Garden Djinn

A Fishy Story: Big Mama and the Boys

Gambusia affinis.

That's what we got to put in the stock tank pond.  Apparently, these have been introduced to natural waterways and are making quite a pest of themselves elsewheres, but for my little bit of desert water?  Perfect solution.

We went down to the Phoenix Tropical Fish store.   It's tucked away in a low-income part of town, so when you see the place, you don't expect much.  It surprises you. Lots of cichlids, tropicals, and  traditional pond fish - goldfish and koi.  Last time I was in they even had killifish, which made me very excited.  Killifish are cool!

I couldn't decide what kind of fish I wanted to use.  I wanted something inexpensive; I was willing to pay up to a couple of bucks a fish, but not any more than that.  I was looking at the giant danios, or maybe just feeder guppies... I went outside to check out the pond plants and large pond fish they had out there.

Out in the side yard they have several deep concrete ponds, rectangles about 42" deep, and maybe 5' x 8' across.  The last one in the row was mostly drained.  There was maybe 10 inches or so of water in it, and it was sitting in the afternoon sun.  A handful of fish swam around in the water, looking perfectly unstressed about the sun and heat in what must have been fairly warm water. 

I asked the guy what they were and he gave me a name.  Turns out they were almost out of the stock inside. The kid I talked to said he thought the tank was empty.  It was on the bottom shelf and in the dark.  I peered into the murky water, saw flashes of movement, and told him I would take whatever he had in there.  Turns out these fish are dimorphic, and the small ones are male.  He started netting fish, and they all looked small to me.  I resigned myself to coming back in a few months to get more fish.  Then the last fish was a big female.  I'm calling her Big Mama. The other guy came in at this point and took a look at the bagged fish - he thinks that a few of the smaller fish may be young females, and that Big Mama is pregnant.  Cool.

They usually price out the males at a higher price - maybe like killifish, the fish don't produce a lot of males - but they gave me my ten for the price of females.  99 cents a head.  Not bad.  So now I see if I have enough green hiding places for the little ones to hide in.  I was looking at the tank after I put the fish in, giving it a critical eye.  I think I'll have a pretty good survival rate.  Maybe in time I'll be selling fish back to them!

At any rate, I am confident that they will do their job and I won't be seeing any more pesky bloodsuckers around the patio.

Eat those squigglers!

The Great Betta Experiment of 2005

Both last year and the year before, I had a whiskey keg with a pond liner on the patio with a fan-tailed goldfish or two... and that satisfied my need for water and for fish, but not my need for flowers. 

So this past November, when I saw a little waterlily in a remainder pot for a buck, I grabbed it.  It spent the winter in the house and has done quite well.

Came the end of spring, and the arrival of sales at the local everything store (Meijer), I found another water lily for 6.99, on sale for half that.  I can't resist a bargain. 

So now I have two water lilies, one of which is sized for the whiskey tub, but I run a pump in the pond, and I've heard that water lilies don't like moving water.  My solution was to pick up a pair of cheap pots at Walmart for $5.00 a piece, and put the lilies in these.

All very well and good, until the mosquitoes come out.  Immediately, I have a problem.  I've known since I picked up the teeny lily that I will have to do something to prevent mosquito larvae from maturing in these stillwater pots - otherwise I am providing perfect habitat for them.  I'd been thinking about the options all winter, and wasn't sure I could put a fish in there with them, and not kill the fish. 

Most of the fish that eat insect larvae - minnows, goldfish, etc. - require lots of oxygen in their water.  Water that is cold holds more oxygen.  Moving water picks up oxygen.  Two ten-gallon dark-colored pots sitting on the concrete driveway have neither cold nor moving water.   I kept running down different fish in my mind, guppies? rosies?  danios?  and in every instance I was pretty sure I'd be signing the fish's death warrant.  Not something I'd do lightly. 

And then somebody mentioned they'd picked up a betta for a pet.  And the gears in my head began to turn.  Bettas are native to Thailand (hence the moniker 'Siamese Fighting Fish.')  They live in warm, still, shallow waters.  They are surface feeders, insects being the main course.   When I noticed eensy teensy mosquito larvae had hatched in the one pot, we bought a pair of bettas.
{PLEASE NOTE: one for each pot. ed:08/0206}

I still wasn't sure they'd be okay.  The temperature differences in their home waters would be minimal, while the temperatures in these patio ponds fluctuate greatly from day to night.  We put them in and I held my breath. 

Two weeks later, they seem to be doing fine.  I've even given them names.  Turk is the sassy one that is always near the top of the water and lets me get some pictures of him.  That's him at the head of the page.  Royale is more retiring, a right royal pain when the camera is near.   You can almost see him at the top of this photo.  That's his dorsal fin, with the blue...

{Update, August 3, 2006 -
I keep getting the same question over and over, so I will state my reply here:

I have two water pots with one betta fish in each pot.  NEVER put Bettas together in a pot or aquarium, they are fiercely territorial and WILL KILL EACH OTHER in short order.   It is not advisable to even keep a male and a female together.

You can add other community fish species, and the betta will largely ignore them.  But NEVER put two bettas in the same home.}

The Dogs of Hogglebog

I lieu of content, here are a few nice pictures. 

Bailey, on the left, is a new addition to the garden.  We adopted him in November. 
Hoggle, on the right, is the one that gives my garden it's name.  He came to us two years ago, also in November.