I have tried a few African cichlids a few years ago,after reading somewhere that direct sunlight,or,it's rays is beneficial to young fish.Standing over that small pond I could not tell if the fish were still in there unless one of them moved.
Good pond cichlids?
- Thread starter FluffySackson
- Start date
I have a relatively small pond (~500 gallons) in my backyard and keep cichlids in it from about sometime in april till october or november (texas climate). Last year I kept geo winemilleri and tapajos, and various peacocks and haps that I was trying to grow out over the summer. Only the african cichlids tend to be visible and they move so fast much of the time they can be hard to view for long. This year I am keeping otapa swords and CA cichlids such as T. Maculipinnis, T Pasionis, and soon C. Nanoluteus. They are doing great outdoors and the T Mac's spawned just a few weeks after moving them outdoors. They are visible when directly in the sun, otherwise they are hard to follow.
I would keep your pond above ground, though unsightly; easier to keep critters out(ie toads, frogs etc). Most cichlids are good candidates for pond culture. They may be a little harder to appreciate but the fish do well and tend to spawn like crazy.
I'd suggest any Texas cichlid, carpintis or cyanoguttus. I've kept my red texas hybrids (1/2 carpintis) in my outdoor pond in Chicago for our few months of "summer". Our weather is all over the place. We had a few nights of upper 50s and they all survived. This year I tossed in 3 300 watt heaters to keep it at 72F at night.
You can call be stupid, but what about G. Brasiliensis? I heard they're not just limited to Brazil but are found in Uruguay as well, which leads me to believe they can tolerate a daily shift in temperature and thrive.
Geo braziliensus would be a good candidate for a pond in LA, they did well in mine, and spawned there in Wisconsin spring thru fall.
They do come from more temperate areas of Brazil and Uruguay so don't mind cooler the temps.
They do come from more temperate areas of Brazil and Uruguay so don't mind cooler the temps.
300g tub with C. Saxatilis, 2 G. Meriodnalis and 1 G. Brasiliensis. Any SA catfish? I like catfish, they must be cool to watch in ponds.
Any of those 3 cichlids you mention above would probably do well in pond where temps have diurnal swings. When I lived in LA I remember night temps easily dropping into the 50sF.
Below a couple catfish pics taken from above, I had to torque (edit) the light a bit to bring them into clear view.
Below a couple catfish pics taken from above, I had to torque (edit) the light a bit to bring them into clear view.
