Big cooking pots => Ponds

We found a junk/antique shop in Matsuyama that specializes in local 'aged articles of value' at reasonable prices. Here I spied 3 large cooking pots. At our favourite garden center, Tokiwa Garland, they have a similar one filled with water plants. I had always wondered where you get something like that, and how much it must cost. Well mine was just 6,000 yen for the big one, and another 4,000 yen for the smaller ones, delivery to the house included. Considering that a pond liner of a similar size and no character whatsoever costs around 30,000 yen, I think I got a deal. The big one used to belong to the Dogo Japan Agricultural Coop where they used for parties. I'm confident that these ponds won't leak.

Getting dug in

Water plants from a local lake and the DIY store

And little 'Daruma medaka' fish from our local medaka outlet

The medaka man and his elderly dad assured us that medaka do not live in rainwater. In fact, rainwater is like poison to them, and if we were cruel enough to try it, our five little fish would be dead within 4~5 hours. The pH of the acid rain that falls would be the death of them. Instead, we were to mix tap water with the right amount of pH adjuster, and let it stand until it was the same temperature as the fishes' water.

I confess I was nearly persuaded, but the young master pooh-poohed all this nonsense, and we put the medaka straight into the poisonous environment we had prepared for them. 4~5 days later, they're still not dead.