Tropical Fish in Pond?

[Linchpin]

Hey there, I'd just like to know what tropical fish one could keep in a pond (more or less 6000 litres) and I'm not talking about carp/koi or gold fish, I'm talking about fish that can withstand reasonable temperature fluctuations.

I read Oscars can handle water from 22-30 degrees but are sensitive to fluctuations.

Any ideas?

I thought it'd be interesting to know.

Thanks

[solex69]

Howzit man

I know of an oake who keeps platies, guppies, white clouds & swords in his pond outside and they have been in there for ages and been breeding.

Dunno know about other fish, haven't really thought about it :)

Cheers
Dale

[speedz]

i've seen fish been kept outside, but im talking about durban temperature. Just the normal livebearers

[Philfarm]

do you think kribs would work?

[speedz]

cape is very cold i dont think they would survive, anyone tried this?

[sarf]

Cape town weather is too cold..i am currently running a 1000litre container which i use to grow out my malawis..but it is heated by 2 heaters..and i drop the water level in winter so that the heaters can keep temp up

[chas84]

I used to keep tropical fish (angels, danios, guppies, plecos) in our garden pond in the summer. Towards the end of summer I would catch them all ( and all the new babies) and sell them to friends or swop out at the petshop. I must add that this was in Pietersburg, so the summer temperate is higher. Northern winter is cold though...

I think kribs will do well in summer. Don't try it in winter - you'll kill them.

[Rory]

I had some rosy barbs, guppies and swords in a pond many years ago. They were fine and grew huge...

[chas84]

A healthy, well kept pond is really good for fish - millions of micro organisms, lots of clean water from rain and usually more space than you could provide in a tank in the house.

[sarf]

in summer the oscars should be fine...but in our cape town winters they will get ich and die...unless you can heat the container...if it not too big...im running three 300w heaters on my drum...but in winter i only fill it to the 500litre mark...and i had aerolite filled black bags wrapped aroud the container to help keep in heat...unfortunately the cape winds took care of that last week.lol

[corylyle1]

When i lived in Zim i used to keep swords and guppies in a pond outside. They lived in that pond for 9 years until we moved to CT.

[Asgar]

Swords, Mollies, Guppies will survive outdoors in our South AFrican climate. I've seen many outdoor ponds where these fish are thriving.

[Slojo]

OMG
Now you've done it!
Apart from MTS im already planning 2 fish ponds with a river,walkover bridge,populated by livebearers.............

I think its called MPS.

[Madam]

Lol @ Slojo! :bigsmile:

[deang]

Used to Keep Guppies and Pleco's in my pond. Teh guppies breed numerous times. Landed up chnging strains to lyretails and beautiful natural colours. Pleco's grew huge.
A few of my Jewell Cichlids also did well in my pond.

[birdie]

Blue Paradise might work? Mozambique Talapia? Blue Gills are very nise and Bass will life in a cold cape pond.

[Carping]

LOL,,, now here's an option for the pangasius.....

[Sean J]

Wont Gauteng winters cause problems? Surely the water temps will go down to single digits?

[f-fish]

If your pond gets direct sun the minute it rises you might be ok in GP - I lost +- 50 % of my guppies to a cold snap and no sun the beginning of this winter - they did not die from the cold - but anything in the shade and the pond drops below 12 degrees they get real slow - and the comets real fat.

[FLOSSIE]

Hi,in Oz we keep cichlids outdoors in ponds almost all year round.
People keep the saratogas and Arowanas outdoors in summer and then move them indoors in winter.

The growth rates from keeping fish outdoors is amazing,and so is the colour.
Its cheaper if you heat the pond with a solar heater,like the kind for pools.
The fry you get from the fish is inumarable,thats also counting the fry lost to other fish.


HTH Nick

Ps any other questions about keeping cichlids outdoors.
Or marine fish kept outdoors.

[speedz]

solar heater for water? wow havnt seen that around here

[Slojo]

solar heater for water? wow havnt seen that around here
Black pvc piping mounted so that the water flows through it and the sun heats the water.(Might work)

[butcherman]

Black pvc piping mounted so that the water flows through it and the sun heats the water.(Might work)
could work with a thermosat hooked up to a pump. but would need good circulation in the pond

[speedz]

man i wish i lived in a house instead of a flat so i could try this all out

[f-fish]

I played with the solar heating thing - also had a solar pump to only circulate when the sun is shinning (from the heating coil to the external tanks) Problem is that we have two / three overcast days and you need to add a heater. you can expect huge temperature fluctuation. Does make for stronger guppies / platties / danios.

Problem with doing this in an open loop is circulation of cold water into the system. Unlike a storage reservoir for shower, in a pond / tank you circulate all the time ... unless you are willing to cover your tanks / pond like they do for a pool ...

Works well when we have warm sun - but the current JHB sun is not that great for a small solar collector.

[Whipme]

I'm also interested in a nice pond with some tropical fish, we've got tons of natural sunlight out in Midrand where I stay, but it gets freezing cold in winter. So that solar pump and water heater sounds appealing. Where did you get your solar pump from and how much did it cost? I ask because the only solar pumps I've been able to find are borehole pumps and cost in excess of R5k, which will obviously never work for a pond.

[FLOSSIE]

hmmmm. I see you dont get 30 + degree days,so maybe you could get a solar panel and use that to run 2 500w heaters or somthing and that way it would cost you next to nothing in power bills,save the inviroment, and if the power goes out you in the day then you have power.

Or you could use black hose that runs up to your roof and into a heated resovoir.
This works like when you leave the hose pipe out in the sun the water inside gets hot.

HTH Nick

[butcherman]

what my dad use to do was run a few long black hoses linked together coiled up on the roof and then pumped water from the pool into it and let it run back in to the pool and it heated the pool from about 22c to about 27 c. but once again it is all dependant on the sun get a few cloudy days and its all for not. A nice cover over the pond at night would help conserve the heat but then no gasses can exchange with the water at night and your O2 levels might drop. i like Flossies idea of the back up heaters in conjunction with the solar power.
lol if only money was no object :-)

[Ferryman]

question out of curiosity, i know nothing about malawi chiclids, but, will they survive/live in an outside fish pond, that is unheated?