UK Summer Pond Project

[MarcW]

Hi Everyone,

I've setup a small pond (102x75x30 cm LxWxH) ~227 liters, ~60 USG in my garden for the summer with some cooler water fish to see if I can get them breeding with a supply of live food, sunlight, and day/night temperature fluctuations.

I've put a couple bits of bogwood, a pile of cobbles, sand substrate, water lettuce, and some 'oxygenating' plants which I hope will be used as spawning sites.

There are loads of bloodworm type things in there which came from a container in the garden, I also seeded it with daphnia and blackworms.

The stock arrived today, the first time I've had fish shipped to me, everything arrived perfectly and in good health, plus I saved 8 hours of driving .

In the pond there are 2 pairs of

Scleromystax barbatus

, and 16 Mimagoniates lateralis, a small tetra from the same coastal streams around Sao Paulo ish.

So far the temperature fluctuates between 15c in the early morning and 21c in late afternoon, which seems about right for these fish. I have a seasoned 4 inch poret cube filter being run from my fishroom air pump (via a small hole drilled in the wall). It's also situated near an outside weather proof power socket so I can add a small heater if any cold nights are forecast.

[Bas Pels]

Sounds good. I would not worry about any cold nights, as far as I know these Scleromystax comew from cold streams high up in the mountains. That is, they can handle a large difference between day and night.

However, you might wantto use that electicity nearby for a pump - Scleromystax likes current.


Being on the same lattitude, more or less, you might want to know I intent to put some Xiphophorus kallmanni (originally from lake Catemaco, Guatemala, also high up) into one of my ponds

[MarcW]

Thanks for the idea of current Bas, I think I have some small powerheads to try out. I'll see how they react!

[MarcW]

I think I need to add some shade to my pond! The water temperature hit 29c today as a temporary measure I've put a bamboo in a pot in front of it!

It was especially warm and sunny today so hopefully it doesn't get that warm too often!

[kvnbyl]

it's always interesting to me that fish that can stand a 10 degree f temperature swing when they are out in a pond with no harm can develop ick in a tank with as little as a 2-3 degree f drop

[MarcW]

I've just brought the fish back into the fish room, as the water has been regularly below 10c in the mornings.

Given the fish have been exposed to water temperatures between 32c and 9c, I was pleasantly surprised to find they all survived, minus one of the tetras.

There was even a small Scleromystax barbatus in there! Just the one fry but I'm counting that as a success!

Over the winter I'll use the pond to try and breed, Asellus aquaticus, blackworm and daphnia. Ready to try again next year!

[Bas Pels]

I did the same last week. I lost 1 Xiphophorus kallmanni female, I think to a jufferfly - I saw an ampty skin hanging on a plant a week later. And a danio jumped out of the bucket.