That is so neat! I bet they just like to get a look at the outside world. That's so fun! Thanks for posting that. I'll try one in OUR pond and try to get a picture!

How totally cool. Amazing, I've never seen such a thing!
Not sure how it even works, LOL.
Another one for the Inspiration Album tho.

hugs, Karen

Amazing!

Oh Wow, that is a brilliant idea, I love it Jane. The fish names are perfect and, too funny.

I'm not understanding the concept a bit either - here's what I get: The fish are in the tub pond and they swim up into the jar (which is so awesome), but how do you get all the water to stay up in the jar? Or, the fish are in the jar which has a lid on it and they swim above the water line and then can swim below it. Please help - fill in the blanks (in my mind, LOL).

Sal

Ditto... totally awsome idea. You got some explaining to do!!!!

Hey there!!! This is such an easy peasy thing to do!! Here is a pic of what I used, it took like 2 minutes!!! I used a gal jar and a type of stand that I collect to put my mosaiced bowling balls on, I placed the jar in the water on it's side, let it fill with water(completely sbmerged) then tip it up slowly bottom up, and place the jar mouth into the stand, making sure to keep the mouth under water and TaDa!!! FUN!!! FUN!!! FUN!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:145063}}

How cute is THAT!!!!!!!?????????? It would also give gold fish a place of safety from predators - like raccoons and herons - at least until the bad boys figured out how to tip over the jar.

Oh my goodness! I hope I can remember this by the time I get my pond put in :) The kids would just LOVE it, and me, too :) TFS

Here is another pic..I forgot to show my Garden Junk!lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:145064}}

That is SOOO darn cool!!! I just bought a galvanized tub and was trying to decide whether to plant it or use it as a pond. You may have just made up my mind. And I have the jar too.
Thank you for the pictures!

Awesome... I'm going to have to copy it as well. Do you use any sort of filtration for the fish? Did you line the tub? How many gallons is it? what medium do you have in the bottom? What sort of plants? Sorry for so many questions... but I've been reading about them and I'm just wondering how you've had success. Thanks in advance!

Kim

The first picture looks like a great big pond...I was just going to ask you what you were using for a pond.

I have a whiskey barrel liner that I put in the ground for mine...but it is too deep for a gallon jug unless I got a stand that was higher.

Mine evaporates so quick, I'd really have to watch it.

Very cute idea. The grand kids would love it.

patti

How neat! I have a pond in a cattle trough. I think I will try it using a tall stand with my jar. I've never seen this done before. Very unique.

Thanks so much for the explanation Jane. I have to say "Well DUH Sal" - that certainly would be easy once you see it. This is such a fantastic idea. I don't have a tub pond or anything like that but I would certainly think about making one after seeing this.

I would like to ask Purplemoon, aka Karen, would you please put the pics of these in the GJ inspiration photo album also. The first pic and then the pic of the jar and how she did it.

Sal

Actually, I only have plants for aeration and filtration, I don't like noise...water dribbling even so it's just a "as is" pond. But now that I've said that, I am going to build a bigger one and have found a all in one pond pump/filter/uv light and so am thinking of Koi now...but I sure like this little pond!!

I'm putting in a koi pond, but now I'd like to do one of these as well.

Sal, I'd already put the Fish Tower in the pond photo in the album last night. But I did add the jar and stand picture, and typed in the 'directions' under the original photo of it.
Thanks for explaining, Calamity.
I'm not sure if I broke the link to the album as I resized a picture. So here's link again just in case I did.
hugs, Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: GJ Inspiration Album

Calamity what a "Neat" idea. I am hoping to try that in our Koi pond if I can find a big enough jug. Thank you for sharing! Jlily

Now I want a pond too. I have a tub much like yours but it has a hole in it. I suppose I could line it. YOurs is beautiful and does evoke a much larger pond as someone else mentioned. I'm so glad you showed the jar. I was imagining a smaller neck and wondered if the fish would grow to big and get trapped in it!

you might think it's an awesome idea. but as for most goldfish. that is not a good concept.

I don't see how it would hurt the goldfish since they aren't LIVING in the jar, just coming up to look around.
Not that I know much about goldfish in ponds, LOL.

K

Why do you say that, dustyknees? Are you referring to having goldfish in a small pond?

and I was just saying to someone, just yesterday, that I didn't plan on having an aquariam any time soon...lol
now that I've seen this idea, I can easily picture such a setup in the corner, where there is a hutch at the moment.

wouldn't this be too cool, to have it all set up in a whiskey barrel, with it lined, to have it set up with different heights, to hold plants, miniature things, with a warm glowing light, hanging down from the ceiling?

I don't have small kids around, so wouldn't have to worry about that safety factor...
the cat may or may not try to catch a fish and the dog would probably only want on occasional drink from it.

I would remove the hutch, hang marine subject pictures hanging on the wall and set it up in the corner, next to the fireplace.
that would be an awesome focal point in the room about winter time.
love it, love it, love it.....thanks for the idea!

seaglassic, sounds like a good plan to me. Hope you do it and show us how wonderful it turns out.

hugs, Karen

That is so cool!!! I love your fishes names too!!!! I have never seen one of those towers. That is a super fun idea. I bet its a crack up to see them sticking up in there(-:

I see a couple of bases for mushroom caps there also. The tower is cool. Outside you have to worry about skeeters for sure. Maybe find a fish that eats them. Dustyknees is having a down day I guess. It is for kids to enjoy. But goldfish only live short times so I do not think it is like putting Koi in and having to have a filter and moving water.

Well, goldfish actually produce a very large amount of ammonia, compared to other fish... so typically very good filtration is needed in order to keep them. They can also kill other fish in aquariums by producing too much ammonia. But my background is in aquariums, not ponds.

I think it is pretty cool! When I first saw the picture, I thought the fish lived in the jar and couldn't get down back into the pond. I worried about the water in the jar getting too hot from the sun. But now that I know the fish can escape if it gets too hot, I don't see a problem for the fish. If they keep going up into the jar, it must mean the enjoy it. I would recommend a filter and pump for the pond though to bring down the goldfishes' toxicity levels.

I've ordered a pump, will be here tuesday, I'm sad to say Fish & Chips are no longer with us...and Coleslaw is barely hanging in, I'm also getting this stuff to "start" the pond. This pond gets some morning sun and then shade for the rest of the day. It's right by the house and is under the overhang too. Poor lil' guys. I bought a plant from a guy and I think he added to much fertilizer and it has caused the small barrel to have an unbalance.

Hi Calamity,

I still don't get it. I need some more blanks filled in. Where do you place the sand, where do you get the metal hanger for the glass jar and I still don't understand how it holds the water if the mouth is facing the bottom of the tub.

Is this a plug in electrical fountain or just a plain old galvanized tub filled with water and gold fish?

Mongo: I posted the jar pic, called it the "set up" and there is no sand, it is just an old galvanized tub with water in it and I added this jsar upside down to it. My friend just did one in her pond and her fish are going inside it too. She needed a taller stand tho. I just cleaned out my shed and found a big glass jar, I think it's used for making wine, and I'm going to cutt the top off and make a big one of these!

calamity j - I love that fish tower - what a great idea. I'll have to post a photo of my pond tomorrow. It's an old claw foot bathtub. I've had gold fish in it for 2 years. They started out about 1.5 inches long and now they are about 5 inches long. I'm wondering if my fish would go into one of those towers. My fish are street wise, they hardly ever come to the surface except to get a bit of food and then they swim down low - too many predators around here I guess.

My tub is filled to the brim so I would need a very tall stand for a bottle. Wonder if one of those plastic 5 gallon water jugs would work? I'd feel safer having a plastic jug rather than a glass one, in case the wind blew it over and it broke into the tub. I also have a couple of bottom feeder type of fish in my tub but have never seen them since I put them in.

OH! I LOVE PICS!!!

All this talk about fish , I have to tell you my story,
We have a sm. pond in back yard , and every year I go to
walmart and buy about 3or 4 cheap gold fish $.28 apiece,
they usually do great and they help keep the mosquitos lava
down , anyway last fall when It came time to take the pond
apart for the Winter, could not find the fish , so I thought a preditor had gotten them. So anyway , we had a real bad winter, got very , very cold here, When spring came and ice in pond melted, My DH was outside cking everything out he came in and said he seen fish swimming
around in there, can't quite figure out how they made it
through the winter with no food ,or pumps . So we call him our Miracle fish, he was about 1 1/2 long when I put him in there and is about 5 in. long now.
also love this Idea, and am going to try it, Should probley have put this on conversation side but had to see
what You all thought , any ideas how he survived , that pond had to have frozen solid!
{{gwi:145066}}

This last pond is so lovely. Story about the fish is cool too. People who don't know how the water stays in the bottle, did you not play with cups in the bath tub when you were little? The water can't run out because there is no air to go into its place. Only more water. You can make the water stay in a glass in your sink the same way (fill it underwater then lift it end first) - guess I'm the only one left who doesn't have a dishwasher lol. Its good to know about the goldfish creating ammonia. (I wonder if it would accumulate in the tower?) I guess that's why mine died when I was a kid. Poor things. I knew a woman who had huge gold fish in her sunken bath tub pond here in NH. Every winter she took them in to an aquarium.
Kathy

I googled ponds the other day and found a site that the guy had made a 4ft high fish tower!!! He said the fish go all the way to the top and he can see them when he is sitting in his livingroom, looking out his window! I just cleaned up my shed and found a gig 5gal wine carboy that someone gave me to "create" something with...well, I have an idea!ha!

Grandmabarb, What a beautiful pond!
I too have goldfish. My friend told me if my pond was deep enough that my gold fish would go dormat and stay on the bottom with out a pump or food. sure enough mine did just fine.the ice was really thick on the pond and I was sure that they would not live, but she was right,she told me not to feed them and they would be fine.
Rochelle

I have about 25 gold fish in a cattle trough that stay there all winter.Thay have been there about 3 years .I don't feed them in the winter.When spring comes & the ice melts,I feed them some loaf bread every few days.The have started breeding this spring.I don't have a pump or anything in there.The water is so dirty, the only time I see them is when I feed them.They are growing .

Suemckee we have the same thing, a cement cattle trough. I really need to clean it out.
I like that idea of a gallon jug in a fish pond. Looks like the observation car of an old train car.