FishProfiles.com Message Forums

(cats......)

Now that is a nice idea, a lot of people neglect the species available right on their doorstep, and they may be missing out, plus it wont cause any environmental issues.

Why bother? Take advantage of the temperate weather and keep some nice NA natives.

I think this would be much easier to figure out where Cayote lived.

I think a pond of the long-finned WCMM would be awesome, and they are pretty resilient when it comes to temperature. Danios are also said to be hardy in that respect.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Yes I have kept outdoor fish for many years, and I live in the uk which is very e to seasonal variation.Consequently I have no illusions of the nature of changing temperature, I also periodically keep a number of reptiles outdoors and since their temperature requirements I tend to be much more aware of temperatures than your average fishkeeper, having to know both the changes in the atmospheric air and water for the semi-aquatic species. Changing temps in a pond depend on a lot more than seasonal reports of weather. Position, shelter, depth,volume, average rainfall and the temperature of that rainfall, wind chill and the amount of direct sunlight,and water content all have bearings on the temperature of water, as does the method of circulation.Water typically varies less than air, but when you monitor it digitally in all seasons you may notice changes that surprise you.
The pond I had in the garden until recently, varied from -2 all the way up to 78f,bu comparison the air temps in that year varied from -9 to 101f and sometimes suffered more than a 17f change in a single 24 hour period, even in summer with severe day-night drops combined with rain and wind,only in the lowest part did it not vary by more than 3f, and that is more variance than a lot of tropicals can take. It was over 600 gallon. Obviously not suitable for keeping most tropical fish, who prefer for the large part upper to midwater for even a short period of time. All im saying is that when you actually monitor the temps you will find that a large body of the water may be affected more than you think. A lot of tropical fish are especially not exposed to colder temperatures as the bodies of water they live in are much ,much, bigger, and the regions they live in more settled.They are not used to migrating to lower depths and staying there like koi are pretty much used to doing. The locale where you are may be more stable, but the changes may still surprise you.

Besides which , if it was so easily done, a lot more people would be doing it. Yes?

Im just recommending that people take it all with a note of caution and that some supplementary heating might be needed, Im not saying that it cant be done but that unless you live in a very stable area and have a pool that is well sheltered the chances are that youll lose a certain percentage of your fish, and this is particularly going to be the case with many commonly bred tropicals because the effectively havent lived outside captivity for many generations.

and I can assure you that in some parts of the world things do change by more than 10 degrees.Perhaps not if you live near to the equator, but if you live in the larger part or europe or similar lattitudes theyre almost guaranteed to vary a great deal more than that seasonally. I dont believe its even open to debate.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 29-Nov-2005 05:19

I toss tropical fish out into temporary ponds every summer for spawning. They are more likely to spawn and it's much easier to raise the fry that way than in a tank. Partially due to the size but also the sunlight means no lighting is required to grow any plants, insects provide constant natural food source, and the natural weather(temp changes and all) are actually helpful. A good rainfall and 5-10degree drop in air temperature will always trigger the spawning of something. Summers here are 70-85F average but winters are well below freezing. Usually -20F for a week or 2 every year so all the fish come back inside when temps start to drop both day and night and I sell off any fry. A few nights with low temps aren't important. Like stated above water does not change as fast as air temperature. A hot day with a cold night isn't going to let the water temp drop enough for me to worry about it.
The easiest fish to keep that way were gouramis partially because they can breathe air so no equipment was required for aeration and I didn't have to worry about loading the ponds down with plants for that same reason. I ended up with 300 half grown fish from 4 my first year. I tried non labyrinth fish last year(white cloud minnows) with some success. Noone died but I didn't manage to get much fry. With a few improvements I plan to try Congo tetras next summer.

Depending on where you live; foxes, coyotess, raccoons, or other animals could get to them!

Right but dead fish are dead fish. Coldwater or tropical.

So it doesn't matter which way he goes in regards to that factor.

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Have you ever kept an outdoor pond longhaired git ?

Cold snaps in ponds do not fluctuate the temperatures 10 or even 15 degrees. Bodies of water just do not change that quickly.

I guess we should put some parameters on this. If your pond is in-ground (most are), then geothermal heat will keep the pond from having too drastic of temperature fluctuations as long as you have a reasonably sized body of water for the climate you live in.

Your temps only going down to 60 degrees makes this a pretty easy post. You can absolutely have tropical fish in a pond there. Yep might want to toss a heater in to help with the few cold nights, but otherwise they'll be fine.

You've gotta live in the south like I do. I've kept tropicals outdoors in different ponds. Sizes of the tropical ponds were only a few hundred gallons each. The fish were fine. Only real shock was losing fish in a really bad rain storm. The water level rose over 4 inches and I had water/fish runoff. Nothing sillier than a lady in the yard picking up flopping fish.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Depending on where you live; foxes, coyotess, raccoons, or other animals could get to them!

I personally think that the ponds are for cold water fish, period.


Christina

i have a pond that i got from a freind and i was wondering if you could put tropical fish in if you have a big enough heater.

Have you thought of a way to keep wild animals from eating your fish?

______________
Cake or death?

Well, I have my breeding fishroom outdoor, and here in Puerto Rico the winter drop to like 64 each winter, but I use heather and I hadn't lose any fish, well I have lose some like everybody but nothing drastical like 3 fishes per day. So I think you can do it. But with precaution.

Thats still a 15 degree change with occasional wind chill,rainfall chill, and direct sunlight issues,you can assume the actual locale range to be some 10 degrees more variable than that.Most tropical fish commercially available come from biotopes a good deal more stable than that. Better choose some really tough fish, if youre gonna do it, and do the environment a favour and net it over properly too.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 12-Nov-2005 00:47

winters here are 60-85 degrees farenheit
not very cold

Yes and no really.

While some tropical fish may survive in outdoor enclosures, (especially if you are choosing native fish) non-native fish will be exposed to a whole range of bacteria and parasites that will be beyond your control. Controlling a large pond reliably would be difficult, expensive, and you probably be hard pushed to find a heater that will adequately respond quickly enough to a cold snap to prevent the fish from suffering from thermic shock, especially as the water may go from cold to warm again very quickly even if the heater is up to the job. Its rapid temperature changes you will be looking to avoid , and that may prove very difficult.
Bear in mind most ponds are a very awkward size,not really big enough to insulate the inhabitants against thermic shock, and small enough to freeze or dry out. Most fish do not naturally live in small ponds.

In addition some aquarium fish have lost their adaptive abilities regarding temperature multigenerationally in captivity, and it might take a huge , possibly even multigenerational acclimation period to get them used to the great outdoors again.Depends on the species you have in mind.

Contamination from your fish into local ecosystems is possible too. Bacteria and parasites from your fish could find their way into local watercourses possibly causing disease pandemics in local wildlife, even local waterfowl like ducks and geese could act as a vector for the contamination to spread.

On the whole, its probably not a great idea.

if it is good enough with heater/filters, then it depends, on the avg. temp, paradice fish are tropical, but can do well in colder water. but it depends on the fish and temp.

Are you planning on putting the pond in your back yard? That seems liek there would be a heck of a lot more to it than a "Yes if the heater is big enough." You would probably need a cooler for the summer because depending on where you live, It could get too hot for your fish as well. It seems to me that there would be A LOT of other things to consider than jsut a heater. What kind of tropical fish are you talking about? I am sure there is someone who would definitely say absolutely not. Do not try that, unless you are a very seasoned aquarist.



Christina

yes, as long as the heater can coupe with your winters you should be fine