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Last Updated: 11/15/13
Introduction:
Welcome to my first newsletter. Only a few people have signed up. If too few people sign up, I
will discontinue doing this. On the other hand, if too many people sign up, my account will
overload. If you have any suggestions, let me know. If you have something pond-related that
you want to share (information, jokes, web sites, something pond-related for sale), let me know,
and I will add it to the next newsletter. Do you think I should include information on my other
non-pond web sites in this newsletter? Do you think I should keep copies of the past newsletters
on a web site? What topics would you like me to cover? I would love some feedback.
Thanks!
Significantly Altered or New Pond Web Pages (explanations below):
[All these links were updated when the pages were later moved.]
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/frogs/frogcare.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/frogs/toadcare.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/plant.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/plant2.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/plant3.htm
Additions or Changes to Robyn's Pond Web Pages:
1. I added a section to my frog page on raising green frogs from eggs to adults and an almost
identical section on raising toad tadpoles to my toad page.
2. I divided up the aquatic plant page into three different pages and added some new sections on
terrestrial plants in ponds, edible aquatic plants, a few individual plants, and vegetative filter
plants. [Note: The pages have since been moved May 2006 so I changed the links to close to
what they are now.]
Potential Future Additions to Robyn's Pond Web Pages:
1. One day soon, I hope to finish the final edit of Robyn's Pond Book which I was going to
publish but decided not to due to the $2000 it would cost me for 200 books that would be hard to
sell. Instead, I hope to put it on-line soon as a free download. People can download it but
probably will not want to print it because it is so huge (almost 350 pages)!
Happenings at Robyn's Ponds:
1. The green frogs laid many, many eggs which have hatched. I think the raccoon is eating some
of the eggs. Of my 7 ponds, 4 are full of tadpoles.
2. My smaller fish-less ponds have also been inundated with mosquito larvae so I had to put in
more mosquito dunks and mosquito bits (see
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/insects/mosquito.htm for more information on mosquito
control).
3. The big pond is full of minnow and goldfish fry right now.
4. My large lotus had two, huge, pink flowers! My small lotus has a few buds on it.
5. I bought some parrot feather, arum, pickerel rush, and horsetail to replace those plants which
have all died this year after four years.
6. I found a floating, dead, adult male bluntnose minnow in my 153 gallon pond. This was a
surprise as I did not think I had any bluntnose minnows left. Since he died, he may have been the
last.
Interesting Animal Sightings:
1. I saw a large black rat snake around my large pond, in the rocks. It has been almost a year
since I have seen one. They used to be all over our land. He/she was probably hunting the
chipmunk that has been coming to the pond (my mother saw him but I have not). I have never
seen a black rat snake in the water (just a garter snake).
2. I still receive occasional surprises with my ponds! On 6/28/01, I was shocked to find fish fry
in my 153 gallon pond where I have red shiners, Ozark minnows, Southern redbelly dace, and
possibly bluntnose minnows. The babies are probably red shiners. I am so excited!
3. Have you seen something interesting? Let me know, and I will put it in the next
newsletter.
Web Sites of Interest:
http://www.makc.com - Mid-Atlantic Koi Club
http://matts.herptiles.com/ - Mid-Atlantic Turtle &
Tortoise Society
Pond Tidbits:
1. I recently read an article on water pennywort and its medicinal properties. The author says it
cured his and his wife's arthritis and improved his general health. They eat two leaves a day.
The
article can be downloaded from
http://www.lvcm.com/cashcow/pennywort.doc
Also, my mother eats water celery and watercress from my pond.
2. Did you know that mosquito fish are no better (and maybe worse) at controlling mosquitoes
than goldfish, native minnows, and most tropical fish? In fact, mosquito fish in some studies
show
a preference for fish fry and tadpoles above mosquito larvae. See my mosquito fish page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/mosq.htm
for
more information.
3. Even though my pond is now four years old, I still discover new species of animals every year
that come to use my pond. There are new surprises at least a few times a year as well!
Pond Humor:
My brother came up with the following list after spending time with me tending my ponds.
Famous last words of ponders to their pond life-
1. What's the crunchy, cracking sound I hear when I walk in the pond? (I step on snails.)
2. The fish look hungry with all that ice on top of them. (I didn't feed them.)
3. What's this business about an underliner? (I don't have one!)
4. It'll be better if we hire a professional to do it. (I did, wrong move.)
I have to add, "Was that a heron?"
Famous last words of ponders-
1. I think it's cool to have piranha in my pond!
2. I can lift this pot out myself. (Sounds like me!)
3. What's a GFI? (I have one.)
4. Watch me feed this koi from my mouth! (Yikes, a koi that eats you! Later, I saw such a koi
in the movie Deuce Bigalow where the main character cares for aquariums and ponds.)
5. The bottom isn't too slippery for me to walk across. (Mine is! Watch me fall on my butt!
Watch my brother laugh!)
6. I can get a good picture of my pond from the roof. (I made my brother take a photo from the
roof but he didn't fall off!)
Do you have some more to add to the list or other pond jokes? E-mail them to me, and I will put the best ones in the next newsletter.
Everyone can have a pond! Even an apartment dweller can have an indoor pond or put a small pond on a balcony! It does not have to be fish-less. Even a two gallon outdoor "pond" can hold a guppy for the summer.
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