Back yard pond

[bryanisag]

Here I'm posting my backyard pond and will try to keep it somewhat regularly updated. It's a 100 gallon horse trough with a half whiskey barrel full of lava rock as the filter. I have it covered to keep my young children from falling in. I know many people have been hesitant to using a galvanized tubs but I have had good luck so I wanted to post my experience.

I started it in spring of 2021 but was waiting to add fish until the rice fish I wanted became available. In late fall I finally found 6 lamé rice fish from Dan's fish and put them in my pond but it was already to cold to get them breeding. They stayed in there all winter doing quite well and when they finally started breeding for me in spring 2022 I found out I had to move.

I decided to move the pond to my parents house while I found a new house. At my parents house I also added my red dragon guppies from twin city guppies to ensure their well-being during the move. I had 15 rice fish at that time and after the move to my parents I think only 5 survived. 

In June 2022 I moved the pond to it's final destination and after catching out all the guppies (several hundred fry and doezens of adults) I was left with only 2 male rice fish! 

😞

In July 2022 I bought and added 4 gold rice fish and a trio of red neon psedomogil from Dan's fish.

Currently I'm feeding and growing out these fish in hopes that this summer makes me hundreds of the fish I was trying to make instead of the guppies I already had too many of inside. 

The pics with the wheat grass growing out of the top of the barrel are from it's first location and the other pics are where it lives now. It still needs work as it's not currently covered and now that I have swapped the filter to the other side I have to rework the pipes that feed the filter to be more hidden.

the bottom wine barrel is 99 percent full of lava rock in order to support the top whiskey barrel witch has a plastic liner in it and is also full of lava rock except for the top black river rocks for looks. 

[Max G]

I really love the whiskey barrel filter, seems like a great idea! Ive had a metal tub set up for a few years now and never had any problems with it. Wish mine was that big though😂

[Robert Keeney]

I currently have 300, 110, and 100 gallon stock tanks. I don't use any filtration but use plants extensively. These all are outside all year round. 

I like your filter system. It is large enough you could run several stock tanks with it.

I will be following closely.

 

[bryanisag]

Small update for my progress. The two remaining rice fish I had both died 2 days apart. These are the multi colored male rice fish that survived both my moves.

I'm guessing that the 4 ricefish I just bought from Dan's fish were themselves healthy but were carrying something that my fish couldn't handle. I was really hoping to get their colors into the gold line that I now have. Unlikely that I succeed as I don't think I have seen any females with eggs yet. 

The current stocking in the pond is:

4 gold medaka rice fish

3 Pseudomugil luminatus

1 guppy fry that I missed

1 SAE 

The coop test strips look like all my tanks always do. I usually test after I see a dead fish just to be sure.

Any ideas why I lost the 2 OGs? 

On 7/17/2022 at 4:31 AM, Robert Keeney said:

I currently have 300, 110, and 100 gallon stock tanks. I don't use any filtration but use plants extensively. These all are outside all year round. 

I like your filter system. It is large enough you could run several stock tanks with it.

I will be following closely.

 

What plants do you use in your tubs? 

[BradfordAquatics]

I don't recall how long you've had them, but ricefish don't have super long lifespans so they possibly reached old age?

[bryanisag]

Yeah I did think of that possibility... I guess I'm hoping that's the case

[bryanisag]

Another tiny update, the pond went green about a week ago. I'm bummed and thrilled about it. I really want my fish to breed so I'm happy it's green but I want to be able to check up on them and I can barely ever see them anymore.

Today though I did see the rice fish at the surface as well as the solo guppy fry I left in there. The rice fish had eggs all underneath her but wouldn't pose for a picture so the water letuce leaf just barely hides them. 

Can't find any baby fry at the surface but I hope to see some in a weeks time or so. 

Haven't seen the rainbow fish trio or my chunky SAE in 2 weeks but I'm hopeful they are doing well.

Water temps are dipping as low as 62 at night and as high as 74 during the day. Lower than I want but it is mostly shaded. 

Lastly a small tweek that I did is to extend the return pipe under the surface of the pond to minimize surface agitation. The fish seem to like the still water better but I'm worried about oxygenation levels. 

[bryanisag]

Mini update here. I can only count 6 fry so not the biggest yeild but I'm happy for them. I sparingly see the rainbow fish. Pretty sure all the fry are rice fish. The water is finally clearing up a bit so I can see my Amazon sword plant for the first time. The water temp is all over the 60s but never dipped into the 50s yet.

Will the fry survive outside if it gets colder?

I think I will take the rainbow fish inside tomorrow.

How do I transition the fish to a 78 degree aquarium?

 

[AnimalNerd98]

On 10/7/2022 at 8:36 PM, bryanisag said:

Mini update here. I can only count 6 fry so not the biggest yeild but I'm happy for them. I sparingly see the rainbow fish. Pretty sure all the fry are rice fish. The water is finally clearing up a bit so I can see my Amazon sword plant for the first time. The water temp is all over the 60s but never dipped into the 50s yet.

Will the fry survive outside if it gets colder?

I think I will take the rainbow fish inside tomorrow.

How do I transition the fish to a 78 degree aquarium?

 

I think the very hardy ones will survive. I always err on the side of caution, especially for fry. If you don’t have a tank to plop them in, they could do just fine in a 5 gallon bucket until they get some size on them. 

For acclimating fish back indoors, I usually put them in buckets and bring them into the house to warm up to room temp gradually (over the course of a couple hours or overnight). From there, I tend to temperature acclimate them to my tanks like when you get new fish from the store. I float them in a cup or my handy Aquarium Co-Op specimen container, adding a squirt from a turkey baster every 5-10 mins until the temps are close enough. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 7/17/2022 at 5:25 AM, bryanisag said:

Here I'm posting my backyard pond and will try to keep it somewhat regularly updated. It's a 100 gallon horse trough with a half whiskey barrel full of lava rock as the filter. I have it covered to keep my young children from falling in. I know many people have been hesitant to using a galvanized tubs but I have had good luck so I wanted to post my experience.

I started it in spring of 2021 but was waiting to add fish until the rice fish I wanted became available. In late fall I finally found 6 lamé rice fish from Dan's fish and put them in my pond but it was already to cold to get them breeding. They stayed in there all winter doing quite well and when they finally started breeding for me in spring 2022 I found out I had to move.

I decided to move the pond to my parents house while I found a new house. At my parents house I also added my red dragon guppies from twin city guppies to ensure their well-being during the move. I had 15 rice fish at that time and after the move to my parents I think only 5 survived. 

In June 2022 I moved the pond to it's final destination and after catching out all the guppies (several hundred fry and doezens of adults) I was left with only 2 male rice fish! 

😞

In July 2022 I bought and added 4 gold rice fish and a trio of red neon psedomogil from Dan's fish.

Currently I'm feeding and growing out these fish in hopes that this summer makes me hundreds of the fish I was trying to make instead of the guppies I already had too many of inside. 

The pics with the wheat grass growing out of the top of the barrel are from it's first location and the other pics are where it lives now. It still needs work as it's not currently covered and now that I have swapped the filter to the other side I have to rework the pipes that feed the filter to be more hidden.

the bottom wine barrel is 99 percent full of lava rock in order to support the top whiskey barrel witch has a plastic liner in it and is also full of lava rock except for the top black river rocks for looks. 

Can’t wait to see how this turns out!

[K McZongo]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:36 PM, bryanisag said:

Mini update here. I can only count 6 fry so not the biggest yeild but I'm happy for them. I sparingly see the rainbow fish. Pretty sure all the fry are rice fish. The water is finally clearing up a bit so I can see my Amazon sword plant for the first time. The water temp is all over the 60s but never dipped into the 50s yet.

Will the fry survive outside if it gets colder?

I think I will take the rainbow fish inside tomorrow.

How do I transition the fish to a 78 degree aquarium?

Medaka rice fish should be able to tolerate the cold, I considered doing the same. However, leaving them out will make them hardier for next breeding season. For my medaka ricefish I have only moved a few eggs indoors and left most out in the pond as an experiment. The ones outdoors have grown a lot quicker. As for the indoor fry I have just set up a couple unheated 5 gallon tanks/buckets. I wouldn't stick them in a heated tank if you are planning to put them outside when the weather gets warmer again.

[TJOBrien]

How's this project going now? 

[bryanisag]

Funny you ask about this project when just yesterday I thought about posting an update.

 

Firstly I messed with the plumbing a bit in order to hide it. That went well. Or at least I thought it had gone well.

The fitting I used to put the pipes through the plastic whiskey barrel is called a uniseal. At first they are awesome and can seal a pipe passing through curved plastic like a 5 gallon bucket but I have found that they start leaking over time. I have built multiple projects using these fittings and they have all failed after months of use.

So one day I get home and the pond is half full and the leak is clearly coming from the whiskey barrel. The way to fix it is to fully empty the filter of all the lava rocks (for the 4th time) and use a stupid amount of silicone all around the fitting and hope that I cleaned the area well enough before hand that the silicone adheres well to the PVC pipe and the abs plastic liner. Maybe in the spring I will do all that.

So that's the pond itself.

The plants changed a bit too. Firstly my pond only gets a few hours of sun each day. So the sword plant died and never came back. I expected that to happen though. Then I made the trip to Sunland water gardens in southern California. Super cool koi store. I bought a huge pot of bacopa Caraliniana and also a lotus and a pond plant that floated leaves on the surface that look like 4 leaf clovers. They were all super cool but it seems that only the lotus is doing well. I transferred some of the bocopa into my fish room before it died all the way off.

Lastly the stocking changed too.

The rice fish came inside so that I could try to get more eggs over the winter but so far I don't have many. I probably have 3 full grown adults and 15 juveniles. They are currently in with my neon red rainbow fish and a single guppy that is about to drop. In the pond I have a pair of feeder guppies that were supposed to go to my mom's house to keep her pool free of mosquitos over the winter but the pool never tested safe enough to add them so instead I have some big fishes to take care of. They do eat lots of duckweed for me though!! 🙂

in the spring I intend to add the rice fish back outside and bring the goldfish inside. I want to have hundreds of these rice fish but it's been years of trying and I still have less than 20.

 

fyi, the net is a golf net off Amazon and it's held by a ratchet strap. Works pretty well and it's purpose is to keep my 2 year old from getting into the pond. I don't put it past her for a second to climb in and that could be very bad so for safety I knew I needed a lid of sorts. I tried many and this is definitely the strongest.