Scaperoot Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I'm hoping to get some guidance on setting up a small outdoor pond with fish that can handle Florida weather. Ideally I would use a barrel, and keep it in an area that only gets direct sun in the morning. I'm also hoping to set one up without a filter, but plenty of plants. Any tips would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clownbaby Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Hello! This sounds super fun. Ponds and water gardens are great and are so amazing to watch and see grow! My first question is: what is the size of your barrel? Most wooden barrels are about 30 gallons, which is a great size. Make sure your barrel is not treated with any wood sealants, stains, or chemicals. If it isn't treated with anything... great! The first thing you want to do is go around every corner and wood piece and seal it with aquarium-safe silicone. Leaks are not fun! You may also want to sand down any parts of the barrel that are rough, but that is technically optional. For "in the morning" sunlight, does this mean 6 am to 11:30 am, or something like 9 am to 11:30 am? How many hours of light you receive will be dependent on the heat of the barrel. I'm unsure what fish you'd like to keep... My general recommendation would be a hardy fish that can handle drastic temperature changes and likes to take up the bottom, middle, and top of the water column, since I assume your barrel is vertically aligned. Koi and goldfish varieties will not thrive in this size, as it is too small and they create a large amount of bioload. I would say that ricefish, sunset platys, and some killifish are good options. One of my favorite fish is the pygmy sunfish! They can handle temperatures as low as 45 degrees and up to 86 degrees, making them great for an all-year-round species to keep outdoors. Many varieties are endemic to Florida and the subtropical coast, too! I would definitely recommend them. The bigger varieties maybe go to about 3 inches, but mostly they stay under three inches. They love dense cover with lots of vegetation. Now, as a nerd for ecology, I am going to warn you about what plants you select. Please only choose native plants. Aquatic plants can be extremely invasive and have destroyed so many wetlands throughout the world. Even if you do not release a plant that is nonnative / exotic, it could spread seeds through wind, birds, etc. In the end, we cannot allow our hobby of embracing and enjoying nature to destroy ecosystems, so it is better to be safe than sorry. Please do not plant exotics or invasives and only plant natives for outdoor ponds and aquariums. Exotics (and even invasives) are okay and have no issues contained in an indoor aquarium, but outdoors is just too risky. Luckily for you, many aquatic plants (even ones common in aquaria) are common and native to Florida! There are many options of native plants, many of which are easily found at pet stores, LFS, and online! Native floating plants in Florida: Duckweed (lemna minor) American lotus* Banana Lily Fragrant Lily* Spatterdock / Cow Lily* Watershield* Fairy Moss / Mosquito Fern (azolla caroliniana) Little Floating Heart (nymphoides cordata) Wolffiella gladiata Native submerged plants in Florida: Hydrocotyle species Cabomba Ludwigia (l. repens & l. arcuata) Bog Moss (mayaca fluviatilis) Loose Water Milfoil Guppy Grass (najas guadalupensis) Hornwort American Eelgrass (Vallisneria) Muskgrass / Chara species Hygrophila costata (the more-common hygrophila polysperma is incredibly invasive and should not be planted!) Native Emergent [E] and Shoreline [SH] plants in Florida: Golden Canna [SH] Water Spider Orchid [E - semi aquatic] Smooth Water Hyssop [E] Golden Club [E - semi aquatic] Arrow Arum [E or SH] Pickerelweed [E or SH] Lizard’s Tail [SH] *These plants are larger and may not work for a smaller pond or barrel set-up! Now, some plants are invasive, and some are decimating destruction tornados. All invasives and exotics should be avoided for outdoor ponds, but some should never ever ever be planted. Decimating Destruction Tornados [extremely invasive plants] in Florida: Water Lettuce** Alligatorweed Waterhyacinth** Eurasian watermilfoil** Limnophila sessiliflora (ambulia) Salvinia Water Spinach Lyngbya Invasive plants in Florida: Parrot’s Feather Mosaic Plant (ludwigia sedioides) Crested Floating Heart (Nymphoides cristata) Hydrilla Rotala rotundifolia Potamogeton crispus Brazilian Pennywort Amazon Frogbit Creeping Jenny Watercress Ludwigia peploides Escaping plants in Florida (plants that have been reported to spread, but have not survived in the wild or did not cause a large effect): Amazon sword Dwarf Baby Tears Water Purslane Sacred Bamboo Water Clover **these plants are also illegal Finally, go online and look up inspo for how to aquascape it! I do not know if you could go without a filter… I would still recommend an airstone or sponge filter at least, this surface agitation would keep mosquitos and damselflies/dragonflies from laying their eggs within the pond. Floating plants would probably help too. I’ve seen one barrel pond in which it had little shelves attached to the inside to create more area for plants to grow. Maybe try that? Anyway, I hope this helped a little bit! I cannot wait to see updates! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaperoot Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 On 3/20/2024 at 7:17 PM, clownbaby said: Hello! This sounds super fun. Ponds and water gardens are great and are so amazing to watch and see grow! My first question is: what is the size of your barrel? Most wooden barrels are about 30 gallons, which is a great size. Make sure your barrel is not treated with any wood sealants, stains, or chemicals. If it isn't treated with anything... great! The first thing you want to do is go around every corner and wood piece and seal it with aquarium-safe silicone. Leaks are not fun! You may also want to sand down any parts of the barrel that are rough, but that is technically optional. For "in the morning" sunlight, does this mean 6 am to 11:30 am, or something like 9 am to 11:30 am? How many hours of light you receive will be dependent on the heat of the barrel. I'm unsure what fish you'd like to keep... My general recommendation would be a hardy fish that can handle drastic temperature changes and likes to take up the bottom, middle, and top of the water column, since I assume your barrel is vertically aligned. Koi and goldfish varieties will not thrive in this size, as it is too small and they create a large amount of bioload. I would say that ricefish, sunset platys, and some killifish are good options. One of my favorite fish is the pygmy sunfish! They can handle temperatures as low as 45 degrees and up to 86 degrees, making them great for an all-year-round species to keep outdoors. Many varieties are endemic to Florida and the subtropical coast, too! I would definitely recommend them. The bigger varieties maybe go to about 3 inches, but mostly they stay under three inches. They love dense cover with lots of vegetation. Now, as a nerd for ecology, I am going to warn you about what plants you select. Please only choose native plants. Aquatic plants can be extremely invasive and have destroyed so many wetlands throughout the world. Even if you do not release a plant that is nonnative / exotic, it could spread seeds through wind, birds, etc. In the end, we cannot allow our hobby of embracing and enjoying nature to destroy ecosystems, so it is better to be safe than sorry. Please do not plant exotics or invasives and only plant natives for outdoor ponds and aquariums. Exotics (and even invasives) are okay and have no issues contained in an indoor aquarium, but outdoors is just too risky. Luckily for you, many aquatic plants (even ones common in aquaria) are common and native to Florida! There are many options of native plants, many of which are easily found at pet stores, LFS, and online! Native floating plants in Florida: Duckweed (lemna minor) American lotus* Banana Lily Fragrant Lily* Spatterdock / Cow Lily* Watershield* Fairy Moss / Mosquito Fern (azolla caroliniana) Little Floating Heart (nymphoides cordata) Wolffiella gladiata Native submerged plants in Florida: Hydrocotyle species Cabomba Ludwigia (l. repens & l. arcuata) Bog Moss (mayaca fluviatilis) Loose Water Milfoil Guppy Grass (najas guadalupensis) Hornwort American Eelgrass (Vallisneria) Muskgrass / Chara species Hygrophila costata (the more-common hygrophila polysperma is incredibly invasive and should not be planted!) Native Emergent [E] and Shoreline [SH] plants in Florida: Golden Canna [SH] Water Spider Orchid [E - semi aquatic] Smooth Water Hyssop [E] Golden Club [E - semi aquatic] Arrow Arum [E or SH] Pickerelweed [E or SH] Lizard’s Tail [SH] *These plants are larger and may not work for a smaller pond or barrel set-up! Now, some plants are invasive, and some are decimating destruction tornados. All invasives and exotics should be avoided for outdoor ponds, but some should never ever ever be planted. Decimating Destruction Tornados [extremely invasive plants] in Florida: Water Lettuce** Alligatorweed Waterhyacinth** Eurasian watermilfoil** Limnophila sessiliflora (ambulia) Salvinia Water Spinach Lyngbya Invasive plants in Florida: Parrot’s Feather Mosaic Plant (ludwigia sedioides) Crested Floating Heart (Nymphoides cristata) Hydrilla Rotala rotundifolia Potamogeton crispus Brazilian Pennywort Amazon Frogbit Creeping Jenny Watercress Ludwigia peploides Escaping plants in Florida (plants that have been reported to spread, but have not survived in the wild or did not cause a large effect): Amazon sword Dwarf Baby Tears Water Purslane Sacred Bamboo Water Clover **these plants are also illegal Finally, go online and look up inspo for how to aquascape it! I do not know if you could go without a filter… I would still recommend an airstone or sponge filter at least, this surface agitation would keep mosquitos and damselflies/dragonflies from laying their eggs within the pond. Floating plants would probably help too. I’ve seen one barrel pond in which it had little shelves attached to the inside to create more area for plants to grow. Maybe try that? Anyway, I hope this helped a little bit! I cannot wait to see updates! This is beyond helpful, thank you!! Ok, so the barrel will most likely be plastic. I love the look of a whiskey barrel, but it's easier (and cheaper) for me to get plastic. It would be about 25-30 gallons. As for direct light, it would get direct light from 8:00 AM until about noon. My wife wants to get a yard umbrella, so that would block the sun completely. Summers here can be brutal. Something I saw on YT was a barrel pond where someone had drilled a hole and covered the opening with mesh to prevent overflow. That might be something I do as well. We get tons of rain for about 6-8 months. I've never owned Rice fish, but I've seen videos where Cory showed his outdoor tubs with them. They seem super hardy! I was hoping for a Guppy pond. Would the shade from the umbrella plus plants help keep the water temp below a dangerous level for Guppies? Thank you so much for the plant breakdown. I had no idea that frogbit was considered invasive here. I have tons of it in my aquariums. I love Ludwigia repens, and I'm obsessed with Hydrocotyle! I'm so glad these are good options. As for the Amazon sword, would that spread if the tub had a cover (mesh or fencer wire)? The Pickerelweed, Arrum, and Golden Canna look amazing! I'd love to see any of those growing out of the pond. There's so much to consider. I can't thank you enough @clownbaby🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scaperoot Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 The mini pond is doing well. Thanks again @clownbaby 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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