Hi all--
Well, one of the three Pacu (not sure who, though thorough interrogation has been done, I assure you!) has decided to bite a hole in the liner of my pond. Rather than find the hole, patch it, and then have them bite it again, we are ordering a preformed fiberglass pond from Florida to take up the other 2/3 of the room. This will double the space for the 3 Pacu and RTC, hopefully allowing me to rescue more Pacu, as well!
So, the other pond is left. We're not going to tear it down, because it wasn't cheap to build. So we're going to put another liner in it and I'd like suggestions for fish that won't think the liner is a snack, please! The swimming area of the pond is about 9x7x3. The filtration is DIY, so we can tailor it to whatever we keep.
I have thought of the following options:
1. Just buying what ever big Cichlids we come across because I fall in love with at least one on every LFS trip, and I think with the space available, territoriality will be lessened.
2. Cichla, but I'm a little worried, because I don't want to pay big bucks, but I also don't want to look at a pond with a few tiny fish in it for a long time!
3. Rays, but I'm terrified of them because I'm so picky about water quality as it is. Knowing they need extra-clean water could result in OCD.
Your suggestions are completely appreciated here! Only a couple of things, really: I'm really not looking to do SW because of the cost. I'd like to keep it FW, and I don't want to stock anything that will outgrow this pond (this one and the new one will take up the entire room, so I can't exactly make more space and build another). Please, suggest!
Well, one of the three Pacu (not sure who, though thorough interrogation has been done, I assure you!) has decided to bite a hole in the liner of my pond. Rather than find the hole, patch it, and then have them bite it again, we are ordering a preformed fiberglass pond from Florida to take up the other 2/3 of the room. This will double the space for the 3 Pacu and RTC, hopefully allowing me to rescue more Pacu, as well!
So, the other pond is left. We're not going to tear it down, because it wasn't cheap to build. So we're going to put another liner in it and I'd like suggestions for fish that won't think the liner is a snack, please! The swimming area of the pond is about 9x7x3. The filtration is DIY, so we can tailor it to whatever we keep.
I have thought of the following options:
1. Just buying what ever big Cichlids we come across because I fall in love with at least one on every LFS trip, and I think with the space available, territoriality will be lessened.
2. Cichla, but I'm a little worried, because I don't want to pay big bucks, but I also don't want to look at a pond with a few tiny fish in it for a long time!
3. Rays, but I'm terrified of them because I'm so picky about water quality as it is. Knowing they need extra-clean water could result in OCD.

Your suggestions are completely appreciated here! Only a couple of things, really: I'm really not looking to do SW because of the cost. I'd like to keep it FW, and I don't want to stock anything that will outgrow this pond (this one and the new one will take up the entire room, so I can't exactly make more space and build another). Please, suggest!