- Image by brewbooks via Flickr
After having an aquarium for years and watching fish ranging in type and style from the sleek, beautiful angel fish to the snakelike dragon fish swim back and forth, you might start thinking outside the box, so to speak. Watching fish and other water creatures swimming back and forth is mesmerizing. One could easily spend hours doing so if there weren’t so many other things to do in a day. But a few minutes a day might be all that one can really spare, and the fish won’t stop swimming because you aren’t watching. It’s what they do, after all. After some years of success with feeding your fish regularly and inadvertently seeing them grow in size, you might wonder about a larger ‘tank’ of sorts.
This is where constructing an in-ground, fish filled water garden might become appealing. Water gardens can be completely simple; basically just a decent sized hole dug into the ground. Location is important. You want the garden situated near your house, maybe along a walkway or by a fence, but you don’t want to locate it near high traffic areas where someone might accidentally fall in. You also don’t want to put a water garden in an obscure area where no one will see it unless they’re conducting a thorough examination of your property. Additionally, it’s a great idea to put the garden near enough to your home that a hose will reach it. Occasionally, it’s handy to be able to top it off after water evaporates. Rain will only do so much in this regard, particularly if you live in an arid climate.
Unlike your indoor pets, whose occasional trips to the veterinarian make pet insurance a brilliant idea, fish don’t require much attention. If you get bottom feeder fish, they’ll feed on algae that grow inside the garden. This keeps the garden clean and cuts out maintenance.
