Sorry guys! I haven't checked the forums for quite a while!
We have now finished building the pond, and it ended up being over 2500 gallons; quite a bit more than I was originally hoping for! However, it is not a Mbuna pond. Instead, my parents wanted goldfish, and since they were paying for the construction, materials, and stocking, I thought it best to give them what they wanted!
The pond is about 2 ft. deep at the shallow end, and about 3 ft. at the deep end, which is plenty for the fish to stay blow the freezing depth. There are four adult common goldfish, and 13 juveniles of both common and comet variety. I also put in one female peacock just for the heck of it.
I currently have four Egeria Densa plants, and all of them growing faster than the goldfish can eat them. I now have the phytoplankton under control, and there's a good crop of filamentous algae along the sides that the goldfish like to graze on. For right now, the anacharis (Egeria Densa) is the only species of plant that I have, so there isn't any surface coverage for the pond. I plan to add lilies in the spring to help with that.
For their diet, I don't really feed them; I just let them eat the plants, algae, and insects that they find in the pond. However, I'm concerned about the lack of mosquitoes and other insects around, so the goldfish don't really have much available in terms of protein, even if they don't need a whole lot. I think the reason for this is that the pond surface isn't very calm; the waterfall is quite large, and creates a lot of disturbance. I think that the lilies will somewhat break the ripples around the edges, so I might see some more activity next year. Anyway, every three or four weeks or so I throw in a small handful of dog food to supplement the protein in their diet. I also check on them everyday to make sure there's no apparent disease or malnutrition or parasites. So far I haven't had a problem, but I keep checking out of fear that something happens.
I guess I love my fishies too much!
I'll see if I can get some pictures on here to show you guys how it looks.
