Cichlid Summer Grow Out Pond?

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DecaturPlayer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 14, 2010
15
0
0
Indiana
Hello all,

This is my first thread, so please be kind.
I am from northeast Indiana. As the title explains, I'm considering just putting together a simple pond with possibly a preformed pond liner. (Sorry that it's not a serious build like some of the others on here, I'd be down for it if i had the money.) My question is, do you think it is possible to keep cichlids outside say from like June through early August? I've seen people talk on some threads that it has worked for them but most of these are in the South. Open for thoughts, opinions, suggestions. Thanks!

JB
 
In my experience keeping cichlids and most tropical fish outside during the warmer months is a great way for them to grow faster. Just watch the water temperature. Once the eater temperaute hits the mid 50s your smaller cichlids will start to die. Larger fish might be able to live in 50 degree water but I would recommend moving them inside or getting a heater
 
Ill have to check into that. Thanks. A buddy of mine has a koi pond, so maybe I can take some temperature readings from that and get an idea of what I should do?
 
I have put peacock cichlid and frontosa outside in 1300gal koi pond before during the summer. I recommended small pond only. It is hard to catch them out. This year I was able to grow daphnias outside and I threw all my cichild frys and fancy guppy frys in the daphnias tanks. They sure grow super fast. I have 3 daphnias tank(pond) that I use to feed my frys. 150gal. tank , 175gal. tank and 300gal. tank. Just waiting for the weather to get colder to move them back inside.
 
I have a 15x20+ foot pond that has 4 Tin Foil Barbs and 3 Jack Dempseys in it.

The Tin Foil Barbs have doubled in size within 3 months, they have gone from the 2-3 inch size at most pet shops to a good solid 4+ inches.

The Jack Dempseys have been in for 2 to 4 months. The big one appears to have gained an inch from when I took him out of my 55 gallon. The 2 smaller ones were only about 2 inches when they were put in and now they are in the 3-4 inch range.

I just got a new 220 gallon tank that I am going to race to complete by middle of October so I can put the Barbs back in the 220 and the Jacks may get cramped into the 55 depending on the size.

I am not looking forward to trying to catch them. I know that I am likely going to have to drain the pond down to about 3-4 inches.

I'm looking forward to wiping out the majority of my flathead minnows and orange feeder minnow population. I am convinced that my fancy guppies never took off this summer due to having their fry being eaten by minnows.


Pics of pond will come later when I organize everything for an introduction post.
 
So tomorrow I've decided I am will go pick up a kiddie pool rather than a pre form or a stock tank and put my cichlids in that. Read an article on cichlid-forum.com that a guy had kiddie pools outside.The fish grew fast and were showing great color at a small size. He did not even have a filter or heater hooked up to it. Supposively the water surface was large enough to supple oxygen.
 
DecaturPlayer said:
So tomorrow I've decided I am will go pick up a kiddie pool rather than a pre form or a stock tank and put my cichlids in that. Read an article on cichlid-forum.com that a guy had kiddie pools outside.The fish grew fast and were showing great color at a small size. He did not even have a filter or heater hooked up to it. Supposively the water surface was large enough to supple oxygen.
Click to expand...

Hey, do you have a link to that article?
 
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