africans in an outdoor pond

[fsc46]

I'm going to put some african cichlids in an outdoor pond and wondered what I should look out for. The pond is at least 50,000 gallons, looks bigger but not really sure. So what do you think?

 

[why_spyder]

I'd look out for animals coming in to have a small feast - such as raccoons.

 

[web2844]

Unless you live somewhere where the pond will stay over 70 degrees I wouldn't do it. Africans will not survive the winter in most US climates.

 

[mike dunagan]

Unless you live somewhere where the pond will stay over 70 degrees I wouldn't do it. Africans will not survive the winter in most US climates.

Totally agree... with a pond that size you would have to drain it to get them all out too!

 

[NewETown]

Thread hijack...but something I've always thought would be fun to is setup an indoor pond for a MASSIVE school of cyprichromis, something like you'd see in the wild. How freakin cool would that be? You'd want to raise it above floor level or have some way of viewing it from the side.

 

[voss345]

Unless you live somewhere where the pond will stay over 70 degrees I wouldn't do it. Africans will not survive the winter in most US climates.

Totally agree... with a pond that size you would have to drain it to get them all out too!

you would not be able to do it in New england if you lived in florida, Socal or somewhere warm i would say go for it
a guy i buy from (cichlid broker) specializes in African and Ca cichlids, throws most of his big fish africans and Ca's in the pond for the summer and lets them breed and drains it in october i guess and sells off the stock

 

[ikevi]

I know many people that do this over the spring-fall. But as said if you want to keep them alive you need to take them indoors during the winter. They will grow fast, breed like crazy in the pond though.

 

[fsc46]

It will be back in my tank by September. I though about wild animals too, it seems the ducks have passed through and aren't a problem anymore. The pond it's self is over 100 feet long by at least 35 feet wide and in most areas 3+ feet deep.

For many years it had large gold fish.Towards the end of last year a blue heron made a visit and took advantage of the drought we had. The owner was so impressed with the bird, he didn't realize what it was doing until it was to late. In August half the water had evaporated and the deepest area was no more than 18 inches.

 

[voss345]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
it kind of seems like a pain in the butt, but to stop birds from landing and eating fsih just stake in fishing line across the pond like a checkerboard to stop birds from landing

 

[badisbadis101]

Africans thrive in ponds. I put a pair in my 1,000 gallon pond last spring, and when i took them out, there were over 30. This year i went with more diversity, no breeding yet, but they seem to be doing great. Africans are great for ponds, but i have one problem with yours: It is too big, IMO, because of the difficult involved with catching them in the fall. Unless you want to drain all 50,000 gallons of it every year, and have room for 50,000 gallons worth of africans inside, i would proceed with caution

Good luck, either way