Empty pond

[lingi]

I have a pond in my garden that my father and some nearby farmers use to water their plants from, it gets topped up constantly from a nearby borehole and the water comes directly from the underground watertable, and sometimes gets filled by rain also. Its around 90,000gallons and the only stuff ive ever had in it were goldfish and mosquito fish, around 3years ago i threw in a bullhead catfish so i could lower the number of mosquito fish, but i never saw the cat again yet ALL the fish dissapeared. Lately i tried to get a colony of mosquito fish running again, threw about 50but they all seem to be dissapearing, im gonna get to the bottom of this problem when the rain is over in 2weeks or so and im gonna empty the whole pond so ill catch this catfish(if its still there) and clean up the bottom.
I was thinking of throwing in some cool fish in this pond when the warm season kicks in(March), but im not sure what can survive our temperatures, this link shows the average temperature of every month of the year in Malta, http://www.choosemalta.com/en/about-malta/average-temperatures.php i would really love any replies and ideas of what fish i can house.
Im not really into goldfish,guppies,rosybarbs and koi, i was thinking something more monster yet not so expensive cos i dunno if its gonna live or not 100% before i try, i was thinking something along the lines of:

Oscars
Gars(alligator )
Arowana
Sturgeon
Convicts
Tigerbarbs

anyways any suggestions are welcome and im really looking forward to hear them, preferably some fish that can breed also, ill put some pics up of the pond tomorrow altough its half empty atm, its like 20 feet deep, thanks for reading and replying

 

[Muske]

Anything monster is going to need a food source....

Try getting the goldfish and gambusia going again. Instead of 50 fish, start with 50 lbs. instead. I would start taking off anyfish that is illegal in your parts.

Is there any worries from pesticides/fert. from the farms?

By borehole, I am assuming a well? Ever tested that water?

 

[lingi]

Hey Muske, thanks for taking the time to reply, do u think it is absolutely necessary to get the feederfish going again? cant i just feed the monsters, i mean its right outside my house!? The water comes from underground ie: its naturaly spring water that some ppl use to drink tough i think its hardness is quite high, i tested it some time ago, ill try to find the results, we use it for drinking anyways. My biggest concern at the moment is what can i keep due to our temperatures in the cold season, im really dying to get a couple of alligator gars, ill be the first in our country to own them
and by the way, there no illegalities in our country lol, i can get a great white shark if i want so dont worry just tell me what you were planning

 

[Muske]

I would check the temp. of the incoming water from the well. If it is constantly adding new water to the pond that temp. will fluctuate more from being topped off than the air temp. How deep is the pond? I would still try to get a population of minnows or goldfish, heck, even African chiclids if water temps. allow. That way, once the monsters are added, if they don't recognize you as the food source there will be plenty of natural food occuring in the pond.

I would think the Gars could stand a little cooler water than the RTC. The sturgen will of course take cooler temps. the aro mught be out of the question. Do you already have the convicts? If not, they should be cheap enough to use as testers.....

 

[lingi]

The pond is between 20-30feet deep i cant say exactly since there is a very deep layer of mud in the bottom, the water that tops it up is always freezing cold but its not enough to effect the temperature of the whole pond in my opinion, it only gets topped for like 1hour every day and the water passes through another sort of over flow pond before entering the main. I took some pictures but left cam in my mate's car ill upload them by tonight probably, my friend suggested pirahnas/plecos dunno if they can survive the temperatures. Basically i want some answers at to what can surive 60degrees, dunno why i see so much replies in every thread but only Muske helping me out here, does everybody hate me?

Anyways pics soon, ty for your help later guys

 

[Muske]

Any plants in the little incoming pond?

If so, with a litle maintenace, you could pump water from the main and use it as a bog.

If not, you could re-vamp that pond and use it to hold water a little longer so it warms up more. In the winter months, the daytime sun will do nothing to warm the pond back, let alone heat enough to keep anything really exotic.

 

[Muske]

With a really muddy bottom, big cats and koi are gonna keep it cloudy in the bottom making visability of them harder.

Can you see down to the bottom from 20' up?

 

[lingi]

There are no plants whatsoever in either pond, pics coming soon hopefully, and u can see the bottom depending on the weather really, at the moment the bottom is slightly visible yes, but i dont really care if i cant see the fish at the bottom as long as theyre there, happy, and come up for food, thats all i want... i will get some water lillies and look for plant suggestions also, so u think anything will die in 60degrees? i was so looking forward to getting a couple of alligator gars to 8feet

 

[Muske]

Check the wheather in parts where they are native.

 

[lingi]

Pics finally here enjoy! do u think its MONSTER enough!? give me some ideas what i can do with my pond please and more replies are wanted/welcomed i couldnt get a whole shot of it and regarding water level; i can top it up whenever i want to but theres no need atm since there arent any fish :/ is it suited for some gator gars?