Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 55 posts

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#31

Post by ljf »

Pond water is perfect for using in a DIY laser microscope https://civilpedia.org/p/?t=Laser-Microscope&pid=30

All you need is something to 'hold' a drip of water - I pipette or syringe is best but it can be done with a chopstick, a laser (any colour) and a white wall or screen tk project the image on.

Suspend the drip, shine the laser through the drip and see the amazing tiny things living in the water.

I've not done it for a while, I better try this out again soon, the kids will love it.

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#32

Post by modeless »

skyfaller wrote: post #3

I really want to make a tiny pond at my house, but I'm afraid of the mosquitoes. My native plant supplier encouraged tiny ponds, saying that while you may need mosquito dunks to kill the larva at first, once wildlife is established in your pond e.g. dragonflies will control the mosquitos just fine. I believe him (or at least that it worked for him), but I feel like I would need to do more research before putting it t…

In California you can get mosquitofish for free from your local county. In many cases you can just put a few in your pond once and they will live there indefinitely without needing any care, eating all the mosquito larvae they can find.

Here's an example for San Diego but most if not all counties will have a similar program: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/deh/pests/wnv/pre...

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#33

Post by modeless »

It's amazing how much more biodiversity you get in a local area just from having a small garden around. Easily ten times the number of different species of bugs and butterflies and various things. Manicured yards with grass, a couple of non-native flowering plants and a tree or two are practically dead places in comparison.

If I ever have a yard of my own I'm going to do all native plant landscaping and some raised beds for edible plants.

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#34

Post by coffeebeqn »

modeless wrote: post #33

It's amazing how much more biodiversity you get in a local area just from having a small garden around. Easily ten times the number of different species of bugs and butterflies and various things. Manicured yards with grass, a couple of non-native flowering plants and a tree or two are practically dead places in comparison. If I ever have a yard of my own I'm going to do all native plant landscaping and some raised b…

I even got a lot on a 4th floor balcony. Hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, ladybugs, etc. I just put out some flowering plants from the region

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#35

Post by coffeebeqn »

chongli wrote: post #6
skyfaller wrote: post #3

I really want to make a tiny pond at my house, but I'm afraid of the mosquitoes. My native plant supplier encouraged tiny ponds, saying that while you may need mosquito dunks to kill the larva at first, once wildlife is established in your pond e.g. dragonflies will control the mosquitos just fine. I believe him (or at least that it worked for him), but I feel like I would need to do more research before putting it t…

Get some White Cloud Mountain Minnows (usually just called White Clouds). These small fish love to eat mosquito larvae and tolerate cold water quite well (down to 41F/5C). If you later decide to remove them they shouldn’t be too difficult to catch. They’re also quite beautiful and come in a variety of colours.

I was thinking fish or frogs. I’d imagine little fish are easier? Do they just live on the “wildlife” or do you feed them ?

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#36

Post by coffeebeqn »

rotexo wrote: post #23

Almost 20 years ago I helped my mom make a hole for a deep pond in her backyard—a previous occupant had a concrete shallow pond, and her attempts to add goldfish only resulted in turning it into a buffet for the raccoons. The deeper one just needed pond liner and a pump, and it was good to go. Now the only thing that can get to the goldfish is an occasional heron, which is far more enchanting than raccoons. Also the…

Sorry goldfish but having a heron hunt in my backyard is worth your sacrifice

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#37

Post by WhatsTheBigIdea »

froglets wrote: post #16
skyfaller wrote: post #3

I really want to make a tiny pond at my house, but I'm afraid of the mosquitoes. My native plant supplier encouraged tiny ponds, saying that while you may need mosquito dunks to kill the larva at first, once wildlife is established in your pond e.g. dragonflies will control the mosquitos just fine. I believe him (or at least that it worked for him), but I feel like I would need to do more research before putting it t…

You can buy tiny tablets to add to the water that prevent mosquito larva from developing but don’t harm anything else. I’ve used the Mosquito Killer larvicide in my patio pond for years and it works well. Garden centers sometimes have pond sections with water plants like hyacinth (very invasive), water lettuce, lily.

I'm doubtful of the "...but don't harm anything else" statement. Why do you believe this statement to be true?

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#38

Post by pvaldes »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #35
chongli wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get some White Cloud Mountain Minnows (usually just called White Clouds). These small fish love to eat mosquito larvae and tolerate cold water quite well (down to 41F/5C). If you later decide to remove them they shouldn’t be too difficult to catch. They’re also quite beautiful and come in a variety of colours.

I was thinking fish or frogs. I’d imagine little fish are easier? Do they just live on the “wildlife” or do you feed them ?

They are basically incompatible. Fishes eat frog eggs. Frogs eat small fishes. Ponds without fishes sustain a much higher diversity of invertebrates and amphibians (and this means more clear water).

If the pond is of a decent size and amphibians could hide in the margins, fishes could work. Yes. Native species are much better. In very small ones just toads and newts are a satisfying choice. Add frogs if you don't mind noise.

If you have a place for a mini pond my advice is, don't built it.

Go for a small pond instead. Miniponds look nice on yoputube but are really unstable, and much more difficult to manage long term. They "boil" in a few hours at full sun. Freeze in winter and water must be added all the time. Is the same mistake as starting aquaria with a too small tank. Most people just will quit the hobby in a few weeks.

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#39

Post by Jorslu »

ilamont wrote: post #22
ilamont wrote: post #10

The article is correct in my experience. If you build a pond, wildlife will come. I would only add that having a simple pump to create a little flow and oxygenation really helps reduce algae and mosquitoes. If the pond is deep enough (18"/50cm), it will frustrate raccoons. I've done two small fish ponds using heavy duty rigid plastic liners expecting only the fish (koi and shubunkin) would enjoy it. We live less than…

Here's a video I did three years ago showing how the small pond is set up. It's probably about 4 feet long (~130 cm) and with a deep spot of about 2 feet (~60 cm) ... if it's too shallow the fish would die, either from racoons getting them in the summer or deep freeze in the winter stopping the pump and possibly freezing the water all the way through. https://youtu.be/8ExfrhjpMp4?si=dJ1pOaw-zLA-Rvk2 FWIW we are only…

Sincerely, thank you for the explanations and youtube video. They were GREAT!

Re: Mini ponds are 'tiny universes' of biodiversity for gardens and windowsills

#40

Post by pvaldes »

modeless wrote: post #32
skyfaller wrote: post #3

I really want to make a tiny pond at my house, but I'm afraid of the mosquitoes. My native plant supplier encouraged tiny ponds, saying that while you may need mosquito dunks to kill the larva at first, once wildlife is established in your pond e.g. dragonflies will control the mosquitos just fine. I believe him (or at least that it worked for him), but I feel like I would need to do more research before putting it t…

In California you can get mosquitofish for free from your local county. In many cases you can just put a few in your pond once and they will live there indefinitely without needing any care, eating all the mosquito larvae they can find. Here's an example for San Diego but most if not all counties will have a similar program: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/deh/pests/wnv/pre...

Take in mind that the common species of mosquitofish is a nasty invader in Europe and this is "advice from 70's". We know better currently. --Don't do it--.

Some mosquitofishes and many killifishes in America are endangered. The common Gambusia will eat every egg of native fishes. If you spread the invasive ones in the ponds of the endangered ones, this can have serious consequences even in USA. Irreversible genetic contamination, parasite spread or local extinctions by predation can occur.

Post reply on HN