Cichlids in the Pond. . . . In Canada - Update Sept 4 / 2013

[notho2000]

I'm starting to get a little bit concerned. Even though the cichlids that I put in the 1100G pond in early June are continuing to thrive, the night time temperatures the last few days have dipped below 10C (50F) and even the daytime highs are low to mid 20s. Today the maximum air temperature reached 19C (~66F) and the water temperature registered 21C (~70F). It went down to 6C (~41F) last night. I can see the first frost arriving in a couple of weeks. My 100G 'Little Giant' stock trough which contains some young Cichlasoma dimerus (Uruguay) registered 15C (59F) today, so I'll be most likely shutting it down within the next week. To say that the 'dimerus' were not moving very fast, is a huge understatement. I'm going to keep the big pond going until the water temperature hits ~15C (~60F). A couple of years ago, I pulled out a foot long pleco, several Gymnogeophagus gymnogenys "Arroyo Yerbalito', some Red Ceibals and Lepomis megalotis on November 2nd. The air temperature was 1 C (~34 F) and the water temperature 4 C (~39F).Amazingly enough, everything made it inside okay.BTW, I don't normally make a practice of doing this so late. Here's a short video I just took. You can see the Green Terror pair (presently with a new spawn tucked away somewhere - the female keeps rushing back to a sheltered spot inside a cinder block) along with a male Australoheros sp. 'Red Ceibal' and several exCichlasoma beani cruising about amongst the five Red Comet goldfish that are left (lost three).

[video=youtube_share;1h4N-pG5Y_o]http://youtu.be/1h4N-pG5Y_o[/video]

 

[Cod]

water clarity is awesome

 

[Big Dave]

I wish I could keep my cichlids in my pond. Calgary just fluctuates too much because we are near the mountains. I tried an Oscar, a Common Pleco, and a Batfish in my 5000 gallon pond all with the same result. Death. The only fish that thrived were my Albino Channel Cats.

 

[alexanian]

That is amazing i never would've thought they could survive at such low temps. Where I am the lowest temps in the winter are around 4C so maybe I should try a small outdoor setup

 

[jandj88]

So when you drain down do you remove all the pond plants and keep inside or buy next spring?

 

[notho2000]

So when you drain down do you remove all the pond plants and keep inside or buy next spring?

I totally empty and clean the pond in the Fall so it's all ready to go in the Spring. I have moved plants inside in the past but it tends to be more trouble than its worth, except for expensive plants like lilies, where you can store the tubers in damp peat in the fridge. So the last couple of years I've thrown pretty much all of them out, and started fresh. I do take a few Water Lettuce and Water Hyacinth plants in.