Big plans.

Hey guys. I just wanted to tell you about my ideas. I have a pond outside with goldfish and one koi. There are about 10 goldfish and some babies with one medium koi. I have been doing some research and want to try something and get your advice. I want to get rid of all the current fish and make a dream set-up. I want to put some water lillies and hornwort and maybe vallis in the pond and use them as a filter. I want to put in some guppies, platies and yes, risky, but maybe some bettas, although I am not too sure about these. There is some rockwork and hiding places. Its quite big. Its a funny shape but kinda oval. Almost a metre deep. About 2 metres long and about 1 metre or just under wide. About a thousand litres I would say. Maybe a little less. More like 900l. I will only keep the fish in the pond in summer and when winter comes I will sell some and move the rest inside. I wil also fill the bottom with gravel and would love to try kepping a few corries in there as I know they like the lower temps. Has anyone done this before? Please share your thoughs and ideas with me so I can learn.

 

sure guppies and platties would be very happy in a setup like that? perfect for them

 

Ok, my estimate was quite a bit off. The pond is closer to 600 or 700 litres.

 

I doubt the Bettas will do well, but fish that have worked well for me outside are : Guppies, Mollies, Platies, Swordtails, Rosy Barbs and White Clouds.

 

100% Wickets I have also had the danio (various) breed outside ... keep an eye on water temp .. most do not like below 15 and few survive below 10 - white clouds the exception I have found.

 

Is there any way to ensure a stable temp? It would be so cool if I could leave the fish outside all year round! I contemplated adding several 300 watt tank heaters but to my knowledge this wouldnt work in a pond. Anyone keep their fish outside all year round. Advice on heating pls?!

 

You will find that the fish breed so much, that you need to sort them in autumn anyway. Why fight nature? Bring them inside for the winter, and sell the offspring. The cost for heating an un-insulated pool in winter would be astronomical, even in Rustenburg. A swimming pool solar panel might extend your season by a week or two. All that said, White Clouds might make it through the winter in Rustenburg.

 

My guppies had done well over winter with 2 jager 300w and 3 other 300 w heaters. 1500L. My guppies and goldfish is coming along very good and the goldfish doesnt even look intrested in the fry.
The temp is a problem, during the day the water sometimes get to 32-34 and at night about 25 ,colder nights 20 but have backup heaters just incase it goes below 20. Well mine have been doing good for a while now with the water temp changes all the time. Id give you a tip on the mistake i made last year, big guppies dont adjust good to pond life imo , i had trown in 8 fry babies with the goldfish and suprise suprise they all survived and many new fry from those swimming around. So Id say with the guppies, rather add a few new born fry in there and they will do you wonders and about 2 months youll see new fry and well, they breed very quick in there . I wouldnt go with bettas, i also wanted to add corries, so let me know how that goes.
And dont add to many live bearers, they multiply very quickly

One last thing, before adding fry or however your going to add them, let the water go for a while so that the walls can get those fine algea, i almost never feed the guppies, they do enjoy the algea and grows way faster than my tank guppies

 

Ok then. Will 3x 300watt heaters keep the temp stable enough in winter to leave the fish outside?&nbsp;<br><br>Thanks @Marius Swart , will add some babies from my inside guppies. The reason I wanted to do this is beacuse my guppies breed so fast and I think they would be much happier in a large pond. I also want to keep many fish but my tank sizes dont allow it. <br>Thanks for all the input.

 

Anytime, what type heaters? Id say dont add too many because they breed really fast and the adults i dont think eat the fry as much as in the tanks.. Its quite nice to see the pond with guppies, better yet i didnt see my fry i added for say 2 weeks and when i first saw them they was about 1cm bigger.

 

Im not sure what kind. Would 3x 300 watt ones be enough?

 

im not sure,it sounds right, my friends father had say about 600 to 800 L guppy pond and his was doing just great. Im not sure if im going to remove them in winter but the heaters are working over time, and electricity aint cheap. But its your choice, just have a guage to regulary check the temp in the pond during the start of winter. Also if you start saving, a jager 300 w will cost i think about R350, that and the other 3 300w heaters will defnitly do the heating. Hope other people would coment on that. Isnt it colder in Rustenburg than Oudtshoorn?

 

No idea. I think the heaters would be ViaAqua as thats what my LFS regularly stocks. I might just take them inside for the winter as this is cheaper and easier.

 

Jap that wi think will be an beter option,planing on taking mine in also but will have to sell many then.(or get another tank hehe). So Pics of the pond?

 

Or move the pond indoors :bigsmile:

 

Any steps done yet? And where are those pics?

 

Hey guys. Sorry for no pics. Emptied the pond today as it was leaking and gonna be repaired tomorrow. All the goldies gone to another pond for now. Might sell them or something. Gonna get the plants soon but I think I will only put guppies in the pond in a few months as its getting colder.
Will post pics of the pond tommorow.

 

Cant wait, with what will you repair it? Be carefull i spend R300 on a 5l paint and then 1 month later as the sun falls on it it gets like tar, then the lady said its sapose to do that lol.