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Thread: An Isaan Pond

  1. #326
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    I'm gay, man
    ...yes, already noted from your posts...

  2. #327
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    ....and still not consulting locals, who may have had experience in what and what not to do.

  3. #328
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    ^ The locals first advised me that the pond didn't need lining, so for a couple of years I had a muddy swamp at the water table.

    I would love to find a knowledgeable local who could give some worthwhile advice.

    Any locals I've talked to have no knowledge of a lined pond. They have natural ponds that are drained once a year to catch all the (small) fish, and then the pond refills and the cycle starts again. My set up is completely different and needs a sustainable solution with a high density of fish. I must admit that I've found the average Thai's knowledge of their own natural history to be absolutely shocking, hence why all of our original plants were eaten by fish... not one local advised that that would happen.

  4. #329
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    .yes, already noted from your posts...
    During the lockdown, I went overboard planting daffodils in the garden. Too much really.

    Some bypassers gave their approval

    My mates just wriggled their wrist

    No offence meant if you are gay

  5. #330
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    ^ Just curious... what month do the daffs come out in Denmark?

  6. #331
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    March, I think

    But we had a bit of morning frost all the way into May.

    Not good for the Apples

  7. #332
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    I caught a nice 1.2kg pla siwai in the pond today, along with a pla nin. It didn't half fight well... look at the width of that powerful tail.

    Cup (and feet) for scale...



    These are really strange, prehistoric looking fish.



    I've been promised pla siwai red curry this weekend... but I think I'll keep a Fray Bentos on standby.

    The pla nin goes to Dan!

  8. #333
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I caught a nice 1.2kg pla siwai in the pond today, along with a pla nin. It didn't half fight well... look at the width of that powerful tail.

    Cup (and feet) for scale...



    These are really strange, prehistoric looking fish.



    I've been promised pla siwai red curry this weekend... but I think I'll keep a Fray Bentos on standby.

    The pla nin goes to Dan!
    Damn I'm jealous of that dog.

    :-))

  9. #334
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    ^ She'll be force fed a pla nin and milk smoothie in the morning, using a syringe to fire it down her throat.

    I don't see why you can't share in the experience, Shutree?

  10. #335
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    Breakfast in bed....

    That syringe thing is reminiscent of a night out in New Orleans, back before the flood. The details are a bit hazy. Shots of some kind, I believe.

  11. #336
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    Mendip, the foot on the right side of photo appears to be swollen compared to other foot.

  12. #337
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Happened to me before

    I found out that I had a weird tendency to drink uneven numbers of beer.

    Also developed a limp, but was able to cure it immediately

  13. #338
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    Quote Originally Posted by CalEden View Post
    Mendip, the foot on the right side of photo appears to be swollen compared to other foot.
    Cal... they are my daughter's feet. I checked them over this morning and apart from needing a good clean they seem to be ok and the same size.

    I think it's an optical dilusion caused by the left leg being at a slight side-on angle. Also you can see the left heel is off the ground as I'd just asked her to get out of the way... maybe her weight on the ball of the foot caused it to flatten out and appear wider?

    Also, it's closer to the camera!

  14. #339
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    For the last couple of weeks I've noticed that our pond is full of pla nin fish fry. There's also a few pink-coloured fry so maybe the pla tabtim are breeding as well. I think this is good news regarding water quality, but will inevitably lead to more overcrowding.

    With hindsight of course we should have stocked with sex reversed tilapia to prevent breeding, but it's way too late now. Hopefully the pla chon and resident kingfisher will help reduce the fry numbers. I've even seen a pigeon take a small fish fry from the margins of the pond.

    Throw a piece of bread in, and within minutes it's attacked by a shoal of fry.


  15. #340
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    I'm still getting re-acquainted with the humans and animals after being away so long. The dogs are good, the chickens are sorted so I've turned my attention to the pond.

    I had to bring in Anna and Vigo last night because there were too many dogs fighting out the back of the house last and poor Vigo was getting run ragged. They'll be staying in our pond area for the duration of Anna's season. I have to keep them separated from our other dogs by the pond as Anna fights with Coco and Vigo fights with all of our boys. Our dogs are a bit pissed off at missing their regular dips but that's life.

    I went to check on Anna and Vigo soon after 6am and saw this bird, although I'm not too concerned as we usually have so many fry in the pond they need thinning out a bit.



    Anna and Vigo were fine and waiting for their breakfast.



    And then I saw this dead pla dta-peeyan... a bit ominous after last year's disaster. It was about the same time of year as well. I'll be re-reading this thread to see what measures to take again... I'm already planning on pumping out the sludge after my daughter's Chinese New Year holiday has finished.



    I guess this is some kind of carp. The flesh is dark and for me not nice at all, although others seem to enjoy it.

    There were a few large alive ones up at the surface.



    Dan loves her fish but no way I was going to feed this dead thing to her, and just as I was debating with myself whether to risk chopping it up for the chickens the gardener arrived on the scene and claimed it.



    I'm a bit hesitant about eating dead things I find but he reckoned as long as the gills are red it's fresh enough to eat. I hope it doesn't poison him as we have a lot to do this week.


  16. #341
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    Smile

    Is this really only Yesterday ?
    I've never read through a whole Thread in just the one sitting but I did with this . I even started your thread expecting not to go far with it . But I think it's a great story . Good photos .... funny ..... just a brilliant little story .
    It was looking like it would be ending around June last year so I was a bit late saying so .

    I'm still not sure what really happened in the end .
    Seems like dragging out the sludge and getting the aerators may have fixed the problems ?
    Anyway ....... I too am near Korat ( but out of Thailand right at the moment ) . Maybe I'll get to see the pond one day .
    Excellent Thread though , Mendip .
    Excellent .

  17. #342
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    ^ Well Wasp... I think that dragging out the sludge and aerating helped, although as usual once the immediate problem had gone away my attention was diverted elsewhere and nothing was really solved.

    Pumping out the sludge is on my list of jobs right now before the weather becomes really hot which is only weeks away. The waterfall helps to aerate but my temporary solution of using a pump at the surface seemed to do a lot more aeration but was never a permanent solution and was expensive anyway. Maybe I can find a permanent solution this year...

    Anyway, after seven months of the pond being un-fished (at least that's what the gardener says) I decided that today was the day to see how big the fish had got and to have organic fish and chips for tea tonight.

    We set up two rods in the workshop... I'm trying to wean the daughter on to brown bread but the good thing about the Farmhouse white sliced is that the fish usually go for it.



    Then we moved down to the sala (or Fishing Lodge as we call it).



    One thing that I insist on is to always use barbless hooks... with dogs and kids always around this can mean a potential disaster is usually easily solved.

    And then we started. I think kit was JPPR yesterday who mentioned the water was like pea soup. A bit strong I think but it's probably fair to say it is looking a bit greenish.

    The jetty wood is rotten so I let the daughter go out first to see if it could hold her weight.



    And the wait started... there's a float there somewhere...



    And nothing... no fish swirling, no bites at all, no nothing. When I throw out the pellets in the morning I see a few fish come to the surface but nothing like there used to be. I was still expecting a couple of nice pla nin for my fish and chips tonight.

    The daughter soon got bored and went back to the house to play Roblox. It was just me and the dogs... and then something floated up to the surface.



    I netted it out and it was a headless and tail-less pla nin. There's my foot for scale.



    The gills were nice and red so I offered it to the gardener for lunch but he declined... I think he's got a woman at the moment and is raising his game a bit.

    The chickens had no such qualms.



    Altogether I fished for around three hours today. Usually I would have caught a bunch of pla nin and pla tabtim in that time but today it was just me and the dogs and no action at all.



    And then finally I caught a pla sawai... a catfish kind of thing.



    It was about a pound and a half, so I knocked it on the head. Doesn't seem fair really... the wife spends all day watching crap on the telly and she's got catfish curry for tea. I spend all day fishing and am having cottage pie again.

    The big issue though... there are obviously big pla chon in the pond eating all the tilapia. The whole demographic of the pond has changed from previously being full of tilapia to now being dominated by catfish. Maybe the pla nin are easier for the predators to eat? The pla sawai have nasty spikes on their dorsal and pectoral fins which may protect them? And these pla chon are big... to take the head off a pla nin that size I reckon they must be 5 or 6 pounds at least.

    But what to do? I've tried to catch them before with no success. Drain the pond to remove them? Seems a bit extreme.

    How to catch the pla chon?

  18. #343
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    ^ I think you are going to have to go for a complete pump out, de-stock and re-stock. Wait until the rains start.

  19. #344
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I'm trying to wean the daughter on to brown bread but the good thing about the Farmhouse white sliced is that the fish usually go for it.
    Mendip, both Big C and Tesco have their own brand wholemeal bread and both are much better than the Farmhouse brown bread - and at the same price IIRC.

  20. #345
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neverna View Post
    IIRC.
    Oh Surely you do.

  21. #346
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    IIRC... ?

    I've only just learnt LOL...

    I like the Makro brown bread but with seeds and stuff it's too big a step for the daughter so I'll investigate the Tesco brown bread. While I've been away the daughter's diet has been a bit lacking and I want to get her back on track but need to do it gradually.

  22. #347
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    Quote Originally Posted by strigils View Post
    ^ I think you are going to have to go for a complete pump out, de-stock and re-stock. Wait until the rains start.
    Yeah, I'm starting to think that way. Problem is the rains often don't seem to really start until June so maybe I'll persevere with trying to catch the pla chon in the meantime.

  23. #348
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    JPPR yesterday who mentioned the water was like pea soup. A bit strong I think but it's probably fair to say it is looking a bit greenish.
    A little bit green? Seriously buddy. That looks like a big pot of pea green soup. As you said in a few weeks it will be near 40c so drop in some Ham Hocks, simmer for a few hours, add a bit of corn starch to thicken it up and it's dinner time.

    I say pump that thing out and start over or run it through some cheese cloth filters.

  24. #349
    Thailand Expat Slick's Avatar
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    This is a 10/10 thread and got to watch the kiddo grow up too. Makes me miss mine.

    Dunno if its been discussed at length but algae blooms like that are from algae (obviously) and direct sunlight. In small ponds you can kill it with filters and UV lights but in larger, unfiltered ones like yours it takes aeration, circulation, and chemicals. Floating plants help too - lillies/lotus etc but its mostly at that point cleaning, water changing, and aeration, circulation, and chemicals.

    Ive got a little pond about half that size and I have a thing that looks like a paddle wheel in the middle, with a fountain. Its alot of work and maintenance.

    Would've been better to leave the concrete on the bottom (unless I missed it and you did) bare and clean. Easier for future cleaning.

    You could build some filters with UV lights out of 55 gallon PVC drums in series before your water feature. Still alot of work tho.

  25. #350
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    Slick, I went through my first algal bloom this time last year and lost a load of tilapia. I think basically the pond suffers from being overstocked, lack of aeration and not enough circulation. Having said that, last year was the first time I'd had a problem in maybe five years or so, so maybe I am doing something right as well!

    The waterfall provides some circulation and aeration but not nearly enough. My plan last year was to get one of those paddle wheel things and anchor it in the middle of the pond but as I said, once the problem was over (ie, most of the fish had died) my attention got diverted. Fingers crossed we don't get another major algal bloom this year.

    I have thought about UV filters installed in the intake pipe beneath the waterfall... but as you say it's a lot of work. This pond was only ever meant to be a small hobby and a means to pass time and catch a few fish. We've tried many floating plants but all have been eaten by the fish, and if not eaten, the pla nin hollow out the soil from the pots to make their nests. The only plants that seem to survive are bull rushes that I sneak out of a village pond not far from us. Even with those I have to cover the pots with wire netting to stop the fish nesting.

    When I get time over the next couple of weeks I plan to pump out the sludge which I guess is accumulated fish shit and also around 50% of the water and replace it with fresh. I'd like to wait until rain is forecast but it's not a good time of year for that. I'm hoping that annual sludge pumping and a paddle wheel thing (if I can find one) will be enough. A solar powered paddle wheel would perfect if there is such a beast. I want to avoid using any chemicals, although something to decrease the pH when we get algal blooms may be a good idea.

    Sadly I dumped a couple of cubes of gravel in the bottom of the pond before filling with water as I thought that would help create a good habitat for beasties and things, so complete cleaning won't be easy.

    My immediate problem is how to get rid of the pla chon. I stupidly introduced four of them from the market a few years ago as we were getting overrun with tilapia fry. These must be big fish now and have bred (I've seen small pla chon around the margins). I think there will also be pla duk to 10kg in the pond... I caught one at 5.5kg but that was three or four years ago. Maybe draining, cleaning and starting again is an idea... but an awful lot of work.

    Anyway, despite catching just one pla sawai yesterday, when I threw in some pellets early morning today the pond was alive with fish. I think most are pla siwai and pla duk though. It's the pla nin and pla tabtim I want for my fish and chips!



    And for anyone who doesn't mind losing a minute and a half of your life...


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