Has anyone had good success putting tropical fish temporarily in a pond!

Down at the AQUATIC attic!

I've been doing some research myself with putting tropical fish such as tetras, rainbows cichlids ect ( basically doing a community or non- community tropical pond) in a DIY planted pond with either heater ran by solar or by using the sun and black pipe to warm it.

I wanna knw has anyone else tried or lol wasted their time with this at all?

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Permalink Reply by Peter on August 18, 2014 at 1:42am

You can if u live in a warm area and your pond is atlesrt 3 féet deep so The water stays warm at night

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on August 18, 2014 at 11:16am

Short of being in the wild, this is an ideal habitat. They'll get plenty of sun, oxygen, and insect larvae. Fish that won't breed in aquariums will breed like rabbits outside.

Watch out for the following:

1) Cold nights - 3 feet deep like Peter said. You may also need the heater.

2) Predators - Heron, Raccoons, Snakes, Turtles, etc. Give the pond enough depth and hiding places. There are many ways to keep predators out but you'll have to figure out the most practical.

3) Too small - Make the pond as large as possible. Ponds over 10,000 are almost self-cleaning.

4) Algae - Algae cleans your water and is great for breeding fish. But if you want to see the fish add floating plants. They'll clean the water just as well. Hornwart will spread like wildfire and you can leave it in year-round.

5) Choice of fish - Tropical fish are beautiful... from the side. Goldfish and Koi were bred specifically to have color on top. This is a very unnatural. It makes them vulnerable to predators. The most beautiful characins and cichlids will be nearly invisible from above. Only completely solid-colored fish will be visible in a pond. Choose wisely.

Like your idea about the solar powered heater. Sub-tropical fish like Mollies and Guppies make great pond fish and they won't die until the water hits 50F. I'm keeping Rainbowfish this year. They love the space and you don't have to feed them.

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Permalink Reply by theeAQUATICattic on August 19, 2014 at 12:44am

thats some amazing feed back THANKS FOR the info!!!

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on August 23, 2014 at 8:43pm

Thanks Aquaticattic. I hope you have amazing success with your pond - you're on the right track. Jetajockey makes a good point. Subtropicals may end up being your best bet. (Subtropicals are fish that live roughly between Mexico and South Carolina) I think the Tropic of Capricorn forms the southern-most border of the subtropical zone - not sure - google "subtropical".

Here in Boston Ma. I keep two ponds - one is tropical and the other sub-tropical. I sell off a ridiculous number of Mollies, Guppies, and Swordtails from the large pond in the Fall, and try to breed Altum Angels in the smaller pond. The ponds are fallow in the Winter. Summer in Boston is short but sweet.

Good Luck !!!