I have a bit of an addiction to ponds, fish and water plants. I know I’ve posted pictures of the hall pond, the garden pond and maybe even the little Betta pond, but have I mentioned that I also have a big, ugly, plastic, kiddy pond on the roof? Yea, I do. It has plants and fish that I want to propagate or that I don’t have room for in the other ponds.
cute, eh?
I bought the kiddy pool over in Playa del Carmen one time when I saw it on sale in Soriana. I didn’t have any measurements from the roof with me and I just thought it would fit. Well, not so much. It ended up overlapping the concrete beams and kind of draping over the sides. Every morning I looked out there to see if it was still holding water, I was afraid that the combination of bad seating, full tropical sun, and windy downpours would collapse it. Plus, did I mention it was really ugly? I put a laundry basket, home made filter in it which added to the charm.
So, look what arrived day before yesterday.
Mimi measuring to see if it will fit through the roof door
Luckily, Mimi figured out it would fit through the roof door so they didn’t have to hoist it up from the street with ropes. That would have been a sight. Instead, they managed to haul it through the house, up the stairs, through our bedroom, past the laundry and onto the roof.
luckily, it's not really heavy
Gabi laughs as it comes through the bedroom
So, yesterday Mimi and I spent many hot hours, bent over with a net, in full sun on a white roof, catching teeny little Molly fry and moving them to the new pond. We both have a pretty good base tan but both of us have a bit of a sunburn today.
the Molly hunt
By the time we had walked around a bit and pulled out the plants, the gunk on the bottom of the plastic pond was pretty stirred up. It didn’t help us find the fish.
tiny fish in green muck
Mollies in their new home
So, now I have nice new pond on the roof. It has less surface area than the old one but it is deeper. It takes up a lot less room and isn’t as big an eyesore. We’re going to wash out the plastic pond and take it to Gabi’s house for the kids to cool off in. I’m afraid if it stays here, I’ll fill it with water again and add more plants.
Was that made for the roof? I want one to use as a planter on my roof! yeah, it would be perfect. Expect a phone call!
It’s pretty nice looking up there, but isn’t the black going to heat up a bit?
So is there a Ponder’s Anonymous?
regards
Theresa
Dang, you’re good! You even have beautiful water lilies blooming in the overflow pond!
When you write (a lot) about “our” bed(room), does that mean you are coupled with another woman? Forgive, but you also mention that you have children
Fish FIRST to leave the pool to temporary quarters – then stir the muck – but you probably know that now
I would be making a hot tub out of that container 
I am so impressed! Very cool! And my mind is heading the same direction as Theresa’s – I want to grow some vegies on my roof and that looks perfect! I am going to start thinking on this right now!
That is fantastic. Will the pond not get to hot up on the roof for your fish? My friend Tom says that red wine needs to be refrigerated due to the heat, or it will cook. Will the same not apply to the pond and fish? I would love to have a pond on my roof along with a bit of a garden, like Theresa mentioned.
So the next time there are torrential downpours not only will you have to sandbag the street doors, but also guard against mollies dripping from the ceiling? Can’t wait to hear your exciting narrative about racing from floor to floor !
Be careful for your roof load! Water weighs about 7 pounds per gallon. You might want to discuss your load with an engineer. Perhaps painting both inside and outside of tank would reduce heat. Boiled fish belongs on the table, not in the pond.
I put a stock tank into the ground of our terrace here near Buffalo. But I only put four little fish into it to suppress mosquito fry. (They can’t keep up. But the bats and swallows get the ones which do hatch; we rarely get bit.) The reason I don’t put in more fish, is that it’s Buffalo, and our winters freeze deeply. I’ve got koi in the millpond, but it is 7 feet deep, so they can overwinter; but the little rosie reds probably don’t make it. No, we don’t have a fish tank. Sorry, Rosies.
~eric.
Dojo, I am gay and I have one son – those two statements are not mutually exclusive. Mimi and I will have been together for 19 years this Sept. She’s a keeper.
John, we did try and catch as many as possible before the muck got stirred up. Swooping down to catch a small fish with a net tends to ruin all your good intentions pretty quickly.
Nancy & Theresa, I got this at Surpesa which is a company that deals in electrical and plumbing supplies. It is called a bebedero and is a form of cattle trough. They come in many sizes and this one was made by the tinaco company, Rotoplas.
Eric & Patti, yes heat is a consideration. We are thinking of painting the outside with the white impermizable that covers the roof. In the mean time I’m checking the water temp daily and adding cooler water when needed. The lilies are happy in water up to 100°F or more, but the Mollies prefer it a bit cooler.
The weight too is a consideration. I did talk to our architect and he suggested supporting it on the concrete beams of the roof. He also said it was important for air to get underneath. I kind of ignored both of those suggestions because I wanted to get it filled. Now, it is bowing in the center so I’ve removed most of the water to reduce the weight and tomorrow we will go and get something, probably boards, to span the area between the roof beams and then get some help to get it up on them… sigh
Drgeo, have I missed telling you about our races to the roof in the downpours to pump some of the water out of that kiddy pool before it overflowed and Mollies were swimming to the dry well? Well, that’s a regular occurrence. We are planning to drill an overflow hole with net covering it on this pond so we don’t have to do that anymore.
It’s a work in progress, like most of my grand ideas. For sure it is better than the plastic pool. When I emptied the plastic one and pulled it up today, strips of the impermizable came up with it. So, we need to re-paint that part of the roof. A strong lesson in letting air move underneath anything large up there.
You pond addict you!