Uttoxeter Online Magazine

About the Local Author

Since leaving school with a good general education, Alan Hartley has had an interesting and varied career. The sometime bank clerk, lifeguard, nurseryman and fish-keeper eventually entered the family business of nurserymen with a thriving garden center.

As a diversification, Alan began keeping fish in the nursery's water system reservoir and a natural progression soon saw him selling fish. There were relatively few aquatic retail outlets and expansion came quickly, rapidly becoming an important facet of the garden center.

The philosophy of growing all the stock plants in house was followed as far as was practical with pond plants bought in as cuttings and grown on for sale. After his parents retired, Alan studied for the City & Guilds of London Institute Certificate in Pet Store Management in order to become licensed to run his own aquatic outlet at another garden center. Whilst there, he began writing articles for the Pets column in the local newspaper in which he advertised. The response to these many contributions to the newspaper encouraged Alan Hartley to assemble them and to edit them into book form and they now form the basis of this, The Book Of Fish Ponds.

Introduction

When your children's fish have outgrown the goldfish bowl and your children are of an age to take a further interest in fish- keeping, then you may decide to buy a fish pond. Perhaps you want to add a fish pond as another dimension to you garden for your own benefit. Water features are increasingly popular for their own sake and for the variety of garden birds and other creatures they attract. You may decide to embellish your pond with a fountain and, perhaps, lights playing on it in the Autumn. Or you may want to increase the variety of plants that you can grow in the expanded environment of wider ranging conditions that a pond offers

Whatever your reasons for adding a pond to your garden, this book contains invaluable information on everything from self- contained fountains to large, formal Koi ponds. The Book of Fish Ponds gives a great deal of information on such essentials as pumps and how to operate and maintain them. A lot of facts are included on up-to-date filtration methods which are not to be found in many other contemporary works.

Common diseases and their treatment are dealt with, along with general pond care. There is also a useful section on various types of pond plants, including some that are especially compatible with water-falls. Many types of fish are reviewed in detail: questions on their care, breeding habits and susceptibilities being dealt with in an easily readable manner.

A chapter on pond care through the seasons from Spring cleaning to Winter dormancy is designed to allay common anxieties amongst novice fish-keepers.

To round off, ten common problems which face newcomers to the hobby are dealt with, together with their solutions. The guide is written from the fish-keeper's point of view in a clear and simple style which imparts all the necessary information without becoming over-technical. The content is comprehensive and is clearly illustrated with diagrams and photographs throughout. Alan Hartley draws on 15 years experience in the fish and aquatic supplies trade and from dealing with customers' probing questions.

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