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PNW Year-Round Pond


tuculover
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Hello all! I'm moving up from a laundry tub to a full 6ft stock tank. Looking for suggestions on plants and fish that could stay out year round if possible. I managed to keep at least one white cloud over winter and plenty of hornwort. I'm thinking more clouds and some medaka but would love other ideas. I'm also impatiently waiting for pond plants to come to the nurseries. Any thoughts on hardy plants?

Thanks much!

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I am a huge fan of stocking natives. Not only are you helping genetic diversity but you also can just plant and forget so to speak. Here are a couple submerged/fringe plants:

-Brasenia schreberi

-Nuphar polysepala sometimes Nuphar letea

-Polygonum amphibium

-Elodea candensis and nutalli

-Comarum palustre

 

Native fish are much harder to come by but you can stock with fathead minnow, whiteclouds, and weather loaches (sold as dojo). 

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I'm same city waiting to get plants too.  my plan is to go easy with water hyacinth and some kinda lilly.

I'm throwing in medaka as soon as I feel it's warm enough not to shock them.  I'm watching this thread close for more ideas👀

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This is great! Do all of these show up in the nurseries or do you locally collect? I'm sure the yellow lily is easy to come by.

Thank you!

 

11 hours ago, Biotope Biologist said:

I am a huge fan of stocking natives. Not only are you helping genetic diversity but you also can just plant and forget so to speak. Here are a couple submerged/fringe plants:

-Brasenia schreberi

-Nuphar polysepala sometimes Nuphar letea

-Polygonum amphibium

-Elodea candensis and nutalli

-Comarum palustre

 

Native fish are much harder to come by but you can stock with fathead minnow, whiteclouds, and weather loaches (sold as dojo). 

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I will use common names here to make them easier to search for

 

The lilies and watershield show up fairly commonly as either a bulb or a full plant. Marsh cinquefoil is irregular but some specialty nurseries such as Sky and Flower World have them from time to time in their pond section.

 

Elodea and coontail are generally not sold by anybody but they are extremely common in lakes and ponds. Water Smart weed similarly shows up commonly in ponds and lakes and often times people will just get them in their ponds suggesting the seeds are transported by something. Maybe this is why they are thought to be "smart."

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33 minutes ago, Biotope Biologist said:

Water Smart weed similarly shows up commonly in ponds and lakes and often times people will just get them in their ponds suggesting the seeds are transported by something. Maybe this is why they are thought to be "smart."

Water smartweed is in the family Polygonaceae, and as a beekeeper this is an important nectar producing family that includes buckwheat and knotweed. Many plants in this family have a sharp, peppery flavor that is intense enough to make your eyes run. Hence the name smartweed.

Elodea is readily available at Petco, Petsmart, etc.

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7 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Water smartweed is in the family Polygonaceae, and as a beekeeper this is an important nectar producing family that includes buckwheat and knotweed. Many plants in this family have a sharp, peppery flavor that is intense enough to make your eyes run. Hence the name smartweed.

Elodea is readily available at Petco, Petsmart, etc.

Fascinating! I suppose I have never sniffed smartweed before. I forget that 'smart' meant something different before this century. They do produce gorgeous flowers.

 

Does Petsmart/Petco sell native Elodea or do they sell the invasive variety from Brazil? I haven't stepped foot in either of those places since I left after college.

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Correct Elodea canadensis and  nutalli are native here. Several of the smaller lakes around Seattle and Shoreline are teaming with native shoreline plants. I have only ever had issues with Rangers when transporting invasives, of course you cannot collect in state parks. Public access are usually fair game though. 

 

Real question is if anyone has seen Olympic mudminnows in the Seattle area? Rumor has it they were breed and released from state university labs. They are considered threatened so being able to breed them would be fun.

Edited by Biotope Biologist
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