet. Some sort of protection must be devised if fishes are to be kept in the sink; cats, of course, make this necessary, also the suicidal tendencies of the fish themselves.
I once had a sink-aquarium in which were six lusty young goldfish. As a protection from the sun over one corner a large tile was placed. At times the entire six fishes would retire beneath this tile and there commune solemnly together. One day one of the fish died, the post-mortem revealed nothing; another died on the following day and the remaining four did not look any too pleased with themselves.
Moreover, they avoided their old retreat beneath the tile. I lifted the tile and there squatted the ” Digger in the woodpile,” his nose just: out of the water, his eyes blinking in the sunlight—a large, fat toad. I imagine that the arid emanation from the toad’s skin had either poisoned the water or poisoned the fish by contact