These photos were taken the last few years as our pond transitions into maturity. I always complain in the early spring about starting her up. Mucking out the sludge (which super starts my compost ) and repairing winters ravage. There is always the melancholy of losing a plant or two and a fish or two. I stopped obsessing over fish after a mink or ferret cleaned out my 6 year old Koi and now I only purchase feeder goldfish which get surprisingly as the season progresses.
Last year I took pity on them and rounded them up to a tank in the garage where they fared very well but were happy to be back in the pond a few weeks ago. While I bought all of these fish as feeders, there are quite a few fancy goldfish in the mix with long fantails and fins. They are much more responsive this year and swim up readily to be fed a few fish flakes.
All in all, once established, the pond pretty much is it's own ecosystem. I rarely intervene after the water clears and the fish and plants keep algae to a minimum and you can see clear to the bottom most days.
