March 26, 2014 at 1:55 p.m.
Backyard sinkhole leads to unique goldfish collection
Backyard sinkhole leads to unique goldfish collection
By Kayla Thomason-
Johnson's love of goldfish is so well known in the Northwoods she's had people who could not keep their own fish contribute to her collection. She says she can tell the newbies from the more established members of the school.
"I've noticed with the other ones that I've just gotten, [they] are pretty skittish so it's going to take them a while to settle into the office and people coming by them and walking by them where mine are used to it," she said.
Johnson's goldfish range in size and colors. The biggest is around 14 inches long, and the colors range from solid white to solid gold, gold and white, and gold, white and black. Some of them have long fan tails while others have short tails.
"It's kind of interesting to see how they all developed," Johnson said.
Johnson's pond is 15 feet long by 15 feet wide by 3.5 feet deep, leaving the goldfish with plenty of room to frolic.
"It depends on the size of the environment they're in whether or not they'll breed," she said.
She doesn't sell the offspring, she just gives them to employees or clients who she thinks will take good care of them.
When many people get carnival goldfish they feed them fish food that floats, not knowing that is actually bad for the fish. Johnson feeds her fish pellets that sink, and since her first two fish are 10 years old that speaks for itself.
"Apparently they are not supposed to come up to the top to eat, they get too much air, it's not good for them," she said.
Her pond has a fountain in the middle, a waterfall, little spitters, a heron carving and other decorations. She hasn't lost any of her fish to predators. She thinks the movement around her pond deters them.
In the beginning of October Johnson relocates her fish to a tank at work so the fish don't perish in the cold winter water. In the spring, once the water is at least 50 degrees, the fish can go back to the pond.
The upkeep in the tank is more elaborate than the pond.
The tank requires partial water changes every two weeks, and because it is city water she needs to let the new water sit for 24 hours to get the chlorine out. The tank also requires a good cleaning once a month. She vacuums the gravel, changes the filters and scrubs the glass.
The pond has a good filter system, a waterfall and when the water looks low she adds more.
"[The goldfish] are very relaxing to watch," Johnson said. "Makes for a nice setting in your yard; the fish in the pond, the bench and the garden and the waterfalls coming down."
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.