New Pond

[ZBT3091]

Hi guys,
Im thinking about getting a new pond and i want to know what fish i shud add and what to do. I currently have 2 Red Bellied Pacu, 1 Severum, 1 Blood Parrot, 1 polypterus senegalus, and an oscar i am about to sell. Those are all in a 75 gallon tank. In my 30 gallon tank, i have 1 pictus, another severum, and another blood parrot. I am thinking that about getting a pond. The size range would probably be a 300 minimum, and a 1000 maximum. Since i am selling my oscar i think i want the tank to be more of a 'peaceful giants' tank then an 'agressive cichlids' tank. I want to add some fish that i will eventually sell when they are fully grown... any ideas? I was thinking maybe an arowana, but i know they cud jump out of the pond. I live in NY, so i would have to get some heaters to keep it warm in the winter. Any ideas on what fish to get? What should i do with the 75 gallon tank? Also what usefull equipment should i use (net, filters...)?

[ZBT3091]

hello?

[The TRUST]

What's the purpose of the pond if u will sell the fish when grown??

[Loubard]

And those fish would look boring when you look on them above.

If you want to do it, you can look at the pond filter section of you lokal "garden store".

[Apocalypse]

It would be a waste to add an arowana to a pond. How can you fully enjoy their grace when all you see s the top of them? :confused:

[fishnthings]

koi:)

no point of an aro like they all said

[The TRUST]

Stingrays.

[Waldo]

I think Pim Ornate look awesome from the top. Stingrays obviously,.... and big cichlids looking at you are always cool just don't put your head to close to the tank.

[lemcc]

heating this thing will be the limiting factor
NY winters and 80 degree fish dont mix without $$$$$$

[ZBT3091]

haha, yeah i know thats gonna b a toughy...any suggestions for heating??? Also could a RB Pacu/Stingray(s) combo be done if the pond is large enough?? Say 500-1000 gal?

[guppy]

Heating is going to kill you. Insulate both under and around the pond and think about a greenhouse. An 8'x 12' pond built with two steps, one at 2'deep, and one at 3' deep with the deepest part being 4' deep will probably neep retaining walls and will contain almost 1900g but be deep enough to mitigate weather effects if it is protected in a plastic green house that could be removed in good weather but I would not risk it.
There are some great temperate weather fish from Europe and Eurasia such as sterlet and zander that you might look into. A scan of fishbase in the by country listings for place like poland or hungary can give you some ideas. Many of these fish are long lived and some will hand tame for feeding. American eels are also a pond choice. For a pond that size you will want 2 4250gph pumps and at least 120g worth of filter and maybe (2) 300g plant troughs. It only takes a few hours of power outage or one bad storm to wipe out an outside tropical tank in your area.

[ZBT3091]

I was thinking about getting an American Eel and some other cool ones like maybe a stingray(s), clown knife, arrow, or a gar or 2. The problem is that i already have these 2 RB pacu, so im gonna have to put them into the pond. How much wud it be for one of them 'portable greenhouses'? Should i just use alot of heaters? Can this be done????!?

[mkpeters6]

i dont think it is feasible to keep tropical fish outdoors in new york period w/o the project costing 1000s of dollars (including some type of heated enclosure and not considering electric bill) the winters are just too cold and there is just too much snow

if you want to do a pond w/tropical fish in new york it has to be indoors

[ZBT3091]

thanks for all the info. This is gonna b tough. I think i might go for it and set up a greenhouse with mega-heating. A bunch of pond heaters + insulation. Worst comes to worst i can put them indoors or sell them. thanks for all of the advise. I just have a few questions about compatability. Is it possible to keep a couple of rays, an arrow, 2 red pacu, gar(s), maybe a clown knife or peacock bass or 2. For a 500-1000 gallon tank with this b alright?

[auren]

Well I have an outside 350 gallon concrete japanese style pond, and I live in Mexico city where it doesn't snow or there the climate is stable. winters it the coldest during winter is 41 F and the warmest in summer is 77 F. I have tropical fish like an angel fish that has lasted with me almost two years, 1 hybrid parrot fish, I also had an arowana that thrived for 1yr and a half and looked great!!! (until I did the mistake of adding to much salt for one koi in the pond, and the arowana couldn handle it) I heat my pond with 1800 watts of sumbersible heaters (for sub-heaters go to: www.clepco.com). I also have a net around the pond to protect it from leaves. I must say that in regards to having your fish in a tank or in a tropical community watergarden or pond is a question of taste, I personally love sitting in my garden and watching my fish swim from the undeground pond and Arowanas dont need a lot of depth in a pond, they do need surface space though, they always swim in the surface.

What you could do is leave them outside all the time, and in the winter you can maybe cover the entire area like with a tent or something and get an outside heater or somethin (bad thing is you need $$), its not that good to stress your fish by taking them in and out in winter. Advice: I bought myself a wireless digital thermometor from radio shack with two wireless thermometors which I could monitor from my room. One thermometor is made for spas and pools, therefore I placed it in my pond and the other I just left in my garden. Now I can monitor my temp from my room and put an alarm if tempo goes beyond a certain range. Hope this info is useful.