Got my outdoor cichlid pond!

[crazyfishlady]

Its 625 gallon stock tank. 8' in diameter x 2' high.
Pretty exciting, wish I would have had the time/money to get it set up a couple weeks ago:rolleyes:
I will post pics once I have something besides water in it.

[cich1]

cool, congrats on the pond CFL. i'm looking forward to some pics.:)

[abenez]

sounds great, I too want to see pictures and details!

I wish I could do the same - but I fear I woudl havea large fish stew with the 90-100 degree temps we get he in the summer !

[crazyfishlady]

I was worried that it might get too warm too. We don't get many 100 degree days here in MN but it does get into the high 80s & 90s. Now I'm worried that it won't get warm enough. We've had a couple hot days but the water temp was only 70, then, yester, it hailed quite a bit & iced down my pond, now its only 66.
Heres my update (I need new batteries for the digital camera):
Added: 150 lbs of pool filter sand. It's a pretty thin layer, but I don't see the bottom.
Approx 15 broken flower pots for caves.
About 40 water lettuce, 2 water hyacinthe, 2 water poppies , & 2 water lillies. I've read that 75% of the water surface should be covered with plants to avoid green water. This is a pretty sad start. maybe 5%, but I've read that water lettuce & water hyacinthe spread rapidly. I don't want to shede the water too much yet because I still want it to heat up.
Have also added 1 oranda goldfish (temporary until warm enough for cichlids)
I still need a filter which I have ordered.
I will likely put a heater in to get things moving a little faster.
Will put most of the rocks & driftwood from my tanks into the pond when I start moving fish to add hiding spots & beneficial bacteria.
That's the plan so far. I would appreciate tips from any who have done this before, specifically:
At what water temp can I start adding cichlid? Do the south American cichlids require that the water be any warmer than the central americans require?
How long should I spend acclimating them? Should I already be turning down the heaters on their tanks?
Is there anything that I have forgotten?
Sorry about the book :rolleyes:

[abenez]

cool! thanks for the update....
any chance we'd see some pics ?

[Heyguy74]

I usually dont put myu cichlids in until the waters at least 72 deg. The water temp is only gonna get hotter this time of the year. My pond gets lots of sun so I do have toi do regular water changes to keep the temp down in the pond. If you get a filter with a UV light this will stop green water. Also with that many floating plants usually it helps keep the water pretty clear. I'd think about a pleco or two in there. I always have that long green stringy aglae that will stick to everything. The plecos do a good job of keeping it to a minimum. I dont feed the plecos anything all summer. They still grow like hell. Id stay away from the larger species only because you have to house them someplace over the winter. I would hower suggeset a bunch of the smaller species. They'll probably breed in there for you. Good Luck

[crazyfishlady]

Thanks!
Do you start acclimating your fish to the 72 degree water by turning down their heaters while they're still indoors? or is that unneccessary?

[fish speaker]

I don't have anything on the scale of what you have going, but I have a little 32-gallon tub on the deck, filled with carpintis juveniles. It's sort of a long story, but they ended up there as a temporary solution to the problem of housing a huge number of surviving fry, instead of bagging them and throwing them in the freezer. I started with an unseasoned sponge filter, the fish survived cycling, but the air pump went out yesterday. The water is nice and green, but I don't plan on leaving it there beyond this week, and the fish don't seem to mind it. The fish are doing very well, but I've seen profiles that say that texas cichlids are very hardy, and can survive in fairly low water temps...so I think the temp. concern will vary depending on what you are keeping. I plan to net some out that I'm giving away tomorrow, I will probably take some to the lfs where I got the parents, and then I'll decide how many to keep and grow out myself (although they may have to spend some time in the bathtub:D).

[crazyfishlady]

The fish that I'm most worried about are my high ticket items: My F0 Aequidens Diadema, & my 2 new juvie Hoplarchus Psitticus from TUIC.

[fish speaker]

THAT, I understand (I wish I had room for 1 or 2 of those Hoplarchus Psitticus!). My carpintis are probably closer to F100 :D.

[Heyguy74]

crazyfishlady,
In your case I would aclimate them just to be safe. I usually throw in whatever babies I have in there. Usually they are convicts and firemouths, so I'm not worried if I ever lose a few. I do have goldfish in there year round so its cycled when I put the cichlids in there. As try putting ion some guppies they should provide a lot of live food for you. Plus they bred like crazy in my pond.

[crazyfishlady]

OK Thanks. I do have a swarm of .5 - 1" pink con fry that I was planning to start out with.

[crazyfishlady]

OK - all the cichlids are moved into the pond & I have pics of the whole process. I will post some of my pics & a link to the album that I made in the gallery.
I know its super nerdy, but since I had to stress out all of my cichlids by moving them anyway I had my dad help me measure & photograph almost all of the fish that went into the pond, so I can see in the fall if it made any big difference in color & growth. So...I won't post all of those pics here, but they are in the gallery.
Here is the pond after it was first set up with some plants & some terra cotta pots.http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2005-06-24/103086-001.jpg
Her is a long shot of the whole thing.
http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2005-06-24/103086-002.jpg

Here is the hail that set me back a few days by bring the water temp down 4 degrees.
http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2005-06-24/103086-003.jpg
Hers the pond now & 1 fish pic cuz Neo wanted to se what my Paratilapia small spot looks like now. :)
http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2005-06-24/103086-004.jpg
http://www.cichlidforums.com/postimages/2005-06-24/103086-005.jpg
Here's the link to the whole album.
http://www.cichlidgallery.com/album183?page=1

[Woot]

It bet it would be fun to have a outdoor pond. If only it stayed warm here in the midwest. My fear is that I would have "jumpers". Do the fish stay in the pond for the most part? :nervous: I bet my Ps. Acei would be a risky pond fish. They do all kinds of jumping and splashing around. :rolleyes:

[crazyfishlady]

Woot - You're farther south than me!
I have not seen any jumping yet. For now, anyway, they seem skittish of the surface of the water. I might still make some sort of coated wire/fence cover to keep the fish in & predators (and the dog) out.

[cich1]

wow, cool set up CFL, i love all the pics nice work.:ok:

[crazyfishlady]

Thanks :)

[Heyguy74]

The pond looks great. Hope all goes well.

[NEO_72]

Cool - thanks CFL! Cool fish. And the pond looks great. Just going to check out the gallery......

[NEO_72]

Man, I bet they love all that room! :)

[crazyfishlady]

Thanks all! So far so good. It's really strange how different their behavior is outside. They make themselves really difficult to see. I suppose that makes sense though, they "need" to avoid predators now.

[Solace]

CFL,

You can get one of those bird nets to drape over the stock tank to keep any pesky critters out.

Cool deal you have going there. I have the same type of tub out back now full of African's. ;)

[crazyfishlady]

Thanks Solace, where would I find something like that?

[fish speaker]

Places that do koi ponds usually have it. If you were around here, I could give you at least a store or 2 to visit :razz:

[Solace]

You can pick them up at most home and garden stores as well. They are sold as nets to put over fruit trees to keep the birds at bay.

[fish speaker]

Of course, there may not be much demand for items for koi ponds or fruit trees up in Minneapolis! (I didn't think about that when I replied:razz: ). Thankfully, Big Al can take care of you, if you can't find anything locally: http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/category.xml?pcid1=2153;category_id=2121

[crazyfishlady]

Thanks guys!
Believe it or not we have BOTH koi ponds AND fruit trees up here in the arctic tundra :D , so I'll have to look around, although I'm sure Big Al's would probably prove to be less expensive, as it has with any other supplies I've tried to find.

[fish speaker]

I can't remember how it was priced at the koi pond place, but I do know that it was in bulk, cut to the size you wanted, so it might be cheaper that way.

Yeah, I didn't see any ice on the photos of your pond, which surprised me :razz:

[NEO_72]

Hey CFL, any updates? Did you get that netting? How have the past two months been? Good growth? Any losses? Is your temp starting to fall now?

[crazyfishlady]

OK
No I never got the netting. I don't think there was any ill effect from passing on it. Pond is inside a privacy fence next to swimming pool, so I don't think it was ever discovered by any predators.
Past 2 months have been good. I have had a total of 4 losses that I know of. A tomocichla tuba (that one hurts the most) a pair of fire mouths and a female convict. The plant cover on the surface is pretty close to 75% now so I won't know until I start 2 move things inside. Right now I'm thinking from what I see around the pond that some fish must have had a $96 feast on juvie HRPs & electric blue dempsey juvies cuz I haven't seen them around in a while. This from the fish that WILL NOT eat the pink convict fry.
The temp is starting to fall a little so I threw 2 more heaters in the pond & on really cold nights (below abot 62) I pull the solar cover from the simming pool over the whole pond. So, its not sealed up tight ( CO2 & O2 canstill exchange) but it really helps to keep the pool warm.
Right now I'm working on getting a space ready for the 240 I bought set up so I can move fish back inside, but now I think I might mot be able to get this tank through the doorway & around the corner into the open spot I have (D'oh!). It was a really good deal $216.00 with stand heaters & 2 AC 500s, so I didn't measure very carefully before I bought.
So, now I'm scrambling to see if there's any way this can work. It is a plywood tank so I haven't given up yet. Otherwise I will be scrambling to find a slightly smaller tank(s) that I can fit through the door & around the corner to put in that spot.
Thats 2 months in a nutshell. I hope to have everything inside before the end of September. Waters staying at right around 72 - 74 right now. Not ideal but fish seem fine with it. At that time I will post pictures and final losses (or gains HRPs have spawned :) )

[RedParrotBubbles85]

Everything sounds good. i hope most of the fish lived through it and didnt kill eachother. cant wait to see pics of them!
-Mike

[NEO_72]

Wow - cool. Can't wait for the final analysis!!

[pseudo]

how do u filter it? Think i may try an indoor version (gets cold here in the UK!)

[crazyfishlady]

I used a really large pump & a really big cannister full of sponges from mcArthurwatergardens.com. The cannister I used was intended for ponds around 2000 gallons.
I think ALOT of the filtration came from plants though. The filter just acted as a polisher & aeration. I think my plant to fish ratio was about 1:1 at the middle of the summer & probably about 5:1 at the end of the summer.
I think to do the same pond indoors (if I could not keep plants alive) I would have to at least double the filtration that I had.

[jsnow22]

im curious if the album was deleted im also curious as to how fast the fish grow and reproduce under those conditions

[Glaive]

Thanks for alerting me to check the old gallery.The link you want is http://www.cichlidgallery.com/v/crazyfishladyland/summer2006/

[Dragonkeeper]

Cichlids will grow mad fast in a summer pond. I know people who don't even bother to feed them. Between the algae and bugs they get plenty of dinners!

Keeper

[jenn197399]

This is such a cool idea. I was at the Atlantis hotel resort in Nassau a few weeks ago and they had a cichlid pond going. It was such a cool idea as is this one. I am thinking of a summer project and it is called cichlid pond.

[Lia]

Thanks for alerting me to check the old gallery.The link you want is http://www.cichlidgallery.com/v/crazyfishladyland/summer2006/

Great pics thanks loved her 625 gallon stock tank great cichlid pond

[Lia]

Cichlids will grow mad fast in a summer pond. I know people who don't even bother to feed them. Between the algae and bugs they get plenty of dinners!

Keeper

Yes a friend has few 150 gallon water troughs/stock tanks with cichlids out all yr long . This winter for first time in 5 yrs she had to heat them over Jan/Feb but never did before.

She does feed them and yes they grow very fast amazing colors but I think sunlight makes them mean (not so much African cichlids) . Fish that tolerated each other in her 125 gallon after month or so after being outside she had to seperate and get more stock tanks they love the sun and they than fight .
When it pours rain they hang out on bottom by their flowerpots,etc and stay calm than when sunny again they seem to fight.

Now she keeps pairs by themselves .