I think I got them in 2009 but I can't find the pictures from that year. Here is a picture from 2010 which is the last time I spotted them with eggs. They are never able to get the eggs to hatching because there are 2 plecos in the pond and they come along and just slurp them all up. I tried pulling them out in 2010 and putting them in an aquarium but none hatched.







These are pictures I just took a few minutes ago. It's hard to get pictures of the angel fish as they are quite shy. No doubt because they are such fearsome hunters they think everything else is also. I pretended I was going to put some food in the pond and got one of the orange ones to come out.









This is one of the dark striped ones but it's hard to see it.


Here's a picture of the pond they are in I also took a few minutes ago. It's kind of bright out there now and while I have buds, no blooms are up. I really need to get in the pond and clear out the dead lily leaves and the dead blooms, we had some rain the other day and it knocked over the papyrus which I need to cut back as well. There is nothing like taking a picture to see all the stuff you need to do

Those look really good. My fish are all natives and are well camouflaged so it's difficult to get decent photos from above. I have that same Cyperus sp. in a couple of my ponds, it's sometimes called Umbrella Grass, although it's not a grass. It can spread quite rapidly. When the tops touch water or ground they sprout new plants.

Yes, I rip out huge amounts of it several times a year. I used to have the feathery umbrella type but got sick of it sending runners everywhere and composted it. This one shades a couple of orchids I have on a log in there so I leave that batch, it's in a large concrete pot but it sends roots over the side all the time.

Gorgeous photos, Jonna. I really love them.

I am having major zone envy!

Thank you for sharing them.

Yes, I am having major Zone Envy, too. I have a very large African Cichlid that I keep thinking I might put out in the bathtub pond for the summer. I have had gold fish in that pond before it's a small pond and the water is on the warmer side but since the gold fish had done well in it before it shouldn't be an issue.

I think the cichlid would be fine outside for the summer. I have an indoor pond as well and originally put 10 African cichlids in there, now there are probably around 50. I need to move some of them one of these days, I keep telling them every time I feed them that they are breeding themselves out of a place to live. I think they may be laughing at me and telling me humans are doing the same thing. I haven't put any of them in the outside ponds, they might fight with the Angels and they are larger and more obvious to birds. I'm pretty sure they have cross bred into a muddle of types by now, most of them are a brilliant blue or orange, there are few with more subtle color.

This is the one I call Big Blue, I think she is one of the original ones I bought. She's about 5" or 6" now.




Another large one that is probably from the originals, those are adolescents around her/him. The all black ones are some Mollies that I put in as dither fish, I've not had any fights but ...

I have never seen angel fish other than the white and black kinds. It is hard to imagine having 'tropical' fish in a pond year round. Heck, in a pond at all since our water runs on average 65 to 72 at the warmest. Neat pictures. Christmas was in Fairbanks and -25F. Talk about your basic zone envy.

I love the idea of angel fish in the pond. One day, I am hoping to have a nice heated greenhouse and in that greenhouse, I would like a nice little pond. Some of these tropical fish would do well in a heated greenhouse pond I would think.

I have to worry more about the water getting too warm than too cold. I have a horse trough pond on the roof and it gets into the mid 90's in the summer. The Mollies and Guppies seem to handle it fine. The pond in the picture above, what I call the garden pond, is fairly deep to keep the temperatures more moderated. It generally goes between 75°F in the winter to 85° in the summer. The inside pond stays fairly even at around 78°F. The garden pond and the inside pond are made of concrete and our water here is naturally high PH so that also limits the type of fish I can have. I'd love to have some Discus but they need lower PH. There are many types of Angel fish these days, I have seen some of the silver ones that are quite gorgeous. I'm hesitant to add any fish to my established ponds, I don't have a place to really quarantine them for a long time and I'm afraid of new bacteria. So, I'll probably just admire the silver Angels at the fish store.

Carolyn, you are a real glutton for --- well, work. I hate to move from this house (the garden and pond that is), but seeing all the possibilities for ponds, greenhouses, vegie gardens, flower gardens is making the idea more acceptible.

Mary - it isn't work when it is fun!

Jonna, Your African Cid are just beautiful. I use to have a very colorful tank but now I just have the one fish in an not too clean tank. I had a nice group with a nice large Plecostomus to clean the tank. Then while we were traveling the fish started to die. By the time we came home there were just a couple left and they died shortly after our return, All but one of the largest AC. So how this one fish survived I don't understand and while I waited to see if the tank issue cleaned up to get more fish he just grew and grew and grew. By the time I thought about new fish he was just too big to put anything in with him. I did make an attempt but all new fish became meals. Even a few new plecostomus to clean the tank but that didn't work either. This guy is HUGE a good 9 or 10 inches long. Ric says if he was a Spot we would eat him. Here is an old picture he is much bigger now close to twice that size, this pic was taken after our try at reintroducing a new plecostomus failed.

Carolyn, I have been planing a small pond in the GH for a long time, too. Not the GH we just put up that is more of a working GH. But I have wanted to build more of a Conservatory attached to the house, for a very long time and still hope one day to do that. More of a Tropical Garden with a small sitting area and some kind of water feature. Small stream a few rocks and a pond big enough for a few Tropical WL and some fish.

Holly

The conservatory idea is totally what I am thinking. Great minds!

Holly, that fish could make a great sandwich!

Joanna, I have guppies, and more guppies. Got them from a stream here. The older ones are wonderful, several years and they get big, haha, with long colorful tails. An inch is big for a guppy, you know.

And then someone gave me three goldfish that I didn't want. Their food is EXPENSIVE, and they refuse anything else. I give the gups hard cooked egg yolks and ground turkey and hamburger.

The African Cichlid might beat up the goldfish, if you still have them. Cichlids are mean fish!

The only Angels I've seen in the last few years in pet shops are so fancy they almost can't swim, with all those fins. I like the plain ones. They are difficult to grow from eggs, fickle parents.

I have my fish in a kiddie pool that's not exactly beautiful...

the conservatory idea sounds heavenly. Hard to do up here and I don't have enough room. Would cost a blooming (no pun intended ) to heat in the winter even with thermal blankets which would keep out what little sun (2 hours at the worst) we get. At least you guys have reasonable weather to do such a thing. Moving is sounding better and better...maybe Oregon...

Wow! That is one huge cichlid! I do have a pleco in the hall pond with the cichlids, he's gotten really huge now. When I go and read the cichlid forums they say that the fish fight all the time and will kill each other plus I read that they will take the eyes out of a pleco. Gross! However, no fights in my pond and the pleco seems to not be bothered by them at all. He turns upside down and sucks their food from the surface when I feed them. He's at least a foot long now. I think maybe I don't have WW3 in there because there is so much room and they grew up together. The pond is 17' long and about 2.5' wide by 3' deep. I have some big limestone rocks and some old wood in there and a skimmer. I feed them cichlid flakes and sliced zucchini.

I got the Angel fish for the outside pond because the Mollies were breeding so much. The Angels do eat some of the newly born Mollies and there seems to be a balance in there now. The Angels were about an inch tall when I got them and are about 5" tall now. They have paired up and I think the two that I found dead in the early days were probably from battles over mates. Another reason not to add any more, I couldn't tell what gender they are or whether they would get along.

I can't even contemplate the different challenges to living in Alaska. It kind of fascinates me in a scary way, I've never lived where it snows at all. I think it is too late for that kind of challenge now, I get really cold and out of sorts if the temps get below 70°F these days.

My tank use to be more like yours, a good community. The fish all pretty much got along even a few babies hatched and grew to adulthood and there was no trouble with the pleco. It wasn't till this big guy got left alone for so long that things changed. I will have to get a current pic of him.

Jonna -

I know when the temps, inside and outside, hit 68 degrees. That seems to be the point where I get cold. I totally get it.

Holly - I'd love to see a picture. How big is he?

Carolyn, you get it! Most people make fun of us when we get cold if the temps drop into the 60's. But, what they don't think about is that they rarely have their house thermostat set to that and however cold it is outside, that's about what it is inside. Plus, we have stone floors and high ceilings, everything designed for heat - not cold.