tuculover Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Hello all! I'm moving up from a laundry tub to a full 6ft stock tank. Looking for suggestions on plants and fish that could stay out year round if possible. I managed to keep at least one white cloud over winter and plenty of hornwort. I'm thinking more clouds and some medaka but would love other ideas. I'm also impatiently waiting for pond plants to come to the nurseries. Any thoughts on hardy plants? Thanks much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walruseggman Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Would you mind mentioning what hardiness zone or equivalent you live in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuculover Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 Sure. I'm in Seattle, so 8b. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 I am a huge fan of stocking natives. Not only are you helping genetic diversity but you also can just plant and forget so to speak. Here are a couple submerged/fringe plants: -Brasenia schreberi -Nuphar polysepala sometimes Nuphar letea -Polygonum amphibium -Elodea candensis and nutalli -Comarum palustre Native fish are much harder to come by but you can stock with fathead minnow, whiteclouds, and weather loaches (sold as dojo). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 I'm same city waiting to get plants too. my plan is to go easy with water hyacinth and some kinda lilly. I'm throwing in medaka as soon as I feel it's warm enough not to shock them. I'm watching this thread close for more ideas👀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Planting season is very soon, but just our luck here we get a coldsnap 2nd week of April. I am getting anxious I want to make sure the black salvia I planted last year comes back so I can plant more. The ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor) is budding now so that's always a good sign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 30 minutes ago, Biotope Biologist said: Planting season is very soon I called the plant nursery and they said aquatic plants go on sale in May. 😭 I don't have that kind of patience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 I know Cory showed one year that he had cherry shrimp overwinter in one of his tubs out there, even with a layer of ice over the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuculover Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 This is great! Do all of these show up in the nurseries or do you locally collect? I'm sure the yellow lily is easy to come by. Thank you! 11 hours ago, Biotope Biologist said: I am a huge fan of stocking natives. Not only are you helping genetic diversity but you also can just plant and forget so to speak. Here are a couple submerged/fringe plants: -Brasenia schreberi -Nuphar polysepala sometimes Nuphar letea -Polygonum amphibium -Elodea candensis and nutalli -Comarum palustre Native fish are much harder to come by but you can stock with fathead minnow, whiteclouds, and weather loaches (sold as dojo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 I will use common names here to make them easier to search for The lilies and watershield show up fairly commonly as either a bulb or a full plant. Marsh cinquefoil is irregular but some specialty nurseries such as Sky and Flower World have them from time to time in their pond section. Elodea and coontail are generally not sold by anybody but they are extremely common in lakes and ponds. Water Smart weed similarly shows up commonly in ponds and lakes and often times people will just get them in their ponds suggesting the seeds are transported by something. Maybe this is why they are thought to be "smart." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 33 minutes ago, Biotope Biologist said: Water Smart weed similarly shows up commonly in ponds and lakes and often times people will just get them in their ponds suggesting the seeds are transported by something. Maybe this is why they are thought to be "smart." Water smartweed is in the family Polygonaceae, and as a beekeeper this is an important nectar producing family that includes buckwheat and knotweed. Many plants in this family have a sharp, peppery flavor that is intense enough to make your eyes run. Hence the name smartweed. Elodea is readily available at Petco, Petsmart, etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGardner Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 I don't have a pond, but Rock Mountain is about a mile from my house here in unincorporated Redmond, and they look like they have great stuff. Just wanted to put it out there as an option. https://www.rockmountain.com/ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 7 minutes ago, Daniel said: Water smartweed is in the family Polygonaceae, and as a beekeeper this is an important nectar producing family that includes buckwheat and knotweed. Many plants in this family have a sharp, peppery flavor that is intense enough to make your eyes run. Hence the name smartweed. Elodea is readily available at Petco, Petsmart, etc. Fascinating! I suppose I have never sniffed smartweed before. I forget that 'smart' meant something different before this century. They do produce gorgeous flowers. Does Petsmart/Petco sell native Elodea or do they sell the invasive variety from Brazil? I haven't stepped foot in either of those places since I left after college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpsandfish Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Please note the info about invasive a few paragraphs down, for pond keepers in Washington: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elodea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuculover Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 Yup good notes! The Brazilian and African elodea are on the noxious weed list. Elodea canadensis is native here. https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/brazilian-elodea https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/african-elodea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 1 hour ago, tuculover said: Yup good notes! The Brazilian and African elodea are on the noxious weed list. Elodea canadensis is native here. https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/brazilian-elodea https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/african-elodea How would I hunt the native one down around here? would it be by lake shores? streams ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpsandfish Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Well, several years ago they gave up trying to keep the fountains at the west end of the 520 bridge running, due to elodea, so bet if you rented a canoe at UW and paddled around that area you might find some. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 (edited) Correct Elodea canadensis and nutalli are native here. Several of the smaller lakes around Seattle and Shoreline are teaming with native shoreline plants. I have only ever had issues with Rangers when transporting invasives, of course you cannot collect in state parks. Public access are usually fair game though. Real question is if anyone has seen Olympic mudminnows in the Seattle area? Rumor has it they were breed and released from state university labs. They are considered threatened so being able to breed them would be fun. Edited March 26, 2021 by Biotope Biologist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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