white mollies not multiplying

 All 5 are still doing well. 1 out of the group was an outcast for some time, but now they are more of a family. The plus side is that they love the hair algae, even more than all the types of fish-food I have been giving the pond inhabitants. They are constantly nipping at the walls and have reduced that type of algae significantly.

The down side is that they haven't reproduced. Actually I think they may have... I spotted a fry that was slightly lighter than the rest of the guppies, and its shape was shorter and fatter. But none have made it to adults. I suspect they stand out more than the grey guppy fry, and therefore would be an easier target for the climbing perch

White Mollies

I gave up on rearing bigger edible fish. I couldnt bring myself to eating them. So now the plan is to keep prolific breeders. The existing guppies have a stable population. The perch arent multiplying coz there are only 2 left, probably the same sex. Added 5 white mollies. I have had experience with mollies in my indoor aquariums before and know that if they survive the first week from the aquarium shop, they will start to breed. They are live bearers just like the guppies. 

Guppies are dark and blend in well with the aquatic plants, enough to survive the early growth stage. The white molly fry may not be able to hide as well as the guppies to survive the adult climbing perch. I am hoping that there are enough hiding places that some make it to adults. 

19Jan2021 update: crossed the first hurdle and that is all 5 survived more than a week after getting them. The perch dont seem to be bullying any of them which is good.

added more Indian almond leaves

The fish aren't doing well. I think I'm missing a couple of climbing perch, and what I thought was markings on one, looks like it's spreading to the other perch. Added more Indian almond leaves to hopefully help medicate the fish. I think I will add some salt too. And over the next few weeks I am going to add a few leaves every couple of days.

Added to my aquariums... For the main guppy tank, I put the leaves at the back so they arent too visible in the front.

The view from the back...

Close up...

The back aquarium is just a pile of stuff to see if I can encourage daphnia growth. I let the leaves just settle wherever they wish...

weekend project making an external filter

The current filter is underwater. It was a diy one too.

The climbing perch pond has a ton of muck... good for the veggies but tedious to maintain. I have to remove the whole underwater filter to clean the media every 5-6 days. An external filter will help make that job a bit easier. This was my attempt at building it...

31Aug2020: Increased the inflow tube size & made some modifications to the inlet.

You will always lose some leaves to the critters

I dont mind this kind of damage to the leaves, as long as more than 50% are ok. These insects are better than the caterpillars and larvae that attach to the underside of leaves coz they are visible and fly off immediately when disturbed.

This bugger was too greedy, staying on the leaf, and ended up inside the belly of one of my climbing perch.

Pond water - a treat for the fry

I sometimes take some water from the climbing perch pond outside to add to the aquariums inside.

 This amount of water doesn't green my aquarium. But it does contain microorganisms that the fry love.

This "disaster zone" aquarium is intentionally like that. I use the bladder snails as food for the perch, the excess algae for the compost, and the tank as hospital/quarantine for sick looking fish. The guppies in there are thriving so I occasionally take out some to ass to the perch pond as food. But now the perch pond itself has a thriving guppy population, enough to sustain even with some being eaten by the perch.

baby grasshopper in the dill

Spotted this tiny fellow just by chance.

I caught it later and fed it to the climbing perch (puyu). Sorry no video of that bit.

Spaces for fish to hide

I have a few bricks and pots with holes submerged in the pond. They are for small fish to hide from the bigger bullies.

You could also use old coconuts that have fallen. Many already have a hole made by some creature, probably squirrels.

25 July 2020 update:
Here it is in the middle of the pic, still floating nicely, nestled with all the other bits of floating matter. A nice extension to spaces for the guppies and perch fry.

Sitting on my Ulam Raja seeds

Dunno yet if these are pests or helpers. Found them on the dried Ulam Raja seeds I was about to harvest...

Update: I don't think they are helpers. I noticed a bunch of them just under a flower over 2 days. And that flower looked worse on the 2nd day.

Fed them to the Puyu.

Curry Leaf Caterpillar

Found a bigger one.

The leaf looks fine but underneath there were full of black dots (you can see it in the video). I'm not sure if they were from the caterpillar. Whatever the case, it's a light snack for my climbing perch (ikan puyu)

Another helper spotted in my garden - the Hoverfly (Eristalinus Taeniops)

I thought it was a bee... 

But no it's a fly... 

You can Google it for amazing close up pics of this creature. It truly is beautiful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eristalinus_taeniops

According to this site it's a helper :)

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/hover-flies-in-gardens.htm

BUT... it's larvae are the ones that will do the work. And I am sure I wont be able to distinguish them from other larvae. I have been feeding all bugs and larvae that I find on the veggie to my Climbing Perch (ikan Puyu)

I managed to capture it drinking water...

And a couple of seconds of it flying...

Even its flying style is very much like a bee.

2 shall become 1

We have been planning to get rid of the 1st test pond filled with guppies. The 2nd pond with the climbing perch wasnt built strong enough to handle the water pressure and began to buckle. It will be dismantled too, and a new, stronger, maybe even deeper pond will be built where the 1st was.

 First job was to remove the guppies

The pond completely dismantled

Other than guppies, we found earthworms, bloodworms, bladder snails and daphnia!

12 May update:

Getting the structure symmetrical with these

Spirit level to roughly make sure the ground is sloping the right direction.

Piece of scrap wood as a reference to make sure the inner wall of the brick pond is straight. 

Various poles and sticks to help place the bricks relative to the opposing side. The bottom pole on the right is from an old vacuum cleaner!

A broken wooden signpost was used for the width.

The problem with recycled bricks is that you will be faced with this a lot...

 

Zoey thinks everything we make is for her...

 

13 May update:

All the bricks from the guppy pond were in place. There was space to properly lay 3 sides. The side closest to the 2nd pond was too close so a temporary thinner/weaker line of bricks was put there. 

The next was to extract bricks from the upper layers of the 2nd pond to install onto the new stronger pond.

 

Down to the last layers of bricks, now to catch the fish. 

There were 5 adults and 2 or 3 juveniles. First in the net was the oldest, biggest, and most amazing one... the one-eyed Jack/Jill...

This was the water from the original pond. Some of it will go into the new pond so as to lessen the difference in water for the fish.

Really sad news... there were only 4 adults and 2 juveniles. Did a search for the missing adult but no luck :(

Moved the pond liner (linoleum) over to the new location and filled it with a mix of old and new water.

The next 24 hours will test the strength of the new pond walls and for leaks from the old liner.

Duckweed as a food source for the Climbing Perch

These guys eat just about anything you throw at them. Duckweed is their least favourite but it will be all gone within the hour.