How to build a simple fish pond in your garden

1. Find something that holds water

You can use a horse trough, a wine barrel, an old sink or bath tub, a classy plastic drop in, black plastic in a hole, cement or anything else you can think of. Some things to keep in mind: if you are putting in fish, make sure the container doesn't poison them. Fish do not like old bath tubs they die almost immediately (I don't know why). Fish can't tolerate much copper, so no copper fish ponds. They do seem to tolerate galvanized (zinc) coatings well. Make sure it is deep enough to not evaporate to quickly or heat up to much or freeze solid (a little ice on top is Ok). Make sure the fish fits the container, no Koi in sinks! If your container has straight sides either keep it filled up all the time or make sure there is an escape route for anything that falls in you don't want a pond of death. Drowned pack rats aren't pretty.
After building a bunch of these, I REALLY like the horse through. They last for years, they're fairly cheap, they are the right height to put a bench next to, they're big. You can get a 500 gallon tank for about $200, a 200 gallon tank for about $100. Through a $50-100 solar pump into it, a couple of water plants, and a few gold fish from the pet store(10 for $5) and you've created a 'pond'

2.If you have fish make sure your pond is aerated

A recirculating pump is a nice way to aerate a pond. They sell solar pumps for this purpose(look at the ads.) Small deeper ponds work better than large shallow ponds.

3. Pick some plants to go in your pond

TaDa