First time outdoor pond

[Sandra the fish rookie]

Hi All 🙂

Patio Pond:  My husband purchased this little pond kit for me over a year ago. I cycled it, tried various plants, scrapes etc.. I never put in fish in it because the water fountain was a little hard and I was afraid it would be harmful to fish. But it beat up plants pretty bad too.. I could not even have floating plants in it. 

I think I might have finally figured out how to slow it down a bit or at least make it less harsh. I also remembered I had an ACO plant rock. I purchased some wisteria cut the bottom of the basket and hope it will work out. This pond has be cycled for a year, and I maintain it like an aquarium. Its NOT heated, and is in the screen porch. I don't have a lot of substrate (about an inch deep) in there as not to take away from swimming space. I think its about 10 gallons or less. What kind of fish can I have in this? Can I even put fish in it??? I hesitated due to its size.

Pot Pond: This is a garden pot I have at the front door. I tested this out in the back yard all winter long to see how it would hold up. It has a deeper substrate, and ACO Nano sponge filter. For some reason there is always little bubbles at the top it has the ziss air stone.. which maybe its just too fine? I ordered some floating plants for it, and have some ACO moss, wisteria and octopus plant in it . Can I put fish in this? itty bitty ones? 

I was thinking either guppies (mutt guppies) or Rice fish (never had any of those). My LFS does not have Rice fish guess I could research where to get some??

Any and all feedback and recommendations are appreciated. Oh, and I live in Wilmington NC, so it will get VERY warm here.. 🙂 

[Flumpweesel]

how lovely I would probably pick rice fish cause they are adorable and your LFS might take any excess off you should they breed.  I saw someone on you tube with them in loads of ponds similar to yours with water hyacinth and it all looked lovely. 

No personal experience though so other people might have more reasoned advice. 

[Patrick_G]

I agree with @Flumpweesel, Ricefish might be your best bet. 
It’s kind of hard to tell from the pic but using the steps as a guide I think it’s probably less than 10 gallons, but again it’s hard to tell. I’m sort of mentally comparing it to a five gallon bucket and it seems to be of similar size. 

Have you been ghost feeding to maintain the cycle? 

[Tarazzl]

I originally had the same idea of having a patio pond, but we live in Michigan, it gets cold in the winter. My husband still likes the idea, and he said comet goldfish would be good for our warm season, and then when it gets cold, he would donate them to the pet store. But judging the size of your pond, you might not be able to fit that many goldfish in. I would say Zebra Danios is a pretty good choice, they are not too sensitive to the water pH and hardness.  Here is an article for your reference:

https://explorefishworld.com/can-zebra-danios-survive-in-a-pond-5-reasons/

[Sandra the fish rookie]

On 3/3/2022 at 10:31 AM, Patrick_G said:

Have you been ghost feeding to maintain the cycle?

The one on the screen porch, I have a lot of bio media, and little snails. Up to now, I have not really done much but add water.. so I am thinking that that is how the BB kept it cycled. As for the pot in the front, Its about 10 gallons but it is hard to see in the pictures and I didn't use a bucket to fill it it to check. I used old gravel media for that one and have been letting it sit.. I will check the water parameters and check the cycle process. 

[Patrick_G]

Ahh ok, the one on the screen porch looks like a good candidate for Ricefish too. If it’s 10 gallons then check out Variatus Platies. They have a ton of color. Danios like flow so I’ll second that recommendation from @Tarazzl! I

[Sandra the fish rookie]

If I decided to put rice fish in both, am I able to keep them in there all year round? Could I use a heater for the times it drops lower. Here in NC it does not drop much lower than the 30's but I don't want to bring them and out and in and out.. ect.. I would say they are both around 10 gallons. one is wider and the other is deeper. 

One is brown, and the other is really BLACK inside.. so I think the pearl rice fish will be cute. The garden that sells pond plants does not get their stock till April, but will head there to get some pond plants. 

[KentFishFanUK]

On 3/11/2022 at 9:26 PM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

If I decided to put rice fish in both, am I able to keep them in there all year round? Could I use a heater for the times it drops lower. Here in NC it does not drop much lower than the 30's but I don't want to bring them and out and in and out.. ect.. I would say they are both around 10 gallons. one is wider and the other is deeper. 

One is brown, and the other is really BLACK inside.. so I think the pearl rice fish will be cute. The garden that sells pond plants does not get their stock till April, but will head there to get some pond plants. 

I've been reading up on ricefish a lot recently (or at least Medaka rice fish - oryzias latipes, there are other types that might have a different answer) and basically from what I understand is that they will survive under ice as long as it doesn't freeze all the way down. You can get small pond heaters designed just to warm the water a few degrees just to stop this from happening if necessary but pretty much yes you can most likely keep them outdoors all year round - it's what I will be doing and what possibly millions of enthusiasts in Japan do.

In fact I read in one book that going through winter outside actually extends their lifespan as they slow their metabolism etc down,  I think the common consensus is to stop feeding when water temperature drops below about 50 or 60 as they will stop eating and it will just foul the water. 

Of course if it does get cold enough to freeze all the way to the bottom then nothing could survive that and heating or bringing them inside would be the only way. 

[Torrey]

On 3/11/2022 at 2:26 PM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

If I decided to put rice fish in both, am I able to keep them in there all year round? Could I use a heater for the times it drops lower. Here in NC it does not drop much lower than the 30's but I don't want to bring them and out and in and out.. ect.. I would say they are both around 10 gallons. one is wider and the other is deeper. 

One is brown, and the other is really BLACK inside.. so I think the pearl rice fish will be cute. The garden that sells pond plants does not get their stock till April, but will head there to get some pond plants. 

Sandra, it depends on where you are in NC. My BIL in Raleigh keeps his outside year round. My fairy godchild in Cullowhee has to bring as many as they can catch in for the winter.

[Sandra the fish rookie]

On 3/12/2022 at 9:09 PM, Torrey said:

it depends on where you are in NC

@Torrey I am in Wilmington NC. 🙂 

[Torrey]

On 3/31/2022 at 6:38 AM, Sandra the fish rookie said:

@Torrey I am in Wilmington NC. 🙂 

rice fish will be fine outside year round in Wilmington, as long as y'all don't get another randome cold snap, lol!

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/11/2022 at 2:57 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

I've been reading up on ricefish a lot recently (or at least Medaka rice fish - oryzias latipes, there are other types that might have a different answer) and basically from what I understand is that they will survive under ice as long as it doesn't freeze all the way down. You can get small pond heaters designed just to warm the water a few degrees just to stop this from happening if necessary but pretty much yes you can most likely keep them outdoors all year round - it's what I will be doing and what possibly millions of enthusiasts in Japan do.

In fact I read in one book that going through winter outside actually extends their lifespan as they slow their metabolism etc down,  I think the common consensus is to stop feeding when water temperature drops below about 50 or 60 as they will stop eating and it will just foul the water. 

Of course if it does get cold enough to freeze all the way to the bottom then nothing could survive that and heating or bringing them inside would be the only way. 

I can't find the video, but Cory did a video showing his pond with basically everything discussed above.  His pond had ice and everything.  It was from this past winter.  If someone can link it here please do!

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by nabokovfan87