Tropical or Koi

[benzjamin13]

I just finish constuction on my pond and everything. Now I get to decide what to put in it. I got a CK and an RTC that I would like to put in there, but then I would have to put a heater and get some type of covering. It's not a big deal to get all that, but with the winters being pretty cold (top has frozen over before), will a heater really help it keep the pond warm? So which would be a better thing to do...just get Koi or see if a 250w heater can heat a 400g pond to at least 74 degrees during the winter?

 

[Mystix212]

All the fish you want will require much more then 400G's of water. A single 250W heater probably wouldnt even heat 200G's of water to 74F at the best of times. Think, Koi growout pond.

 

[Muske]

Goldfish would be the easiest....
Koi will get to big for 400 gal. unless it is a GO and a bigger pond follows.
250W is to small, even for a tank that is inside the house. Don't want to let you down, but the heater is just to small. If it was 3 heaters maybe, but then it looks bad inside the pond.

 

[catfishlover106]

an RTC can probably outgrow that 400 gallons...as for the clownknifes..it wont but just try with some more different approach like those CK's,a red bellied pacu ( supposably 1 ) since more would need more tank gallonage...uhmmm or if you want try an Umbee pair in their or if you want alot of fishes..get a CA/SA american cichlid setup in that pond

 

[catfishlover106]

their are many fishes in our freshwater world that you can think of being able to stick in a 400 gallon =] just brainstorm and let us know for verifications

 

[Dr Joe]

Go with koi, grow them out and sell them to pay for an addition to the pond .

Your going to need several thousand watts of heater in the winter.

How close is the pond to the hopuse or garage?

Where is the filter system located?

Dr Joe

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[benzjamin13]

Go with koi, grow them out and sell them to pay for an addition to the pond .

Your going to need several thousand watts of heater in the winter.

How close is the pond to the hopuse or garage?

Where is the filter system located?

Dr Joe

.

I'm starting to think Koi. I plan on buying a 240g to 360g in the next couple of years, so it'd be nice to have tropical inside and koi outside.
The pond in on the patio, so it's like 5 ft away from the kitchen window and the filter is on the corner of the opposite side of the pond.

 

[Dr Joe]

Reason I asked was if you could place the filter in a heated part of the house/basement/garage it would make it a little easier to heat.

 

[black peter]

I just finish constuction on my pond and everything. Now I get to decide what to put in it. I got a CK and an RTC that I would like to put in there, but then I would have to put a heater and get some type of covering. It's not a big deal to get all that, but with the winters being pretty cold (top has frozen over before), will a heater really help it keep the pond warm? So which would be a better thing to do...just get Koi or see if a 250w heater can heat a 400g pond to at least 74 degrees during the winter?

As a koi breeder a would tell you go with school of 20 small koi - 4"-6". they are very hardy fish and you will have a lot of fun with them.They colorfull ,allways hungry and active.I have 200 of them in some ponds and sometimes instead of feeding them i would just walk around the pond and they would follow me and try to catch up with me because they know i have the food for them, they smarter than other fish and it is also pretty funny .