I live in Canada (a COLD part of Canada) They don't call my city 'Winterpeg' for nothing. At this time of year, we're getting those cool nights, followed by 'not so warm' days. The water temperatures are dropping and despite the increase in dissolved oxygen, the fish are starting to become lethargic and are not as interested in feeding ... unless your a goldfish. They're having great fun out there these days. But not so much my tropical cichlids. The water temperature in the big pond is still marginally okay for them (~18-20 oC) but a few degrees cooler, and ... I checked the temperatures outside on Sunday evening after the ASW meeting. The air temperature was 15.3C (59.5F). The large pond was 20.3C (68.5F) and contains 'beani', 'rivulatus', 'hartwegi', 'breidohri', 'dimerus' and Red Ceibals along with a few native species from Florida. The small pond (100G stock trough) was 13.3C (56.0F) and contains many small 'dimerus' (a Uruguayan cichlasoma) and a few 'breidohri'. I put a 300W heater in there and the water temperatures have gone up into the low 20s. I have a bit of a problem. The tanks I was going to house the pond fish in are presently occupied by other inhabitants. A little problem solving will be in order, especially in housing the 8 'beani' ranging in size from 5 - 9", and the large 'rivulatus pair. I also expect to find Ceibal and GT fry (and I hope 'beani') out there. I took a few pictures of the pond today and 'on the surface of it' (no pun intended) all looks well. Here are a handful of pictures taken today. But it's what's going on underneath that counts. So I'll be setting up for the pond shutdown this week, when the big pond hits 14-15C. The fish can take it since the changes are very gradual. Three years ago, I pulled out a 12" pleco on November 1st. The water temperature was 3C. And once it thawed out
, it was fine. BTW, the last picture is of a bunch of 2" C. dimerus fry (F2s) in the stock trough.
, it was fine. BTW, the last picture is of a bunch of 2" C. dimerus fry (F2s) in the stock trough.
in the middle of the night, realizing that I might be "cooking" fish stew outside (heat lost << heat gained). I rushed out at 3:30 am with my flashlight, and put my hand into the trough. It felt like bathwater
. Needless to say, I pulled the plug on the heater and shone the flashlight in, looking for fish corpses. What I saw were some very startled and ACTIVE babies. The next morning, I checked the temperature in there, and it was 80 F. I figure that the water must have been at least in the 88-92 F range. So for tonight I put in a 100W heater. I think the fish are going to be more comfortable, and as well, I'll be getting a better night's sleep
.
nice looking ponds & funny story.
. Oh well, live and learn. The 100W does function properly.