Fishies!

While conducting research I learned an interesting fact.  The chlorine in tap water will evaporate out if you leave it standing for a few days.  As a kid I knew the aquarium shop guy would tell me this but I never knew why.  So after letting the water sit from Saturday (Feb 15th) night to Monday (Feb 17th) afternoon, about 48 hrs, I decided it was time to put it to the test.  Not wanting to test the water on expensive fish, I had an idea!  Why not buy some cheap feeder fish from the local pet store?  So I called my local fish merchant at Reef Tropical Fish in Anahiem and they quoted me 5 large goldfish for a dollar, which was not a bad deal.  Unfortunately I had to work a little late Monday night and didn't want to drive all the way down there so settled on going to the local PetSmart where I paid 3 for a dollar.  Usually I try to be price conscious but factoring gas and time and the fact that I was beat tired, I settled this time.  PetSmart is now my new Monica Lewinsky lol.  The next day I went down to Reef Tropical Fish and it really wasn't that bad of a place.  Worth going to if you are in my area.

Reef Tropical Fish Yelp Review

Another interesting fact I learned was that cold water holds more oxygen.  Which is nice because the in ground pond is going to be very cold most of the time.  Also gold fish love cold water.  Tilapia unfortunately like warmer water but we shall see!

15 of PetSmarts finest!

Once again during my research phase I came across an interesting species of plant that grows well in ponds and that fish love to eat.  It's called Duckweed (Araceae Lemnoideae), and is supposed to be even more

nutritious then sea weed.  Going back to an old standby, Craigslist, I found a guy selling some in Long Beach by my work on Wednesday February 19th.  $3 for 2 sq inches of weed, Duckweed that is...So I told him what my plans were and he recommended a dime bag of his sweetest cheeba!  That was a Half Baked reference in case you missed it.  Not that I smoke pot but a dime bags worth of Duckweed does not get you much!  My biggest concern was that it would not like the cold water.

The container was about the size of my cup holder in the Lexo!

Released most of it into the pond.  I also kept some of it in another container just in case of emergency.

Now after letting the Duckweed settle for a day it was now time for the bread and butter of this pond.  The Tilapia!  Another fine fellow on Craigslist, in Fullerton by chance, was selling Tilapia fingerlings (fish the length of your finger or smaller I suppose) for $1 each!  Now that's cheaper then most fish at the store!  But I was still not confident that the pond was ready so I decided to bust out my old fish tank and hold them there until the water is fully conditioned.

Go CHARGERS!

25 Tilapia now in my tank. 

I plan on putting the biggest one in the pond this weekend and see how it does.  If it survives I will slowly add the rest!