Conservatory water pond in Central Park of New York city on 5th avenue and East 72nd street is one of my favorite places.
This pond is the starting place of many adventures shown in my previous videos.
Some fish live in this man-made pond all year round, making me wonder...about many things!
Cold day of November 25th, 2018
Schools of fish swim over piles of sunken fallen leaves.
The water is calm and clear.
The pond is about 3 feet deep.
Late Fall is beautiful in the park.
The fish feed on algae growing on the walls of this pond.
Algae is the fundamental base of food chain in nature and aquariums too.
A couple days ago, the temperature dropped below freezing in NYC.
And yet, there is a water bug swimming around.
It also feeds on algae.
December 9th, 2018
The temperature stayed below freezing all week long.
The pond is covered partially with ice.
Something important is going on!
The pond was drained for Winter in the past week.
I can see the tracks of equipment used for the removal of all the trash and leaves from the bottom of the pond.
And now the pond gets refilled with NYC tap water.
Chlorinated water straight out of the pipe.
Chlorine kills most bacteria...and fish.
It takes about 24 hours for chlorine to evaporate.
Then the water is safe...
The fish from this pond went down the drain to the East river.
This pond is not designed for fish keeping.
Two months later on February 10th, 2019
The pond is filled with water to 1/3 for the Winter time, when it is used for ice skating.
There are a lot of leaves at the bottom.
Wow! Some flying insects stay up even in Winter.
My kid spotted a fish!
That is a surprise!
Remember, the pond was drained, and then refilled with chlorinated water.
The fish swims at the bottom, hiding among leaves.
It's easier to see the moving shadow of the fish than the fish itself.
March 6th, 2019
It's a freezing 21 F but calm sunny day.
There are some flying insects right above water’s surface.
And there are patches of green filamentous algae on the bottom of the pond.
Insects and algae is the fish food available even in the freezing cold weather!
April 24th, 2019 in New York feels like a Summer.
The pond is fully filled with water.
There are more fish in the pond and some are 3-4 inch long.
May 25th, 2019
This pond is full of common pond snails through the Summer.
And there are newborn fish fry!
Let's get a closer look.
I always feel the urge to take home wild fish :)
By end of this Summer, this small fry will be too big for my aquariums.
So, I better let it go now.
Two types of snails live in this pond.
Here is a 2-3 years old pond snail.
Let's put it aside for now.
I see a large dragonfly nymph.
This large one is more than 1 year old.
A furious predator that could easily eat my adult dwarf guppies.
I let it go right away.
And here is the other type of snails that lives in this pond.
It is a trapdoor mystery snail.
It could grow 3-4 times bigger than that.
So, this one is a relatively young.
And it is actually of a suitable size to try in an aquarium.
So, here I have two types of snails.
The old common pond snail is on the left.
The young trapdoor snail is on the right.
The pond snails breathe atmosphere air.
You may see them climbing out of the water for that reason often.
I let this one go.
I have them in all my aquariums.
They are great!
I keep the trapdoor snail ;)
Here you can see older fish feeds on algae that grows on the wall of the pond.
Snails also feed on the same algae.
Hey, this fish is larger.
It looks different.
And it stays alone.
June 8th, 2019
I spotted some kind of flatworm swimming in the pond.
Let's take a closer look at it.
I am not sure what it is...may be you can identify it.
I let it go back to the pond.
My dog thinks it was a smart thing to do.
October 1st, 2019
This pond is designed to be used as a playground for model boats.
Schools of fish have grown here on their own.
No food or plants added into this pond for fish to enjoy.
This pond gets refilled naturally with rain water, whenever rain happens.
And with chlorinated tap water from the pipe in the wall right here.
The huge open water surface of the pond allows for rapid water evaporation.
So, the pond needs to be refilled rather constantly through the warm season.
The warm shallow water is the best place for algae to grow and it is the most favorite spot for fry to hang out.
The huge water surface allows for great air to water exchange rate.
November 17th, 2019
It's time to get the pond ready for the coming cold Winter.
The pipe with tap water is turned off.
By November 30th, 2019 the pond is completely drained.
The pipe that supplies tap water to the pond is in the wall on the left.
And finally, I see the draining pipe at the bottom.
All the water with fish and everything else from the pond goes down through this pipe under the city and get dumped into the salt water tidal estuary of East river.
Usually the pond gets drained in the first couple weeks after Thanksgiving.
Some of the fish get trapped in a pile of leaves at the mouth of the pipe.
Some water still runs through the leaves into the pipe, keeping the fish alive.
Take a closer look at a fish.
Maybe you can identify it ;)
I come back 3 days later on December 3rd, 2019
The previous day’s rain and snow soaked the muddy bottom of the pond.
Many of the trapped fish have died.
Here you can see their dead bodies.
I see some living fish hiding under the leaves.
Let's move the leaves to get a better view.
I see a large fish moving on the right.
Here I caught one small fish.
The air is too cold...I better let the fish go.
The water in this puddle is constantly running.
I think that is what keeps the fish alive.
Two weeks later on December 15th.
A ramp was built for cleaning equipment to scrub the dirt from the bottom.
Not all the dirt can be removed, though.
Snails and insects hidden in the mud may survive.
As some of the fish survive.
I see many fish moving against the stream...hmm...it's been more than two weeks since the pond was drained.
True wonders of life!
The pond is designed for boat toys and ice skating and has no plants or anything for that matter to support fish.
There is nothing man-made in this pond for the fish’s sake...and yet.
Despite annual draining and cleaning...fish and all those critters keep coming back.
One week later on December 22nd, 2019
the pond is already refilled to 1/3rd and covered with thin ice.
Once again the pond gets refilled with chlorinated tap water.
And once again the fish survived.
Here I can see a couple fish moving from leaf to leaf toward a sunny wall where the fish can find some algae to feed on.
Nature, once again, proves to be capable to take care of itself.
The power of Nature to take care of itself makes me wonder again about all the aquarium fish care people do.
Common!
Nature gives an example of the best care our aquariums need.
Nature has all we may need to make our aquariums thrive.
Just learn from and follow Nature - it's simple as it is.
Have fun and happy aquarium :)
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