Goldfish Pond now cleaned out

The pond got really dirty so we had to clean it out and can now see right down to the bottom and the fish look really good. We only have two goldfish. I caught the fish and placed them into a plastic container and used rainwater from the tubs, then Gerry used the water from the pond to water the plants in the garden, When we got down to the sludgy bit, we sluiced the tub out, filled it back up again and left it for a day to settle, then put the fish back in.

It looks lovely! Do you have a pump or fountain?

We have a solar pump Dan. We have lost one of our fish. It disappeared out of the pond yesterday. Last year a male Magpie took the same fish out twice and we managed to rescue it, but this time we looked around in the garden and no sign of it. We think it's the Magpie again.

This has happened to me too before! Funnily enough I keep buying silver koi for the pond and every time I have a silver one it disappears after a few days. I've emptied the pond and searched the garden and no sign and the magpies and crows are always watching over the pond.

We actually saw the Magpie try to get the fish even after we placed a net over the top.

Gerry has come up with a good idea and made a wire frame in a dome shape and spread netting over it...like a cake cover... and placed it over the top of the pond. The netting doesn't sink into the water either then.

That's brilliant :)

The one fish left looked depressed today so we went and bought two more to keep him company.

Aw that's good to hear! I think they get lonely!

The two local pet shops didn't have any goldfish so we went to a garden centre where they had an aquatic department with some very lovely fish.

That's brill! The garden centres always have a good selection!

We only have a small barrel we could get one fish in, not sure how it would cope with the frogs though....the birds would never find it, we have so many plants in it......it could do with a good clean......

We have just cleaned our barrel pond out DD. The two little fish are getting on well with the larger one.

Lindak that's not the one in the photo though is it? Our barrel is only a small one........

Yes DD this is a large barrel.