A great Day!

I have waited a long time for this but today I have finally added fish to the aquarium that has been hanging on the wall for over a year.

I have wanted an aquarium for a long long time.

Woman in the shop said the black fish with big fin is the male and the smaller fin is a female. thinks she might be pregnant.

first new fish of the season

Tom is staying with me for a while and his Friend James has come over. They decided to buy me a fish to say thanks. So off we went to Shoreham where we scored one baby goldfish and one baby shebunkin. Both are barely an inch or two long....real tiddlers.

good news

anwyay...spotted the little tench dude wiuht the black stripe. not seen him all summer though. ahve given up on babies.

Horror

So I go to feed my boys this morning and what do i find - old big fish, King of the Pond has got a graze on him. It is like he has snagged himself on something. What can that be other than some cat claw? He does not seem too bothered though., swimming around like nothing has happened.


Apologies for the writing readers. Have just been watching the Wire and the desire to tlak in some homey slang is overwhelming like you feeling me?

Anyway check these pics. What happens? do they heal? Yes that white patch is where he has been snagged and the scale is all standing up.

Baby fish

No. Nothing. Nada.

VERY dissapppointing.

I KNOW one year I saw a few tiddlers roaming around so I know it can happen but nothing.

I wasa rather hoping for somehting this ear as the rolled up chicekn wire is well established down there now and the big koi could not poissibly get down there. In fact there is a WHOLE NEW WORLD down there just waiting for fry.

ah well. summer is young.

water barrel establishes eco system

The tadpoles in the water barrel have now hatched into gorgeous little froglettes. It is really good to creep up on them and watch them basking in the sun on the rock or hiding in the green grass.

Have decided that the frogs just might stay in the water barrel and not jump away like last year's final remaining frog so have taken the plunge and moved the bowl from down the bottom and dropped them into the water barrel.

Found out hat Vince has been using the other receptacle for water so no wonder very few left in there. Too shallow for them as well.

Rather excited at having my own frog community. Have added various stones and stuff so they can hide under there. Mum seems to keep the the whole year round so that is my aim.

take a look at the photos and if you squint you can see various little tiddlers hanging round by the rocks.

tadpoles

Have three buckets of tadpoles on the go.. one lot in the water barrel which is problematic as it is very dense with green slime in there...every time I try to scoop it out i get the tadpoles with it so plan to leave them and see how they survive.

The other lot in the basin thing are so small. I reckon they have been kept out of the light so have not grown very well. Have now moved them out form under the bush into the sunlight but the bowl is so shallow i have to keep topping it up.

And finally, the third lot are from my mums. Fat little things. I have put them down the end of the garden in the washing up bowl. doing well.

cleaning out the house

up at 7.30 for some god forsaken reason and decided to do somehting positive instead of being so damned depressed all the tinme. so cleaned out the summer house, patching up the hole with gaffa tape! you can see how I have pulled out all the chairs and stuff.

the rain had been getting in during the winter and has made the cushions all damp...so leaving them outsdie to dry.

who says cryogenics is a myth?

Tow bits of extremely good news.

ONE - the tadpoles HAVE survived. snow barely touched them. They have put up a sign saying "You cant get me copper" and they are swimming around and feeling goooooood!

Their little characters are starting to develop already.

I feel so excited that they will be around for the next 3-4 months as they grow into little froglettes and then...jump into the pond! NO!

They say that frogs return to the place where they are born to spawn again so I keep checking the washing up bowl at the bottom of the garden. This was where I had moved last year's gang to save them from jumping in to the pond "way hey" only to be eaten by King of the Koi.

SECOND bit of good news - and this IS a good one....THE TADPOLES HAVE SURVIVED IN THE WATER BARREL!

This is the most fantastic news...why? because the water barrel has always been designed to be their natural water garden habitat. If all goes well then they should be born AND spawn in here for future years.

My very own froggery.

Snow in the garden

The heavens opened and the snow fell up to 5 inches thick in Brighton!

Having just found that my spawn had survived and my tadpoles had LIVED I then had to watch the snow and ice freeze my poor boys over in their beds!

Vince loved the snow...went out running and barking and biting at it.

he fish all went under the bridge and decided to stay there till it had gone. It is hard to believe that 24 hours later it IS all gone!

mixed feelings

I just know this batch of tadpoles are going to be a mixture of sadness and joy.

Yesterday morning I come downstairs….take one look at the spawn and think it has all dissolved and then – joy of joys – the tadpoles are born…..teeny weeny little dots wiggling rounds in the water!

Then today, the snows come. They are suspended in frozen icy water.

Will they survive?

Meanwhile, my mum has had two frog deaths.

spawn

Good news/bad news on the tadpole front.

This year we are able to start with some actual frog spawn kindly donated by my mother.

You may remember that last year I added a new water barrel, filled it with rocks, plants and stuff. I added some tadpoles last year and they just disappeared straight away. This year I am thinking that the barrel must have stabilised and so added a lump of spawn to that and a smaller lump to this flat water pool container thing.

Anyway, the spawn in the water barrel appears to just sink straight away. Very dissapointing. I feel like i have committed a frog massacre. Same with the other container. ho hum.

My mum is a bit of a frog whisperer it would appear.

We were fiddling about with her pond when she lifts up some plant in a pot she has floating and it was pandemonium – we counted around 14 frogs on all shapes and sizes and colours. I don’t know how she does it. The smallest one was not much bigger that the finger nail sized babies when they first leave the pond.

Welcome to the Pond for 2008!

Today was the official opening day of the pond…..I cleaned out the water filter and seriously cut back all the grasses and rushes. Stupidly tried to burn the rubbish in the chiminea and smoke went everywhere.

Pond is looking goods. It would appear that everyone has survived. It really was like welcoming old friends as they all came out one by one. Took them a few minutes to realise there was food to be had but slowly and surely they all came out and started to have a nibble.

I have started with the flakey stuff as it is probably easier to digest after the long winter.

roll call

1 x white comet with red spots 5-6
1 x shebunkin – 5-6inch
1 x red and black goldfish – 5-6
2 x blue orfe 9-10 inches
1 orfe – 9-10 inch
I large ghost koi – 12 13 inche and 2-3 round the girth
1 x orfes - stil quite slim. About 4-5 inches
2 x silver koi 5-6 inches
2-3inch. orange with a black stripe along the top
1 x shebunkin.. 2-3 inch...
1 x 3-4 silver koi