PONDS & TROPICAL FISH

[nickie]

Has anyone ever bred tropical fish in their outdoor ponds ?......
or have heard of someone who has , and what type... John P..

[Sue]

This summer our pond is home to many baby mollies,swords, platies, and some guppies that should be coming inside in a week or two depending on the weather.  
I also used the outdoors to grow-out, several batches of rosey barb, and gold white cloud fry which I started indoors in April/March.

I've got a little experiment on the go in an isolated 60 gallon (hardliner) pond. I put in 5 adult (normal) white clouds, and one male Betta and I'm curious how many baby white clouds are in there.  I can see several but, I wont know how many till I drain the pond.  I brought in the betta yesterday, he looks awesome. I'm sure he's had a great summer feasting on live food!

[nickie]

Congratulations !!.....  I never would have thought it could be acheived unless the ponds were heated for the evenings ....and from what  I gather ,..your ponds are not heated.....
     Many thanks for your reply , its most interesting !!...    John P

[jdx]

I have bred Texas Cichlids in my pond last summer, I think the fry were all eaten by other cichlids. This summer was warm, my wife put a pair of blood parrot cichlid in the pond, and they bred, for obvious reason the eggs didn't hatch.

[luvfishies]

A couple of years ago I did a "pond" on my balcony with Cherry Barbs. They bred like mad.

I did install a heater, and sponge filter. The heater was set on 20C, just to prevent the temp from dropping too low on chilly nights.

[TR]

I had a neighbour of mine who had an entire pond stocked with all anabantoid fish (gouramies and such) of various types, and it really did well throughout the summer months, as many of the different species had also bred.  It was really quite a sight to see!

                                              TR

[Mettle]

I wanted to try breeding bettas by this method. I'm not sure exactly how well it would work. But I was thinking of a 70-something gallon bin, a bunch of floating plants, five to ten females and two males. Would've been interesting to try.

Maybe next summer.

[TR]

Hey Mettle.

You would definatley have to provide the fish some retreat areas plants/other shelters, ect... But your idea can be done for sure.

I myself once bred Bettas in much less than a 70 gal.

[Mettle]

Well. I would most likely put in some driftwood and then a huge covering of floating plants like hycinth or something to that effect. I think the combo would work.