[Tropical Fish Outdoors in the Summertime?]

Hi there! Summer tubbing/pond was so much fun for me last year - it was my first time with fish outdoors and thank goodness for this platform/forum! Everything went great. I threw a few of my Red Wag Platys (all males, I had too many indoors) and two males/three female Gold Guppies that I got from Bishop Aquatics. My goodness, those fish did AMAZING!

The pond that my fiancé and I built is semi-inground - we used a preformed pond liner and dug it about 3/4s into the ground, then built rocks up around it. I believe @Ken Burkelinked my original blog posts somewhere in this thread, showing the building process. I should really update that! 😉

My pond even attracted some local frogs, who used it as their summer vacation spot - at any given time I had at least 2 frogs hanging out on the floating plants or just chillin in the water. The guppies bred like crazy - there was a constant supply of food between bugs, algae, plant matter, etc. that I often only fed the pond every two days, and even that was just a small sprinkle of Xtreme Krill Flakes. I did have a filter and only serviced it once all summer, and it did an excellent job keeping the water clean.

I will post some photos later of the finished pond, and all my fish. I still have the guppies indoors now, as it gets much too cold to keep them outside in the winter. I can't wait to put them back out again this summer!

[Help with an extremely pregnant guppy!]

@KungFuKoi-ish Yay, congrats on the babies!! Can't wait to see updates. Best of luck 🥰

[What did I do?]

On 5/9/2022 at 5:17 PM, Cinnebuns said:

From my understanding 2-4 weeks. Mine took just over 3 weeks. Once I saw one pop out it crumbled easily. It basically fell apart from barely touching it whereas I had touched it just a couple hours before and it didn't. 

 

Absolutely you can! I incubated mine in a Tupperware floating above the tank. They need to be humid but not wet. Inside the Tupperware was layer 1:  4 sheets of paper towel wet with tank water. Layer 2:  3-4 sheets of paper towel dry layer 3: egg clutch laying on top. Cover closed and have holes poked in them for air. Check daily if condensation has built up on the side and wipe down if needed so it doesn't drip on the clutch and make it too wet. It worked brilliantly. 

After I saw the 1 snail escape the clutch and was onto the paper towel, I then crumbled the clutch into a seperate tank. Many people like to do this into a breeder box or specimen container because it is easier to keep an eye on them but they will out grow it pretty quickly. I opted to just put them straight into the tank. 

This is my first clutch so I'm by no means an expert, but I have done a TON of research and closely follow mystery snail groups. I did incubated a clutch before this one that ended up being infertile. After 4 weeks there was no change and it had an odor to it. 

Again, I don't have personal experience with this, but there are some things I've learned from talking to many many people who have done this. One thing to keep in mind before hatching a clutch is the massive bioload you are in for. Initially it's negligible. They are so tiny you can barely see them. But eventually as they grow they eat and poop A TON. A local friend, for example, hatched and grew out a ~100 snail clutch in a 10 gallon tank. Idk what her filtration was like but I know she didn't have many, if any, live plants. In the end of the 2 months she was doing 2x a day water changes to keep up with the bioload. Compare that to another guy who grew out close to 200 snails in a 55 heavily planted tank. It had other fish as well. He said he only needed to do weekly water changes. 

I personally have a few options. Right now they are in a 10 gallon tank but I have plans incase that becomes unmanageable. I have other filters I can throw on. I also have a 20 gallon tank I can move them to. If needed, I can split them up into multiple tanks. If even all that isn't enough, I have a friend willing to take some of them. Backup plans are huge in this hobby and especially so in this situation. Mystery snail bioload can creep up on you since they are all growing together. Being aware of this and having plans helps to prevent issues. 

Btw, I learned this incubating method from a video. Sometimes describing something isn't as easy to understand as seeing the video yourself. I can look for it and link it for you later if you want. 

Thank you @Cinnebuns - this info definitely makes me feel better about keeping this clutch. I will certainly try to move the clutch into a floating Tupperware like you suggested, that way it does not surprise me by hatching mini Mystery Snails into my 55 gallon display tank! 😬

Good point! I do have options for the clutch after it hatches - I have a bunch of other tanks, as well as a Diamondback Terrapin...🐢 😋 and a LFS who could take a few off my hands as well.

I love learning, and this hobby is the perfect space for constant learning! Thank you for your help 🙂 

[Aquashella Dallas]

On 5/9/2022 at 8:05 PM, Zenzo said:

Go both days if you have the option. Especially if there are talks on both days that you'd want to attend. 

@Zenzo Is there a spot on the website to see what lectures/events are happening on which days? Like a schedule?

Weighing pros and cons of Dallas vs Chicago, as well as what days to attend if I do go to Dallas - traveling from NY, this would be my first Aquashella! 🐟🐌

[Kanaplex]

Hi there @ZeroCool Welcome to the Forum.

It's okay - everyone was a beginner at some point! I did not know about quarantining fish either until after one of my Neon Tetras developed Ich and threw the whole tank out of balance with the meds, etc.

From what I have learned on this forum as well as from other research, Kanaplex works best when fed in food with Seachem Focus, vs just dosing the entire tank with the powder. I believe the first place I learned this from was posts on this Forum by @Colu and @Torrey

In your original post, you said "the other fish seems to have the same thing". What is "the thing"/which ailment are you suspecting? What kind of fish are these? 

What are your tank parameters?

If you don't have another tank set up, you can make a temporary QT tank/tub from just about anything, depending on the kind of fish/size of fish. I will often utilize a 5 gallon bucket with a sponge filter and an airstone if I am in a pinch, or even one of those plastic beverage totes with the rope handles.

There are wonderful people on this forum who will help you, and one person will know more than the next. 

Best of Luck!

[What did I do?]

On 5/8/2022 at 1:53 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I think I went temporarily insane when I decided to do this. Oh well, might be fun lol

@Cinnebuns congratulations! One of my Mystery Snails just laid a clutch of eggs on Thursday, and I too am mildly terrified and excited! Not sure if I am going to let it hatch - this is my first time with a egg clutch. These babies will be either gold or white/cream.

I've read that it takes ~20 days or so to hatch - am I correct?

What if I don't want it to hatch in the tank it's currently "growing" in? Can I move it?

Any and all guidance is welcome! 🙂 🐌

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:09 PM, Guppysnail said:

Once you fall for them they are impossible to resist. 🥰. Welcome to the snail club 😁

@Nicohorse318 have you seen this thread. Tons of cuteness

 

Thank you @Guppysnail! They are definitely cute! 

I will certainly check out that thread, I think I have some photos I can certainly add to that!

[Guppysnail Aquarium Journal]

@Guppysnailthose are beautiful Mystery Snails! I love the stripes 😍

I honestly didn't think I would ever be a "snail fan", but after watching the ACO videos (and others) on YouTube, and all the information and photos on this forum I started changing my thinking about snails in general.

When I had the opportunity to adopt about 12 baby Mystery Snails in a cycled tank in March, I jumped at the chance. Fell madly in love with their adorable, strange little faces and their behavior!

Well...now I have Mystery Snails in all my tanks except the Turtle tank, because snails are yummy LOL! 🐌

[Stinky Spiderwood]

I just installed two large pieces of Spiderwood into my new 50 gallon display tank, and I went the route of boiling it/soaking it in H2O2 etc.

When it was soaking in the H2O2 and even afterwards while it was soaking in just water (to waterlog it, son of a gun wouldn't sink!), it just released a lot of tannins into the water. The minute I put it into the tank with a cycled filter (no fish/plants yet), the white biofilm started to develop over about a week. YUCK. 

I left it in there for a few days, but got sick of looking at the white film and pulled it out. It did smell disgusting, like wet socks, and that white biofilm is enough to make you gag, but it came off with just a little scrubbing and running water. I put the wood back into the tank, finally added snails/fish and the snails had a ball munching on any little spots of the biofilm that came back.

That was 2 weeks ago, and the smell is gone, so is the biofilm. I really like the look of the Spiderwood so I will use it again, but I am glad I know what to expect now.

 

Best of luck with your Spiderwood, @Ogpulchra. I hope the smell stops for you. 

[What’s the weather like where you are?]

Long Islander here (NY), today it's 60* and just finally starting to get a little sun between the rainclouds that have been lingering this week. It POURED this morning. 

The plants are finally getting a toehold over the cold weather, all of my Hostas are looking perky, the Gladiolus blubs are growing, and the lilacs are blooming in time for Mother's Day this weekend! Still a bit too inconsistent to put new fish or plants in the outdoor pond.

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 5/3/2022 at 3:19 PM, Nicohorse318 said:

@clovenpine SO EXCITING! They must be like little golden nuggets swimming around.

I am eagerly awaiting my guppies - I ordered them on 04/17 from CoastGem (online), my first experience ordering fish online...and I have not yet received them. Grrrrr!😑 Obsessively checking my email for a shipping confirmation, and my home security cameras for any unexpected deliveries.

Thankfully it's warming up here in NY/Long Island, but I still don't want them sitting in a box any longer than they have to, if they arrive while I'm at work. My fiancé already knows to be on standby to go home and at least bring them inside!

Update on the Guppies - finally got the shipping confirmation yesterday evening! Hooray!! I guess the universe heard me typing about these guppies yesterday LOL...They should be here Friday. I will update this post that is turning into a journal once I get them settled in their QT tank. 🐟😄

Glad it's starting to get a bit warmer here. Not by much, but at least the evenings are starting to stay in the high 40s/low50s.

We are that much closer to summertime!

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/27/2022 at 10:46 AM, clovenpine said:

I have 24kt gold guppies in my mini patio pond and I can tell you they look INCREDIBLE in the sunlight. I'm in Florida so I don't have the temperature problems to worry about. I wonder if a couple of 100w heaters in your pond might help mitigate temperature swings? They certainly wouldn't maintain 78 degrees all year, but they might help avoid big temp swings in the spring and fall.

@clovenpine SO EXCITING! They must be like little golden nuggets swimming around.

I am eagerly awaiting my guppies - I ordered them on 04/17 from CoastGem (online), my first experience ordering fish online...and I have not yet received them. Grrrrr!😑 Obsessively checking my email for a shipping confirmation, and my home security cameras for any unexpected deliveries.

Thankfully it's warming up here in NY/Long Island, but I still don't want them sitting in a box any longer than they have to, if they arrive while I'm at work. My fiancé already knows to be on standby to go home and at least bring them inside!

On 4/27/2022 at 1:41 PM, Rikostan said:

I live in upstate NY, right on the lake Ontario shoreline and did my first pond this past year. 

My set up is a lot like yours, but much smaller. I have a pre-formed 50 gallon bottom tub, a nine gallon bog filter, then a one gallon weir at the top.

I turned off the pump for the winter and used a tetra pond de-icer to keep the water from freezing. It is only rated at 40 degrees F though, so the water was still pretty cold...

 

I stocked it with golden white clouds minnows. I wasn't sure how well they'd do, but they just didn't survive, they thrived. There are far more this spring then when I shut it down late last fall.

Here is what it looked like after the winter. Disregard the dumb thumbnail, it's what I do.

 

 

And here is after a little bit of work getting it cleaned up. You can actually see a few of the goldens toward the end.

 

Great videos, @Rikostan, thanks for sharing! I am definitely sold on White Clouds at this point, especially after hearing so many different success stories. 

I am waiting on my 24k Gold guppies to arrive, which was my original intention to add to this pond along with some of my Red Wag Platys, but if that doesn't work out I will certainly be investing in some Golden White Clouds!

[Water conditioners and Plants]

@Waricks you read my mind - I was going to make a post about this too, as I have been experiencing the same "issue" with one of my tanks.

Definitely following along, as I am interested to see what others have to say. I suspect my plants are just sucking up nitrates - I do have a LOT of pothos in there...

[What is your favourite fish species?]

I have only been in this hobby seriously for about 2 years, but after quickly catching MTS and now keeping a few different types of fish, my favorite kind of fish is the Platy.

I currently have a ridiculous number of Red Wag Platys, and I just love their personalities, they get SO EXCITED to eat and are always surprising me with the cutest fry 😍🐟 I think Corydoras are a close second, but livebearers are where my heart lies for now 💓

[what state do you live in?]

Hi all! I am in New York, specifically Long Island 🙂 Born and raised here, and I love being surrounded by water - you can go a few miles in any direction and find the shoreline!

Any other Long Islanders on here? 🌞🐟

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/26/2022 at 3:05 PM, PineSong said:

I gravel vac'd my other tanks and put the mulmy water in my pond to get it started. I'm about three weeks from adding fish and I plan to feed the pond a few times a week to keep it going.

@PineSongOh good idea! I literally just gravel vac'd my tanks this past week, so I will have to wait a bit before using this idea. Thank you!

I am definitely a few weeks out from adding fish too - shooting for end of May at this point. Would adding bottled BB be beneficial, and when would you suggest I add it? The water temp lows are still in the 40*s.

Still need to sort out which members of my Red Wag Platy breeding colony is going "on vacation" outside this year, and make a decision about whether I am adding WCMM or someone else.

RE: plants - thinking of taking a mass of some of my existing Water Sprite as a starter and tossing it in there, but any favorites of yours that you recommend?

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

Pond Update!

Here are pictures I took of the pond yesterday evening - the upper garden area is planted now, and has drip line sprinklers for the plants. I've got a mix of things - hostas that are starting to come up in the middle, Columbine, Scabiosa, Thrift, Dianthus, Wooly Thyme and a bunch of bulb plants that are also starting to poke their little heads up. As it continues to warm up, I will add some seeds for Sunflowers and Zinnias, etc. We like color in our gardens! 🙂🌻

The pump for the filter/waterfall is located in the lower pond - it's encased in this "pump sponge filter" bag that prevents it from sucking up leaves and fish, etc. The intake hose runs from the pump behind the rocks, over the edge of the pond and gets buried into the ground through the garden bed, where it connects to the filter. The outflow hose runs from the filter (you can see it in the left corner of both pictures) behind the rocks of the upper pond and into the water.

 

*peep our floating thermometer from Home Depot - it's a rubber ducky wearing sunglasses!* 🦆

I intend to cover much of the rest of the pond edge with rocks, to make it look more uniform and to hide the cement blocks we used as part of the skeleton structure of the rocks/garden bed. I also still need to pressure wash the rocks - they are covered in dirt from the masonry yard. I will certainly be doing a water change afterwards.

There is nothing living in the pond just yet as the water is still quite chilly - according to our Duck Thermometer! The highest I have seen it get so far is about 55*-60* in the middle of a sunny and warm day last week. Yesterday the water was 40*.

I am loving the progress, and getting excited as the days get warmer🌞. Any suggestions for seeding this new filter with BB? 

I would also appreciate suggestions for plants! 🌿🌿🌿

Thanks!

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:51 PM, Kristinn said:

I had whiteclouds last year and I can confirm that they stay active in cold water. One word of advice is, if its a big pond/tub you are going to want a LOT of them. Mine was 400liters/105gallons and I only had like 15 or 20 of them and never saw them, took me like 5 minutes just to find them.

P.S.  A question to you who take part in summer tubbing, what do you do filtration/water movement wise?

@Kristinn Good point, completely understood about the fish population #s. The upper portion of the pond is about 30 gallons (which will probably be mostly plants, because it's harder to see/further away + plants add more good filtration!), but the lower portion is about 120 gallons. That's why I am thinking of putting a portion of my Red Wag Platy colony in there - they are brightly colored, and free because I already have them LOL. I would really like to do two different species that will not interbreed and will bring different colors. Hence the White Clouds possibility! 😉

Re: your question about filtration. This is my first season doing ANY kind of outdoor tub/pond, and this pond was a surprise installation, so I don't have any real experience in this yet. Since it is so large, we opted for a pond pump in the lower pond with an external canister-style filter that has sponge/bioballs that can handle the water volume, and create the flow my fiancé wanted for the waterfall. The water movement/circulation is excellent, if anything I think this filter/pump combo is probably a bit overpowered but it works great. 

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/25/2022 at 6:45 PM, Dancing Matt said:

You could consider trying over-wintering. In Colorado springs this winter I had a 75 gal tote  buried in the ground with an improvised green house cover using shower curtains and PVC (I need to make a post...). It has common goldfish in it, It didn't freeze over until late January or Feb and even then I put a "small" pond deicer in it and that ended up keeping the whole pond thawed.

Golden White clouds look good from above, I just moved some the other day and had to stop and appreciate them. Looking at the picture I wonder if you could separate them (put 'em in the top portion?) and let them breed to increase your population. I started with 10 from a big box store and now have 6x that number or more, mostly from one tub.

Check this post out

 

@Dancing Matt thank you for sharing that post about the White Clouds - those long fins do look really cool from the top-view.  I have one lonely regular fin Golden White Cloud, and he sure is pretty. I love the little golden/yellow tips on his fins.😍

The upper portion of the pond is definitely a consideration for fish, however it does have a waterfall into the lower main section and pretty strong flow. I am thinking of heavily planting that upper section and having everyone live in the lower section - the upper section is about 30 gallons, the lower is 100 gallons.

The big pond is only partially buried - perhaps 6 inches - into the ground.  It needed to be higher than ground level because we wanted to build a rock wall up and around it to keep our dogs out of it. We already have an inground pool that our two dogs think is their personal oasis, so we didn't want the pond to become their hot tub!! 😬🐕 So if I do choose to overwinter anything in the pond it will need a de-icer and a bubbler - I'm in NY, zone 7a about 5 minutes from the coastline and even the local bay partially freezes in the winter.❄️

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/25/2022 at 5:32 PM, Streetwise said:

One fun surprise with keeping white clouds outside until late fall, was that they almost instantly spawned when moved to an indoor tank with room temperature water. I wasn’t prepared to deal with it, so I didn’t get to enjoy fry.

As others have mentioned, neocaridina are also temperature-hardy.

@StreetwiseWow, what a cool experience with the White Clouds! Too bad they surprised you with fry drop like that, but at least they prepared you for next time.

I would definitely consider Neocaridina outdoors, I have fallen in love with those tiny shrimp! Perhaps in my possible "porch ponds", as I had originally planned to do actual tubs vs my large pond this summer. However, there is always room for experiments!

Thanks for the input! I appreciate it.

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

@keddre thank you for the recommendation! Yes, I thought about that too, and will definitely need to carefully consider where the smaller tubs might go - one for temperature control, and also for dog access...thankfully they cannot get to the big pond for a quick drink, but I think a tub at mouth level might be a bit tempting for a Lab or Standard Poodle! 🐕

Might consider putting one on my front porch... I think I am discovering that summer tubbing is like seasonal MTS - "where can I fit another tub/tank?!"

LOL 🐟🐟🐟

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/25/2022 at 10:44 AM, keddre said:

+1 for the white cloud minnows. Nothing looks better than when the sun hits them and their bodies turn that lovely peach color. For winter they may be fine in your bigger pond. Mine survived about three ice-overs and were still active in the 40s until February hit and my 30 gallon Ohio pond went completely solid (oops). On the same note, they also did fine at 92degree water temps for a couple weeks (I have plans for that this year). They will try to breed, but fry population won't be huge with platies munching on them

My paradise gouramis did fine outside too (different pond). They slowed down at 50-ish degrees, went into a hibernation-like state at 40ish degrees, thrived in the 60's-90's

Mosquito fish: Did way better than guppies. Were active down to 40's but did not survive the 30's; did fine in the 90's. I will add they were complete butts though and abused anything that was with them (may have been a size issue), so they got their own 30 gallon pond.

I tried guppies outside but (again it was a 30 gallon pond) the Ohio temp swings were too much. It may have been fine in the summer, but in Spring we will go from 60 degrees to snowing the next day and my guppies couldn't handle it. (Wild types did slightly better but realistically no difference).

Thanks @keddre.  I am still considering the WCMM, I am hoping that my LFS will get more in soon. Will be checking there this week - if I go there too frequently, it gets expensive LOL 😬

Definitely putting Platys in there, because I have so many and I would love to see just how orange they can get in the natural sunlight. I do have some Full 24k Gold Guppies on order, they should be arriving this week and I might consider putting them in the pond, but definitely not until the water and the weather warms up significantly. 

As I think I said in my original post, I had planned on doing tubs this summer, like 30-40 gallons, but with the new house and my fiancé's "go big or go home" mentality, we now have this beautiful HUGE pond! I intend to put the Platys and possibly the WCMM (if I can get more) into the main pond, but I might still do a little 20-30 gallon tub for a smaller project like the Gold Guppies.

I will post updated photos of the pond's landscaping later/tomorrow, as the plantings are starting to take off and it looks really great. So happy with it! 😍

[Summer Tubbing & Outdoor Ponds - Species to Consider?]

On 4/22/2022 at 11:53 PM, drewzero1 said:

I've only kept the brown/standard white clouds, but I can confirm they've done fine down to 50°F in my tank the last two winters. I started with six and have four of the original adults, and eight fry from last summer. I'm hoping to try them in a tub this summer.

I've also heard of others keeping rosy red minnows in ponds. In my experience it's hard to get healthy ones (since they're usually sold as feeder fish or bait) so quarantine the heck out of them! I'd really like to try them again because they're pretty and their cave-breeding behavior sounds very interesting, but my previous attempts did not end well.

Hi @drewzero1, Thanks for the reply. That's consistent to what I've read about WCMM about them being cold-hardy. 

Unfortunately, of the 4 Golden WCMM I purchased back in March, I am down to 1 little guy. 😞 The first one that passed away about 3 days after purchase actually "looked" ill before it died, but these last 2 just...died. Fine that evening, dead the next morning. They were alone in the QT tank with just a Mystery Snail. So now that I am down to just 1 WCMM, I might be changing gears a bit to just waiting for the water to warm up a bit, and putting out some of my Red Wag Platys - I have SO MANY that perhaps a few would like a Summer Vacation 😉 .

I will certainly look into the Rosy Red Minnows, now that you mention them! They are very pretty. 

Thanks!

[Tank update]

Looks awesome! I LOVE Water Sprite, it grows like a weed in my tanks and my Platy fry love hiding in the twisted mass it creates!

[Utility Tanks]

On 8/19/2021 at 7:09 PM, Streetwise said:

I keep a number of small tanks, but my utility tanks and buckets really help me balance my hobby. These three 3.5 tanks are always cycled, and can host plants or fish:

One is a previous organic soil Betta tank. The next is just mulm, filter, and light. The third adds plants and wood.

This bucket setup includes an off-gas bucket, a plant/wood staging bucket, a last-chance bucket, and with a fine sponge pump, a garden bucket. The tiny pail is for my cat.

@Streetwisewhat an awesome system! I love those little lights - would you be willing to share their details? I like that they can clip onto the side of the buckets.