New raised pond

[auia]

we have just finnished building a small raised pond. It has a raised garden area along the back with sloping sides, hoping to get frogs in it. I have planted it with 2 water forget me nots, a water violet, marsh marigold, flowering rush, a small water lilly and a zebra rush. I would like to have snails in it, would this be a good idea to buy some. It has been filled with water for a week and has a small pump in it, the water is getting a bit dirty already,

[bobbarber]

Hello auia, you could possibly have snails, or at least their eggs, already.Often they are transferred to garden ponds on bought water plants so be patient and wait. A week is a very short time in the life of a pond. If you have natural lake or pond near you it would be a good idea to get a small bucket of silt or mud from it for your pond. It will contain a lot of invertebrates in it to give it a good start. By the way, water lilies are not keen on moving water so I would place the pump as far away as possible. Good luck...Bob

[tom00_uk]

dont add any wildlife just yet, if you used tap water and did not treat it to remove all the chemicals that are added to make it potable.


water fit for us to drink is not fit for most aquatic animals to live in

[auia]

thanks for your replies, any advice is great. I used the water from the water butt to fill it, greenhouse plants will have to have the tap water now. The plants are all looking fine and seem to have new growth on them. I have ordered plant food for them as well and a frog bit plant. I will keep reading this forum to get tips, never had a pond before so always looking for information.