outdoor pond/pool

[Dan K]

Anyone here keep fish in an outdoor garden pond/pool for the summer?
I just got a 200 gallon plastic pond and am in the process of setting it up. I plan to grow out some mbuna in there this summer since half the summer is gone already but next year maybe try to breed something in there.

[Ron]

I put some small acei and venustus in a 50-60 gallon tub set in the ground that had a couple lilies growing in it. They were 1.25"-1.5" at the time

Over the course of a few weeks I lost them all to various predatory water-bugs. 

[GrizzlysDad]

I set my free standing pond up on the deck last summer. Fish grew super fast, better color, and males attained full color at a smaller size compared to raising them inside.
I'm not sure what I'll do this year...it really should have been up for a month by now.

[54zamboni]

with the heat we're having, i'm not sure how you'd control the temperature.  i have a 3000g pond, surface 80% covered with lilies, and the temp hasn't been below 85 in weeks.   i just have goldfish and small koi, which  seem to tolerate the higher temp's ok,  but not sure how cichlids would do.  i'm guessing that in a couple hundred gallon pond the temp fluctuations could be pretty dramatic, particularly if it was out in the sun. 

on the other hand, if you need lilies to help shade the surface, let me know -- i have plenty i can give you. 

[Dan K]

with the heat we're having, i'm not sure how you'd control the temperature.  i have a 3000g pond, surface 80% covered with lilies, and the temp hasn't been below 85 in weeks.   i just have goldfish and small koi, which  seem to tolerate the higher temp's ok,  but not sure how cichlids would do.  i'm guessing that in a couple hundred gallon pond the temp fluctuations could be pretty dramatic, particularly if it was out in the sun. 

on the other hand, if you need lilies to help shade the surface, let me know -- i have plenty i can give you.

There are several guys in our club (GVAC) that use ponds in the summer. At least one of them has cichlids in his (220 gallon) and it's in the sun a good part of the day. I was just at his place Saturday in the sweltering heat and his cichlids looked outstanding. I am placing mine so it will catch some afternoon shade over part of it.

If you ever head to Zeeland bring some lilies along 

[runawaypencil]

This is my 300g pound that has been set up with small maybe .5-1inch dragon bloods like 200-250fish  and the pound has been stocked for 3-4 weeks now...  This is my first year with it and am hoping for them to grow a lot.  I do add old water from my tanks in house once a week, and feed it with growth formula once a day.  I had a couple landscape rocks stacked up for a while and realize they never left the one corner with the rock so I added 2 more cinder blocks one in the middle and one at the other end and they seem to swim the whole pound as a school.  Its very cool to see them all go crazy when I add the food.  I don't have a clue on what the temp has been doing but often pull a leaf or two out of it and it feels perfect.  It probably gets 2-4 hours of early afternoon till 5ish every day the rest is covered/prevented from trees. As for Filtration I took an idea given from "staple" and used an old nls 5lb bucket drilled lots of holes in it put filter floss on the bottom layer of crushed coral (help keep the water hard) and another layer of filter floss with a uplift tube in the middle of it attached to my linear piston pump which is running another 60 foam filters.  I'm also thinking of adding another bucket filter to the  pound but haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

[Thriftyfisher]

Right now I have Metriaclima greshakei in one tub (bastards still haven’t breed for me but look nice and the male was just coloring up when I put them out) Julidochromis malereri in another tub, Pelvicachromis signatus in my main pond and Jewel Cichlids in another small tub. 

I know my Jewels have spawned but they keep eating wigglers.  I don’t expect to see the signatus until I clean the pond, hopefully there will be fry as well as the adults.  I haven’t seen the Julis in a week or so but I am thinking that they are in the rock piles with eggs or fry.  I will find out in another month.

I also have rainbows outside that are breeding and some livebearers that are breeding.  I am hoping to have 4 or 5 new fish species breed for me outside this summer. 

As far as I am concerned, the warm weather is great for the fish.  My 35 gallon rainbow tubs have been over 100deg with no filtration and the fish are multiplying quickly.  If you want to have success this summer, I would try rainbows, Killifish and mouth brooding Cichlids that are breeding size.  For rainbows and Killifish green water is your friend for raising the fry.

Good luck and it is never too late as you can always put a cooler water fish like Gymnogeophagus out until the end of September.  Some Cory species do well in cooler water as will cherry shrimp which I left out until the end of October last year.

The photos are of my main pond and of one tub with the Metriaclima and Tamazulae in it durring feeding time. These photos are a month old.

[Dan K]

Wow, I didn't realize how many cichlids you had out there. It was so stinking hot Saturday I left before finding out what was in every one of your ponds. Had a great time checking out your ponds and fish room downstairs. I love your filtration system down there, very tropical! Thanks for hosting the summer picnic.

[54zamboni]

If you ever head to Zeeland bring some lilies along 

i'll actually be heading up M-40 tomorrow (wednesday) late afternoon  to a meeting in downtown holland.  if you wanted to swing over and meet,  i can bring you some. . . . let me know.  my meeting is at the herrick library, 6 p.m.   

[Dan K]

If you ever head to Zeeland bring some lilies along 

i'll actually be heading up M-40 tomorrow (wednesday) late afternoon  to a meeting in downtown holland.  if you wanted to swing over and meet,  i can bring you some. . . . let me know.  my meeting is at the herrick library, 6 p.m.   

PM sent
That would be sweet!

[54zamboni]

see you tonight at six.  i've probably got way more than you'll need/want, and i thinned out the  water irises as well -- either give the extras away if you know anyone else that would like what you don't want or put them on the compost pile! 

[Dan K]

Got the pond done today with some nice plants from 54zamboni. Thanks Jim!
So far it's stocked with a pair of red tail shellers, 6 Pund nyererei Mwanza Gulf, and about 10 Met. zebra gold Kawanga. Probably more to go in yet too. We'll see how these do first.

[Super Turtleman]

Excellent. I have that same (or very similar) pond sitting in my yard waiting for me to set it up. What do you have for filtration...just the plants? Looks like you got a heater in there too...?

[Dan K]

Excellent. I have that same (or very similar) pond sitting in my yard waiting for me to set it up. What do you have for filtration...just the plants? Looks like you got a heater in there too...?

No heater. Filtration will be mostly the plants. The electric cord you see is for a couple of submersed power heads for circulation. I've got a block of foam directly on the bottom of one of them and a 5 foot hose and foam on the other so I can put the one in the bottom if I choose to. Right now I have them both up high....I didn't want to suck the cooler water from the bottom and heat it up by circulating it to the top. It was 85 degrees on top and noticably cooler at the bottom where the fish were all hanging out.

I was amazed at how the young nyererei I put in colored up so fast and began flirting with the females; he had been so pale in the tank inside and showed no interest in the females. They were growing out in a 29 with several zebra golds and were a bit intimidated I guess. 

[fish fan]

Can anyone recommend how to eliminate algea blooms in a large pond?  Something besides a UV sterilizer...