Aquatic Center
Our Aquatic Center is open Thursday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm. You can also call for an appointment at (815) 923-2480.
Supplies
We sell Aquascape products, such as, 45 mil liner, underlayment, underwater lights, Koi food, medicated food, algaecide, SAB bacteria, and fish nets. We will also have foggers, aquatic plants, koi & goldfish, along with other water garden accessories available. If we don’t have something you want, chances are we can get it! So let us know your needs.
All of our Koi fish are quarantined before we sell them to help eliminate parasites and potential diseases.
Plants
Anyone can add color to their landscape with a blooming plant. Only a true nature lover can achieve an even deeper satisfaction with the proper use and placement of variegated and unusual foliage type plants. Step into your backyard and have a look around. Are you one of those people who could do more? Would the delicate leaves of flamingo water celery add anything to your pond? They are, after all, light green and white with a jagged edge. And don't forget about the soft-pink glow that seems to hover on top of this already beautiful plant. Now that's lasting beauty! Mother Nature has provided us with a large variety of plants to choose from. They offer us the ability to have stripes, curly twists, and blended colors. Remember, these colors will stay with your garden all season.
Lots of Beautiful Choices:
Take the variegated cattail for instance. Its foliage is tall and pointed like that of an iris, yet it has green and white stripes that run up and down the shaft of the leaves.
Add to this the fact that it produces a catkin just like a regular cattail, and you have a winner. If, however, you prefer not to have a plant with catkins, you will love the variegated sweet flag. It offers the foliage of an Iris with the same green and white stripes of the variegated cattail, but there are no catkins. If you are looking for something unusual, you might like to add a corkscrew rush to the edge of your pond. This wonderful plant twists
Imagine the texture your pond would have if you scattered the following plants along the edge:
Flamingo water celery, with a small cluster of dwarf or setail, which looks like tiny jointed green fingers, planted just in front of it, then a few feet down a dwarf bamboo surrounded by floating heart. On one corner, add houttuynia (its leaves are a blend of reds, yellows and green splotches) in front of lizard's tail (this has long foamy white flowers from spring to Summer and very fragrant foliage) clustered together with marsh betony (thick spikes of pink and purple flowers) with a large graceful cattail at the back for height.
Of course, your waterfall isn't complete without plants place a European brooklime at the edge of the falls, then finish the look by placing water primrose along the other side. It will climb onto the bank and blend the edge with its dark green foliage and deep yellow flowers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------back to topFish
The proverb, "The way to a man's heart is through his
stomach" is also true with most pets, including Koi.
Well, actually Koi don't even have stomachs, but you get
the idea. Koi are huge eaters, and most ponds don't have
enough vegetation to sustain larger ones. For this reason
they become dependent on humans for feeding. Baby Koi (under
four inches) could survive on the algae and other plants
but they will grow more slowly without your assistance in
the food department. Interestingly enough, the amount of
energy a Koi absorbs from its food is very low. Since they
have no stomachs the food goes directly into their intestines
and only about 10% of the calories in their food are actually
absorbed. The rest passes through the fish as waste. Add
to this the fact that fish generally use about 90% of their
energy just to breathe. Thus, a Koi has a pretty big appetite.
Like our dogs, we can feed our Koi well, and 15 minutes
later they're begging for more.
There is a part of our deck that hangs over the edge of the pond. It makes a great place for feeding fish, and they've learned
that it's the spot to hang out. Often I'll lie on the deck,
reach into the pond with food in my hand, and the fish will
come and eat right out of it. I can hold individual food
pellets in my fingers and they'll take them from me. When
I have my hand in the water, if I hold my fingers out, they
will come and suck like a baby calf to its mother. One of
my larger fish takes half an inch of my finger into its
mouth!
Display Pond
Display
Ponds: Okay, okay, so water gardening
is hot. Lots of people are spending lots of money to install
picturesque ponds, babbling brooks, cascading waterfalls,
colorful fish, and beautiful aquatic and terrestrial foliage
in a vast variety of one of a kind, living, breathing backyard
paradises.
One contention is that in the wake of the September 11,
2001 attacks and the train wreck mentality we've developed
over the past few years, Americans are finally learning
to stop and smell the roses, especially the ones that are
growing close to home. We're learning to appreciate the
things we have, the things we used to take for granted.
We're trying to make the most out of every day, every week,
and every month, instead of putting it off until later.
The Passion of Water Gardening This phenomenon even has a name. It's called cocooning, and by all accounts it has lots to do with the healthy state of the water gardening industry today. But the economy is the economy, and numbers are only numbers, and neither one can really explain the passionate depth of feeling that many water gardeners experience when it comes to their ponds. If I've heard one water gardener, I've heard 50 who say, "Now that I have a pond I would never live in a house without one again." Or, "Now everything revolves around the pond. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, entertainment, even kid-raising is made easier with a beautiful, naturally balanced, aquatic ecosystem, sitting in the backyard."
The Perfect Family Entertainment I can't tell you how many pond moms have told me that their kids don't care as much about television, video, or computer games when Mike Kurylo and his father enjoying their mutual hobby of pondering the pond is within a stone's throw. They'd rather be out checking the fish, frogs, turtles, and anything else they can find. So, for pond moms, the pond is a natural antidote to the electronic addictions that have infected so many kids in this modern technological age. In order to discover how deep it goes, and to get a handle on the meaning of ponds, I thought I'd check with a half dozen organic water gardeners and survey them on the question, "What does a pond mean in your life? How has it changed the way you feel about your daily activities?"
Simplicity Tom Horan, a pond enthusiast from Arlington Heights, Illinois said, "At the heart of my own water gardening is a sense of simplicity. In the 21st century everything has become so fast paced, so high tech, so incredibly complicated that it's hard to slow down, it's hard to simplify life, even when you know it's in need of simplification" So when Tom and his wife Dolly sit out by the pond with a hot cup of coffee and the morning paper in hand, they feel like the world slows down just a bit. "I'm back in control in a way that I never am when I'm out on the four lane, or when I'm trying to stay on top of things at the office"said Tom. "But when I sit down out by the pond, kick my feet up on the coffee table, and let the soothing sounds of the waterfall soak clear into my bones, life is richer, more enjoyable, and yes, it's simpler"'
Geographical and Social Center of the House "I'm kind of a real estate oriented person;' said Dolly Horan, Tom's wife. "And I see the pond as the most important room in our house. It's where we take most of our meals, it's where we entertain, and it's where we go to catch a breath and relax at the end of a tough day." For lots of people these days, the television set is the thing the family congregates around. For others, it's the computer and/or video games. But for the Horan family, it's the pond that attracts. "The whole experience, from the soothing sounds of the waterfall to the aroma of the prolific plants, we just love to spend our time around the pond;" Dolly added.
A Family Affair "For me it's a family thing;" said Pilar Stompanato of St. Charles, Illinois. "It seems to bring people together, to put everyone in a relaxed state of mind, and to promote a good old fashion, uninterrupted give and take among people who are sitting around the pond." There's just something about the pond that causes people to let their hair down and to let their social guard down too. "It always feels to me like there is less facade, less ego, less' putting on' when you're out by the pond;' she added. Parents get to know their kids better when they're not being distracted by MTV or the latest video game. And when friends come over, they share colorful thoughts and ideas that really count, instead of extrinsic things like what kind of car you drive or what neighborhood you live in. "I guess I love what the pond does to bring people together," said Pilar.
An Organic Stress Reliever For Frank Stompanato, Filar's husband, the pond is an organic stress reliever, a natural antidote for the stress and strains of the modern¬day world. "When I get in the car in the morning and head to work, it's bumper to bumper frustration, when I get to the office it's one project on top of another," Frank said. But when Frank heads home and pulls into the driveway, he's ready to escape from the work-a-day world. Before the pond came along, Frank would go straight to the television to unwind from the day. Today, he goes straight to the pond, kicks off his shoes, feeds the fish and lets the rhythm of the waterfalls make him human again. "The pond is my sanity, and nothing less, I swear it is;' Frank said with a grin. In the end, a pond means different things to different people. But if you read between the lines and dive beneath the surface, it's more than a little bit interesting what you'll find.
Frontier Ponds 
"Ponds Done Right, the First Time"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------back to top