Guppy pond?

[Lavender]

So, I found a fun idea going through a pet store. They had a small guppy pond inside- looked super cool, and I want one now. Think it was about 100-200 gallons. Obviously mine wouldn’t be that big, but how would I go about setting up one? Plus, is there any way I could turn it into a walstad and thus need little maintenance?

Edited August 28, 2023 by Lavender

[TOtrees]

Not really sure what you're asking. One option for setting it up is to copy what you saw in the store. Most of us start there when we see something we like. Then we change the things that don't work for our space, or aren't in our budget. 

I think a key aspect of any indoor "pond" is light. We think of them as natural, somewhat self-filtering, lots of plants both in and out of the water, minimal feeding necessary. But a lot of that doesn't happen without a ton of light powering plant growth. At the same time, all that light won't do squat if your plants don't have enough of the right nutrients. What's the source there? Dirted substrate, potted pond plants, fish waste? 

[mynameisnobody]

@Lavender not too sure about walstad, but I can tell you I have a 110 stock tank outdoors year round. It started with 6 staek endlers and about 12 fire red shrimp, 2 sponge filters, and a ton of plants, tons and tons of moss. I have probably a zillion endlers now and the bottom looks solid red in certain areas. I feed twice a day and have done 1 water change in 6 months. The main thing is to top off regularly. 

[JettsPapa]

I have tubs that are roughly 20 gallons outside with shrimp and guppies.  Plants provide all the filtration and there's no mechanical air movement.

[Lavender]

Can I ask how you heat them in the winter if they’re outdoors? I’m thinking I could just take one of those old, big ceramic planters (easily 50+ gallons) and use it as a pond for the guppies. Outdoors would admittedly be much better, but I’m worried about my fishies freezing- it normally doesn’t get too low here, but it does get cold enough for water to freeze every so often in the winter.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a very well-lit guppy pond- the only plants I could see were varieties of lotus, and the guppies were the brightest things there. Couldn’t exactly verify the substrate, but I’m betting it was just potting soil. Was probably about a foot or two deep, so…about 3-4 inches of soil?

[mynameisnobody]

@Lavender any time it gets into the 40’s, I toss in an aquarium coop 100 watt heater, but that is probably 2 weeks out of the year. 

[JettsPapa]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:28 PM, Lavender said:

Can I ask how you heat them in the winter if they’re outdoors?

When the nighttime temperatures start getting down to the mid- to low 50's I pull the guppies out.  I sell some and take the rest inside.  The shrimp stay outside during our relatively mild winters.

[PineSong]

Serpa Designs has a video of his indoor guppy pond that may help you plan. My guess is there are lots of other vids of people doing this, too.

I have a 110 stock tank pond outdoors May through October, and the fish come in for the winter and live in regular tanks, but if I had room for an indoor pond I would just treat it like a tank with lighting, filtration etc but also knowing that not being able to see into the pond from the side you may end up with a thousand or more guppies than you intended without really knowing it, if you have females in there. For top-down viewing if I didn't want to breed, I would just stick to males and not worry about it:

 

[Lavender]

I’m thinking then that I can keep the guppies out until it hits around 50 degrees, then I’ll take them inside to live in a 20 long.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Lavender