Calling All Pondies! Stocking Suggestions

[Katalyst]

Last year for my birthday my husband surprised me with a little 150 gallon puddle of a pond. It was already September and being we had a very cool summer last year we decided not to stock it until this year.

This is a photo from last year. The slate has been moved around a lot, ground leveled but you get the basic gyst.

I'm excited about the prospect of having a few plants for cover allthough space would be very limited. Because the racoons around are enormous I am hesitant about what I should stock it with. My fancy goldfish will definately be staying inside. Hubby suggested a few small comets & sarassa goldfish. I'm still hesitant because of the racoons and the small size of the pond. I was given several pointed eyerolls when I suggested it be a shrimp pond lol. :rolleyes:

I'm looking for some colorful fish suggestions as well as plant or plant ideas as well. I was thinking about a few small goldies and covering the pond up at night with some weighted down plywood with enough drilled holes to let oxygen in & to keep paws out. Because we are renting I'm trying to keep the pond as low maintence as I can which is why we ended up going with a small pond form for now.

[OldMan]

If the pond has enough depth to keep the raccoons from reaching well into it, you might get away with smaller fish that tend to stay away from the surface. If the raccoons can stand anywhere on the bottom without drowning, the stocking becomes much more difficult. At that point the plywood might be needed to keep them out.

[Katalyst]

If the pond has enough depth to keep the raccoons from reaching well into it, you might get away with smaller fish that tend to stay away from the surface. If the raccoons can stand anywhere on the bottom without drowning, the stocking becomes much more difficult. At that point the plywood might be needed to keep them out.

Oh jeeze I never thought of them standing in it! Thanks for mentioning that! :wideeyed: All I can picture is an all you can eat racoon hot tub party at my house. We'll be making a nice plywood cover for it over the weekend.

[Gobies et al]

How about Barbs? Male Rosy's get beautiful color and are fine with lower temperatures. There are Gold and also Cherry Barbs that tolerate cool. Rosy's love to eat the algae and get ~ 3" in a couple of years.

[Laura]

I got a school of 20 rosy red minnows last year for my 50 gallon pond - they can handle cool temps and look like mini goldies to the uninitiated. In a larger group they would move around comfortably, but with just a dozen they hid.

I'm trying to think up something different for this year that can handle cool temps and am intrigued by Gary's success with paradise fish. I may well stick with the rosy reds (and maybe a pair of paradise).

To my knowledge the racoons (that mess with my pond every night), didn't eat any rosy reds. They do knock over my plants and pull up my powerhead, but that's the worst of it. I have nothing special in place to disuade them.

[OldMan]

My attempt this year is likely to be one of my goodeids. Maybe the Xenotoca eiseni since they would be easy for me to replace if I fail. They tolerate the cold water quite well and I think I can keep them cool enough in the summer to avoid killing them with the heat. It will take some fancy shade arrangements but I am ready to go there for my fish. Meanwhile the goodeids can take a fairly low temperature of around 15C so I can give them a long holiday season in the sunshine and fresh air with all the bugs they can catch. By fall, around November if it runs like last year, they should be some very impressive fish.

[CACAdmin]

If you're looking for something colorful to test in the pond without spending a mint should the racoons decide it's a dinner buffet, try some bright colors of platys. The couple I tried last year thrived amazingly well at cooler temps.

[Melody]

I was just reading something else and they mentioned ponds. It said you can use lots of floaters to both keep the fish from jumping and make it harder for the Racoons to keep their eye on the fish when trying to catch them. Something small like duckweed is miserable to try to keep out of the way - I can relate to that. Maybe use Frogbit instead, as it's easier to find homes for when it multiplies out of control. It also cuts down on heat and algae. Tangles of Anacharis would be great for them to hide in and I bet it would grow fast outside. Java Moss might even be a good one if it's too shaded for other plants. They'd also help with waste management of course.

[Katalyst]

I'll definately be picking up some plants. I'm thinking about starting it up this weekend, or at least getting the cycle going. I don't have the heart to cycle with fish so I'll be throwing a seeded sponge filter in there with some water from the 150 to get things going along with some plants. I'd love to try some cories in there but am nervous about loosing them.

I'm going to go with longfinned white clouds. I may put a spixi or two in there as well which means I'll have 90 gazillion by the fall lol.

[OldMan]

I ended up putting all but a juvenile pair of my Xenotoca eiseni into my summer tub. I had waited for the water to get all the way up to 13C but just got too impatient to wait for 15C in the tub. A couple of days later the water had risen to 17C so I suppose I could have waited. When I made my addition the water had already turned a nice healthy pea soup green. I placed my hand into the water and could just make out the outline when it was about 6 inches under water. Of course I have yet to see the fish but I don't think they will be subject to much predation until it clears. Meanwhile the duckweed is doing fine and the tub is being held cycled by a sponge filter on the inlet to my fountain pump. That sponge was designed for the fountain and I used it all winter with a power head in one of my aquariums to keep it cycled. Unless I get a plant to compete with my green water, I probably won't see the fish to report on them until fall.

[CACAdmin]

Now that's what I call green OldMan. The fish are probably enjoying it immensely.

[OldMan]

As I said Jay, I will need to just trust that they are OK until fall unless I find it necessary to do a water change before that. If I do a water change, I will probably catch sight of a few and can report their progress. In the meanwhile, I will do as I did with my new Heterandria formosa fry when I won them at an auction. I could not see the fish, even in the sale bag, so I fed the tank as if there were fish in it and eventually I could see the fish in it. You would not believe the ribbing I got from my wife about feeding "no see ums" with "no see um food" (I was using microworms).
Side note: I got my CAC ball cap and I love it. I will be wearing it at my next club meeting.

[CACAdmin]

Just explain to your wife that they're the good kind of "no see ums"... the kind that eat the bad kind of "no see ums" to keep them from biting us humans. :laugh:

Glad you like the CAC ball cap. Wearing it to the next club meeting? Good stuff!:thumbup: ::D:

[brnttoast]

i keep pink convicts in my pond, i consider them colorfull, they are easy to see in the pond
and definatly cheap as they breed like gremlins in water
i'm in winnipeg and they do fine from june till just before first frost

[Gobies et al]

How about a picture, please? I'd love to see them. :yes:

[brnttoast]

pond fish dont pose well :P
but i might be able to, the wife is on holidays with the camera for 4 more days, so i just wont feed them for a few days before she gets back, should make them come up and say cheese

[CACAdmin]

More likely you'll get the camera lense covered in water as they retaliate for you not feeding them .:laugh:

[brnttoast]

dont jinx the camera, it still behaves for me :P

i could always reason with the fish and warn them if they dont pose i'll turn off the pumps and wait for them to surface for air