No Longer Required I am looking for pond plants and fish

I have a speedo you can borrow, you just need to cover my sponsor's logo, I won't need it until the summer triathlons.
Dirk swims for the same senior's team if he is closer for you ?

The biggest size of the hand nets sold at your LPS should be fine..

I posted these pics some time back of the natural pond I made in Greyton,Cape. Also a pic of the fish I'm talking about. The dam was fed from an underground stream from the mountains seen at the back of the plot. The pics were taken on the last day I sold and moved, so pond was looking a bit overgrown and messy.

 

lol.. I cannot swim.. sorry man.. but thanks.. the plants do look nice.. that is surely worth a trip to collect some fish and plants.

 

what happens if you fall in your dam..at least you will go the way you would wish I guess ?

 

I thought about it.. will place a floating thing there.. just in case..

 

perhaps an inflated tyre tube,
a little bit bigger than this..




Why don't you request swimming lessons in the DIY section in exchange for plants ?

 

my plants are too valuable.. a floating device will do well in the pond.

 

How can you not have learnt how to swim? It's mandatory to learn how to swim from a young age - I was already in the water by the time I was crawling and my mother was a kiddy swim coach and I spend a year as a junior nipper at the beach for water safety reasons. I think it's because my uncle almost drowned as a kid and in turn, we all were trained to learn how to swim. My mother was a long boarder so I guess the water works run in our family, my nephew and niece love water and will take the opportunity to go swimming.

Pity you're so far away - plenty of river and dam plants here that you can take for nothing. Bulrushes and all sorts of reeds and half submersed grasses, beautiful ones with decorative seeds on them - I cut some for my mom to dry just before winter and they are so beautiful.

 

Given Luis's enthusiasm for the hobby and the water changes involved, how could he possibly find time to lean the skill, come to think of it I can't either ?

 

In which country?

 

I was born in Guine Bissau.. real Africa. As a kid I used to swim in the rivers. Actually got a photo swimming next to crocs. kid you not.

So I did swim as a kid, but when I was 11 I almost drown saving a friend of mine in Portugal, North Atlantic sea.

From 11 till about 23 I did not go to the beach, and even now I do not go to pools, rivers, dams or anything that requires me to be more than waist deep in water.

A mental block. Do need to learn how to swim, and will do it eventually, but for now, I stay away from deep water.

 

That's understandable. I grew up on the coast as I was born in Port Shepstone - had several near misses on a body board and after I moved to the farm at the age of 10, I've been scared of the water - anything other than the swimming pool was a no-no and if the pool was green, I'd stay out of it. 2 years ago when I came to the farm here and went on the canoe, I had a bit of an anxiety attack and have not been on the river since then - I prefer to stay on the shores to collect plants. Still better to have some swimming skill in case you fall in - better safe than sorry in case to save your hide and if someone's baby falls in accidentally. I'm ok with water that is up to my ankles and I know when the current is too strong, then I stay out of it as well. I've spend half of my life at the sea - it's not something you can play with - Mother Nature is powerful, having seen and experienced swells and currents and silly imaginations from the age of 5. I still remember bursting into tears when I was 5 and watching my mother swim out into the deep at the beach and my dad asking what is wrong - my imagination told him that there were machines under the sea making those waves and that they would kill my mother. Not far from the truth about the sea killing people, I was born intuitive but I have no idea where I got the story of the sea machines haha.

 

Hi Luis also from port shepstone did you come right with plants or fish. Im starting an aquaponic garden and have also been looking. Found a tilapia guy if you need a contact.

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hi.. found a tilapia guy in paarl.. will buy from them.. plants is a bit of an issue, but I am still looking.. Got some reeds from a local river, found some others at Stark Ayres, but will do floating rafts and use aquatic plants, stems do well.. Also Staurogyne.

 

Hi Luis,

There is a South African reed, which belongs to the Papyrus genus, called Cyperus diffusus or Cyperus alternifolius. These are reeds that do not get too large but grow well along the edge of a pond. However, they are not as large as the true Papyrus. Should be available from nurseries. Just a suggestion....

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I were surprised to heat how many people working on boats can't swim

 

Yes.. got a few from Stark Ayres.. saw it on Friday..

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I've put an amazon sword in my pond before that got too big for my tank. It did well in summer, flowering and producing a plantlet which I planted back in my tank. Eventually got covered in algae and died off completely in Winter. Even with UV light one can never stop the "surface" algae that grows on the walls and and stems of palnts underwater in full sun. I suspect the amazon fern also doesn't like the cold Cape winters. Bellville/Durbanville can go into low single digits...

 

I placed some rotalas, and hydrocotyles,, they are growing. but as I will put tilapia there, I will cease the plants.. tilapia will eat the lot..

 

Hey Luis, I've had tilapia in my pond. They aren't great for display as they are very well camouflaged and super skittish. Practically invisble in my black pond. I had to wait for noon to have the sun directly above the pond so that it is clearly lit, and then hide in my lounge behind the lace curtain. They seem to like basking in the sun and can't see me from inside the darker house behind the curtain. The moment they spot my movement they disappear. Pity as with some species they get quite a nice red band on the edge of their tails and some red on the bellies when mature and breeding.

They didn't eat my water lillies but suspect they did munch on some rotala cuttings I put in a pot in the pond. But that could've been my gold fish as well.

In a nice big pond like yours, some locally bred Koi will make for a nice display and aren't that expensive if bought small. The trick is to grow them past heron and hadeda snack size ;-)

 

I have no filtration.. and tilapia are to be used as food for the dogs and to keep mosquitos and others away.

I can also add some goldfish for now and let them grow. The hole is big enough for a couple of goldfish to survive without filtration.

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