Catherine Yassin on mon 6 dec 04
Ok, I have some questions... I don't use a lot of earthenware clays so my
knowledge is limited on the best way to make a goldfish pot to put goldfish in
and grow vegetation for them to feed off of.
I have seen in various places where there are goldfish (maybe Koi fish, I
just don't know) in a large garden type container. Yes, I can just go out and buy
a large container at my local garden store, but I want to make my own, to
make it special. Does anyone know if I need to glaze the inside, or keep it
unglazed? I'm inclined to believe it doesn't have to be glazed. I am thinking about
the scale of something that would just fit inside my kiln, so its going to be
very large.
Any thoughts on the types of vegetation to put in this pot? I will be going
to a pet store to get more information and on what types of fish do best in
this type of situation outside in the elements in this type of container. My
daughter's Beta Fish only lasted a couple months last Christmas (inside the
house). We went through 2 "Josephs the Beta Fish" and I don't want to go through
that again. But then, I guess if we have a large pot outside with fish in it
then it would be buffet line for the neighborhood cats that people let roam
around outside.
Any comments would be appreciated!
Thanks :)
-Cat Yassin
San Antonio
June on mon 6 dec 04
Hi Cat-
I'm not very knowledgeable about earthenware but I am about goldfish, ponds
and container ponds!
You don't want Koi- they get up to 30 inches long and need several hundred
gallons of water per fish. Any fancy goldfish would do. For vegetation,
you need both underwater plants (Anacharis, hornwort, cabomba) which can be
purchased at an aquarium shop, and things like a dwarf waterlily, or water
snowflake, or water clover and some grassy upright foliage would be nice.
For these your best bet is to go surfing and search the watergardening sites
for pictures and sources of the plants that you like. You need surface
plants to cut down on the amount of sunlight entering the water to keep it
cooler, and to cut down on algea growth.
If you do not plan on having a pump or filter, then don't make the mistake
of having too many fish in your container! One or two small goldfish and
lots of plants should do it. If you like the schooling look, try white
cloud mountain minnows- they do quite well in my pond here in RI 9 months of
the year- they can take down to 45* water and maybe cooler and they are
beautiful, tiny, flashy, and may even spawn for you! I see you are in San
Antonio so that would be do-able. You could keep 6 or 8 in a container pond
of at least 15 gallons, I would guess.
Cats, believe it or not, are not so much a problem. We have a problem with
stray cats here but I have only lost fish to egrets. If it weren't for the
dogs I would have lost the rest of them to raccoons!
Best of luck! I'd love to see what you create.
-June
----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Yassin"
To:
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 3:28 PM
Subject: Earthenware for Goldfish?
> Ok, I have some questions... I don't use a lot of earthenware clays so my
> knowledge is limited on the best way to make a goldfish pot to put
goldfish in
> and grow vegetation for them to feed off of.
>
> I have seen in various places where there are goldfish (maybe Koi fish, I
> just don't know) in a large garden type container. Yes, I can just go out
and buy
> a large container at my local garden store, but I want to make my own, to
> make it special. Does anyone know if I need to glaze the inside, or keep
it
> unglazed? I'm inclined to believe it doesn't have to be glazed. I am
thinking about
> the scale of something that would just fit inside my kiln, so its going to
be
> very large.
>
> Any thoughts on the types of vegetation to put in this pot? I will be
going
> to a pet store to get more information and on what types of fish do best
in
> this type of situation outside in the elements in this type of container.
My
> daughter's Beta Fish only lasted a couple months last Christmas (inside
the
> house). We went through 2 "Josephs the Beta Fish" and I don't want to go
through
> that again. But then, I guess if we have a large pot outside with fish in
it
> then it would be buffet line for the neighborhood cats that people let
roam
> around outside.
>
> Any comments would be appreciated!
> Thanks :)
> -Cat Yassin
> San Antonio
>
>
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