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What with it being so warm right now, I thought it might be fun to put my Corydoras paleatus outside. I know they're subtropical fish, so assume that provided it doesn't get too cold, below 15C, they should be okay during a British summer.

The pond is a small but thickly planted one, and though unfiltered, it has nice clear water with no nitrites or nitrates. I put that down to the plants and the thick sandy bed at the bottom (I designed it with a view to growing on plants such as hair grass and hornwort for my aquaria).

So far, they're doing fine, and it's nice to see them swimming about in a school, rooting about in the dead leaf litter at the bottom. Mostly they're eating midges and daphnia, but I throw in a few catfish pellets each day.

Am I nuts? Will this do them harm?

Cheers,

Neale

My worry would be the fish being eaten. I would have to deal with Canadian Geese, Seagulls, racoons and ducks. Not to mention the common household cat and anything else I forgot about.

Also, in the summer here it would get too hot for their liking, small ponds here would most likely get up to 27-30 celcius (80-86 f) during hot spells.

Don´t worry, fish in the wild during the winter are active in water that is usually between 6-10ºC, so your fish will be ok and it´s nice what your mention about your pond.
Good luck

My worry is Corydora Paleatus becoming one of the many "non-native" species that exists in the United States. It is amazing how quickly species can adapt to a new environment. If you do this, please take great care.
Amanda

I'm planning on putting some in my garden pond...they can't get out of there, so it's ok. I know of several people who have kept these outside in the summer in Denmark

Don't worry, I'm in the UK for a start, and pond is above ground and surrouded by patio. Not much danger of any fish escaping!

They seem to be doing very well. It's rather fun to view them from above, and when the swim as a school, it's follow the leader, nose to tail in a little column.

Cheers,

Neale

bronzefry wrote:My worry is Corydora Paleatus becoming one of the many "non-native" species that exists in the United States. It is amazing how quickly species can adapt to a new environment. If you do this, please take great care.
Amanda

I've tried S.barbatus in a plastic kiddie pool here up north one summer and, despite temperature fluctuations between 55-85 degrees, they did fine. They were in with swordtails ( bad idea too prone to jumping ), C. callichthys, Odessa barbs. My kids enjoyed wading in the pool and having the fish nibble on their feet.

Sounds okay!
Amanda

Through pure negligence somebody once overwintered corys in a pond in the U.K. It was either paleatus or aeneus, I don't remember which; but they survived. Still, don't forget to bring them back in by the end of August.

I have 150 gallon wading pool set up every summer and try different tropicals' fry grow out. Last year it was 100 black neons and 100 pygmy sparkling gouramis. This year it's 150 Cory.paleatus and 25 bn pleco fry. All were two week free swimmers before moving them outside three weeks ago and all are doing fine. I have a large sponge filter driven by a 180gph powerhead. They all enjoy swimming just down stream in the current. Fun project.

Just an update really. After it started getting a bit cold here, I emptied the pond and brought in the catfish. They were fine. Put them in the main tropical tank after acclimating them to the warmer water over about an hour. They were going from daytime peak of 17C to a steady 25C.

Anyway, within two days they began spawning. I now have eggs all over the place.

Never bred catfish, so this is a first for me. Regardless, it seems the 2-month soujourn outside did them good.

Cheers,

Neale

An update on my outdoor catfish pond. All the 150 C. paleatus and bushynose plecos are still doing fine. It has been about 2 months so far with at least 2 more months of warm weather to go. The fsh have been growing well. The Corys are growing faster than the bushynoses. The Corys should be saleable sized by the time it starts to get too cool for them to remain outside.
It is interesting to observe them just doing what comes naturally. They are wary of shadows and vibrations of anyone passing by their pool and wholes schools of corys dash for cover. If you sneak up on them you can see them rooting arund the bottom. The bn are keeping the pool sidewalls free of algae and they enjoy grazing on the large filer sponge.
It is a fun project keeping tropicals outdoors in pools and you get to see behaviors that are'nt always manifest in an aquarium.
Larry