Mosquito fish and Rosy Red Minnows together?

[bayst]

I have a small 300 gal pond and I recently put some mosquito fish (gambusia form the city) in it. I have a few goldies in QT and they will go in too once I know they are healthy enough.

Can I put rosy red minnows into the pond as well? I've recently read that the gambusia are pretty aggro and I don't want the rosy reds to get slaughtered. The LFS guy said that I could maybe grow like 20 RRs out to a bigger size and see if they are big enough to hold their own, but I don't especially want to waste the time and energy if they will still get killed by the gambusia.

I like the RR's better than the gambusia (better color) but the gambusia are going to be hard to catch. If they can live together, that would be easiest for me.

 

[Muske]

Aren't Rosies cheap? I would throw a dozen canaries in...

 

[bayst]

Aren't Rosies cheap? I would throw a dozen canaries in...

Yeah, rosy reds are feeders so they are dirt cheap. It's not the money, it really is just the time and energy putting them in a QT and doing a prazi treatment for parasites, and whatever else I need to treat depending on how sickly and diseased they are. I think they are really cute though, so if they survive with the gambusia, it would be well worth it for me.

What are canaries??? I only know of the chirp-chirp type, lol!

 

[RedDwarf]

They should be fine together. The RR are usually lower in the water column while the gambusia are usually on the surface. As long as you have some plants in the pond so the RR can get away if they need to then you should be fine.

 

[szymon328]

They should be fine together. The RR are usually lower in the water column while the gambusia are usually on the surface. As long as you have some plants in the pond so the RR can get away if they need to then you should be fine.

yup should be fine

if your worried about the aggresive nature of gambusia, which i find limited b/c i think i might have one with my platies and all it does is chase around them a bit during feeding, just get bigger rosies than the gambusia

 

[bayst]

Awesome! Thanks for the input. I will put the RR in a QT and grow them out a bit too so they are bigger and stronger. I'm so pleased that they will probably be ok in the pond. I do have a lot of plants and about 1/3 goes down to 4 feet, so my fingers are crossed for happy RRs in the future.

 

[Bottomfeeder]

Nooo. Mosquitofish will not tolerate other fish, especially Cyprinids, in their space. My lfs keeps Rosies and Moquitofish together, and the Skeeters terrify the Rosies.

 

[RedDwarf]

The RR and gambusia will be fine in your pond. I think the aggressiveness of the gambusia is overrated and tends to be more in aquariums than in ponds.

 

[FUEGO]

In a pond environment they'll all be just fine. They're crazy prolific spawners, too!

 

[szymon328]

In a pond environment they'll all be just fine. They're crazy prolific spawners, too!

i never knew gambusia are aggressive lol they do breed alot but you need sufficient space or hiding places for the fry to go to b/c other fish will snipe the fry my platies mauled all gambusia fry in my breeder tank lol o and rosies dont grow to quick in aquariums, at least thats my opinion b/c during the summer i got bored and tired but they only grew like a centimeter in a month