Belgium weather blows - ideas on what to stock outside

[Madou]

Hey guys

As we are about to buy a house with a big land, I already started making plans for an outside pond, in the range of 100000L/26000G.
I have to factor cost, plans, maintenance, and i'm still pretty clueless about most of that, but it's been a long time plan, except... I don't like kois, carps and other cold water boring (to me) fish.

Belgium's weather is like the UK's, except worse.

Weather here is as follows:
Winters can go down to about -10°C/15°F
Summers can go up to 38°C/100°F
In the winter, we can have rain for 6 months, or we can have snow every now and then. We can also have dry periods, with neither.
In the summer, we can have dry periods of a month or two, or we can have rain every other day, with cold weather coming around september (like this year -_-).

The only true monster I could think of is the channa argus. Granted it isn't banned here by the time I finish the pond, but Belgium is pretty lax and sucks about fish regulations.

So the questions are as follows (numbered in case you want to answer a question but can't answer the others ):
1. Are there any other fish that could be kept year long, and possibly breed in that setup? Read predatory fish, as opposed to the feeders of point 2.
2. Is there a cold water fish I can keep that would survive true predator, and thrive to be able to feed my fish long term?
3. Can I dream of feeders that would suffice to itself and not require me to feed at all? Be it feed the feeders OR the big games?

I do plan on having an emergency "fountain" coming out of the water to make sure all the surface doesn't freeze, in case it changes anything.

Thanks a bunch, in hope my plan is actually doable.

 

[tlindsey]

Hey guys

As we are about to buy a house with a big land, I already started making plans for an outside pond, in the range of 100000L/26000G.
I have to factor cost, plans, maintenance, and i'm still pretty clueless about most of that, but it's been a long time plan, except... I don't like kois, carps and other cold water boring (to me) fish.

Belgium's weather is like the UK's, except worse.

Weather here is as follows:
Winters can go down to about -10°C/15°F
Summers can go up to 38°C/100°F
In the winter, we can have rain for 6 months, or we can have snow every now and then. We can also have dry periods, with neither.
In the summer, we can have dry periods of a month or two, or we can have rain every other day, with cold weather coming around september (like this year -_-).

The only true monster I could think of is the channa argus. Granted it isn't banned here by the time I finish the pond, but Belgium is pretty lax and sucks about fish regulations.

So the questions are as follows (numbered in case you want to answer a question but can't answer the others ):
1. Are there any other fish that could be kept year long, and possibly breed in that setup? Read predatory fish, as opposed to the feeders of point 2.
2. Is there a cold water fish I can keep that would survive true predator, and thrive to be able to feed my fish long term?
3. Can I dream of feeders that would suffice to itself and not require me to feed at all? Be it feed the feeders OR the big games?

I do plan on having an emergency "fountain" coming out of the water to make sure all the surface doesn't freeze, in case it changes anything.

Thanks a bunch, in hope my plan is actually doable.

You ever thought about Pike or Pickerel?

 

[Madou]

You ever thought about Pike or Pickerel?

I'm really not much of a cold water guy, I don't know many of them, but I figured whatever lives in the US is not gonna survive the winter, then I realized you guys have a border with canada that goes way beyond freezing.

I like pikes, I would love basses (there are some in michigan that live through freezing right?), I certainly always wanted a channa argus (platinum must look amazing in a lake), and I wouldn't mind some sunfish, but I am really clueless.

Can I put a mix of that in that big a pond, can I have feeders colonize it etc, it's all up in the air right now.

 

[tlindsey]

Hopefully someone will chime in with accurate and factual info for you.

 

[Dloks]

Well you’re pretty much stuck with cold water fish.
Try, Alligator Gars, Sturgeon, Chinese Tigerfish, Bagarius Yareli, maybe long nose gars. That’s all I can think of on top of my head that might be okay in your winter.

 

[Dloks]

I also believe the European Wels Catfish can survive a fairly cold winter

 

[duanes]

I used live in Wisconsin where winters easily dropped well below freezing, in fact ice on lakes near me was regularly 3 to 4 feet thick, and many fish survived, and even required those cold periods for good health.
I had to over winter many pond fish inside in the basement because my ponds would freeze to the bottom.
Sturgeon
Amia calva (very snake head like)
pike, pickerel, musky
many sun fish, perch all worked well.

 

[esoxlucius]

I'm not quite sure what to say really. You don't like "cold water boring fish" yet your climate is only going to allow you cold water boring fish! Even if you got something that could put a bit of a show on regarding observing it hunting etc, you're not going to see anything.The size of that pond, and the fact it is outside open to the elements will mean the water will be mucky most of the time so you won't exactly see much going on anyway. Even with good filtration the amount of rain you get (i'm in the uk, i know how much it rains in our neck of the woods),will make a crystal clear pond very difficult.

If you put a northern pike in for example you could put a good head of roach, perch, rudd and gudgeon in too. That would give you a huge predator set up and a natural source of food (which you would need to top up once in a while). All those fish are hardy cold water fish and if you had marginal reed beds they could breed too so in time it could become self sustained. It would work but not exactly awe inspiring because you'd probably never see the pike in action.

 

[EntoStentor]

Oh oh oh oh bowfin

 

[Madou]

I'm not quite sure what to say really. You don't like "cold water boring fish" yet your climate is only going to allow you cold water boring fish! Even if you got something that could put a bit of a show on regarding observing it hunting etc, you're not going to see anything.The size of that pond, and the fact it is outside open to the elements will mean the water will be mucky most of the time so you won't exactly see much going on anyway. Even with good filtration the amount of rain you get (i'm in the uk, i know how much it rains in our neck of the woods),will make a crystal clear pond very difficult.

If you put a northern pike in for example you could put a good head of roach, perch, rudd and gudgeon in too. That would give you a huge predator set up and a natural source of food (which you would need to top up once in a while). All those fish are hardy cold water fish and if you had marginal reed beds they could breed too so in time it could become self sustained. It would work but not exactly awe inspiring because you'd probably never see the pike in action.

I didn't say cold water fish are boring! I said I didn't want boring cold water fish such as carps and kois. (Again, to me)
So to you, if I want to actually see into the water, I need to reduce the size?
I saw filtration for up to 60k liters (100k without fish), I figured two to three of those would make something acceptable.
In fact, I was hoping I could get a viewing pannel somewhere in the middle of it, I've come to think it might be pretty useless based on what you brought to my attention.

So you do think I can have a breeding stock of feeder, but will have to top it off eventually, which makes sense.
That's good news!