The Backyard Pond & Fish Handbook

Free with the book

FREE

+

FREE

Included today, no extra cost

Plus 2 printable bonuses

free ~~$24~~.

The Pond Log. A page for every week, so the pond tells you what it needs before the fish do. Worth ~~$12~~, free
The Pond Year Checklist. What to do in spring, summer, fall and winter, on one page for the shed wall. Worth ~~$12~~, free

I. The problem

You did everything the pond store said, and the water still went green.

You bought the filter. You bought the bottles. You drained it, scrubbed the liner and filled it back up, and two weeks later it looked like pea soup again. Then one summer morning the fish were hanging at the surface, gulping, and by noon you were burying the big one.

None of that was bad luck. A pond is alive: fish, plants and a crew of bacteria you can't see, all working on the same water. Scrub the pond and you fire the crew. Overfeed and you feed the algae. Run tap water in without asking your water company what's in it, and you can poison the fish you meant to help. Nobody behind a counter has a reason to explain that to you.

"You're not keeping fish. You're keeping water, and the fish live in it."

II. What's inside

40 chapters. Seven parts. From the backyard pond to the farm pond.

Every chapter has a story from my years in the trade, the numbers that matter, what I tell every customer, and what to do this week. The numbers come from the university extension services, the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center fact sheets and the federal agencies, not from my memory.

Part 1 · What's going on in the water (5 chapters)

Why a pond is alive and not a bathtub, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in plain words, oxygen and why fish die at dawn, chlorine and chloramine in tap water, and testing without a lab.

Part 2 · Clear water without chemicals (6 chapters)

Why ponds go green and when green is fine, letting plants do the work, a plant filter that cleans for free, what barley straw and bottled bacteria really do, why I don't reach for copper, and string algae, mud and tea water.

Part 3 · Building a backyard pond right (3 chapters)

Where to put it, how deep, plant shelves and the liner, and pumps, power and keeping kids safe.

Part 4 · Backyard fish (8 chapters)

Goldfish or koi, how many fish your pond can really hold, quarantine and bringing them home, feeding by the thermometer, salt, sick fish, herons, raccoons and mosquitoes, and why you never let them loose.

Part 5 · A farm pond that feeds you (11 chapters)

Before you dig, stocking bass, bluegill and catfish, taking fish out the right way, lime and fertilizer, catfish for the table, fish in a cage, tilapia, hybrid bluegill, summer fish kills, weeds and muddy water, and getting fish safely from the pond to the plate.

Part 6 · Fish and garden: the loop (3 chapters)

How fish water feeds vegetables, a small backyard setup by the numbers, and keeping the vegetables safe to eat.

Part 7 · The year in a pond (4 chapters) and appendices

Spring, summer, fall and winter: ice, oxygen and when to stop feeding. At the back: every number in one place, pond math for gallons, salt and feed, the pond calendar, and who to call.

III. What this book isn't

No miracle bottle. No "crystal clear forever."

I'm not selling you a product, and I won't promise you'll never lose a fish. Ponds are alive, and things go wrong. What this book does is show you what's happening in the water, so you can see trouble coming and fix the cause instead of buying another bottle for the symptom. Where the extension folks don't agree, I tell you so. Where the rules change from state to state, like tilapia or grass carp, I tell you who to call.

How it usually goes

Drain and scrub the pond every spring
A new bottle every time the water turns
Fish bought by the bag, fed by the handful
Hose water straight in

What this book shows you

How to keep the bacteria crew working for you
Plants and feeding that keep algae down
How many fish, and how much feed, by the thermometer
What's in your tap water, and how to treat it

IV. Who wrote it

A fish farmer and pond builder from down South, 38 years in the water.

I was 22 when I went to work in my dad's hatchery, stocking farm ponds. Later I ran my own business: raising fish, building backyard and koi ponds, and looking after farm ponds for folks who wanted to fish them and eat from them. For the last fifteen years I've built greenhouses where fish swim below and vegetables grow above on the same water. I've stood next to hundreds of ponds with worried owners, and most of their trouble came down to the same handful of things.

This book is those things, written down once.

V. The ebook

Pay once. Read it on any device, today.

$49.99$27

$49.99 is the regular price. $27 is the launch price, while the book grows.

This is an ebook, a digital download. Nothing is printed or mailed.

40 chapters in seven parts, plus four appendices
Plus 2 printable bonuses, free (worth ~~$24~~)
A PDF laid out like a book, and an EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones
Delivered by email right after payment
No copy protection, on all your devices
Pay once. No subscription.

Get the ebook · $27

VI. Questions

Before you ask

Is this a printed book?

No. It's an ebook: a PDF and an EPUB that you download right after you pay. Nothing comes in the mail. You can print the PDF yourself if you like paper, and the two bonuses are made to be printed.

I only have a small backyard pond. Is it for me?

Yes. The first four parts are all about backyard and koi ponds: the water, clear water without chemicals, building it right and the fish. The farm pond and fish-and-garden parts are there for when you want to go further.

I have a farm pond and want to eat the fish. Does it cover that?

Eleven chapters do: digging, stocking bass, bluegill and catfish, harvest, lime and fertilizer, catfish for the table, cages, tilapia, hybrid bluegill, summer fish kills, weeds and muddy water, and safe eating.

Will it tell me if tilapia or grass carp are legal where I live?

No book can do that honestly, because the rules differ from state to state and they change. The book explains how each fish works and tells you to check with your state wildlife agency before you stock it.

What format is it?

A PDF laid out like a printed book, and an EPUB for e-readers, tablets and phones. Both arrive by email right after payment, without copy protection.

What if I don't like it?

Write to me at hello@daleponds.store within 48 hours of your purchase and you'll get your money back.