small tropical fish for a heated pond

[NatureFish]

I was wanting to make myself a heated betta pond but upon further research I'm afraid that the betta fry would not survive with the fluctuations in temp. Would sparkling gouramis work? I would like to chose a small and tropical species. Any recommendations? in other words I do not want the typical pond fish (I already have tons of those and I would like to broaden my horizons). The pond will most likely be next to my chicken coop where there is lots of shade so temps may get a little cooler than usual at night. Also, by "small" i mean something that can be housed in ten gallons or less. The pond should be anywhere from 50 to 75 gallons but I still want to be able to display the best of the breeding stock inside my indoor aquariums where my guests and family can see them!

 

[brennae]

Interested and following but can't think of any suggestions.

 

[NatureFish]

I hope that I am wrong about not being able to make a betta pond because that would be awesome if I could! I've seen some great youtube videos of outdoor betta ponds so I am hopeful that I can do the same.

 

[brennae]

Well I know a little about bettas. What area are you in? This may be silly but I've never had a pond, how do you heat it? Do you use a heater like for a pool or probably not if its only going to be 50 to 70 gallons?

 

[NatureFish]

Well I know a little about bettas. What area are you in? This may be silly but I've never had a pond, how do you heat it? Do you use a heater like for a pool or probably not if its only going to be 50 to 70 gallons?

i live in South Central Texas. You heat a pond the same way you heat your aquariums...Just using either more powerful or multiple aquarium heaters. easy peezy!

 

[brennae]

Ok. so what are the low temps that you are talking about? Bettas like to be around 80 degrees. I assume and I could be wrong that the Thai bred ones especially are used to a drop at night. I had 4 Thai imports once. Mean as can be. Beautiful but one of the females even broke through my jury rigged barrier to get to the other female to fight. LOL Good thing I was standing right there.

 

[NatureFish]

Ok. so what are the low temps that you are talking about? Bettas like to be around 80 degrees. I assume and I could be wrong that the Thai bred ones especially are used to a drop at night. I had 4 Thai imports once. Mean as can be. Beautiful but one of the females even broke through my jury rigged barrier to get to the other female to fight. LOL Good thing I was standing right there.

well we usually have high temps but Texas weather is unpredictable and the temps can change on a dime. it can go from 80F to over 100F in a day. plus it freezes in the winter. At night it usually gets considerably colder...sometimes by ten to 15 degrees. Weather here is a roller coaster....

 

[Fishobsessed7]

I'd recommend Mollies or platies


Fishobsessed7

 

[henningc]

If the air and water temp are not close you're in for trouble with any anabantoid. The cold air will impact their labryith organ and kill them over a few weeks.

 

[NatureFish]

Oh...well thats not good....Thanks anyway everyone!

 

[Goldfish101]

It is very uncommon to put tropical into ponds. Is it possible... Yes but there are some things I would need to know first. Will this pond be outside or inside could be a preformed pond inside. Also how big would the pond be. And if you live in a very cold climate I would not suggest putting a pond outside. The water would freeze and kill all the fish. Now if you got koi or goldfish the pond would need to be 3 feet deep for them to survive in cold climates. Thank you for your interest in ponds????



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[NatureFish]

It is very uncommon to put tropical into ponds. Is it possible... Yes but there are some things I would need to know first. Will this pond be outside or inside could be a preformed pond inside. Also how big would the pond be. And if you live in a very cold climate I would not suggest putting a pond outside. The water would freeze and kill all the fish. Now if you got koi or goldfish the pond would need to be 3 feet deep for them to survive in cold climates. Thank you for your interest in ponds????



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I have three ponds! I have koi and goldfish in two of them and then I have a giant 1/2 acre pond which is 300,000 gallons and it's got bass and other native fish. The two with Goldies and koi are both different sizes. One is 200 gallons and the other....well I don't know how big that one is but it's bigger than the 200 gal and definitely a lot smaller than the giant pond.


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[nessalang]

I live in Southern California and a good friend of mine has his small pond stocked with barbs (roseys and gold). They look nice from the top too. He doesn't heat the pond in winter, but we don't get freezes except very rarely. Platies and mollies would do well, or some species of killifish. If you like anabantoids, paradise fish are found as far north as Korea and would definitely be able to tolerate cooler temps. Depending on how cold it gets, you can throw a heater in your pond too (the fish will all huddle around it)


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[NatureFish]

Barbs seem like nice fish! I've never had them though. How much space do they require?


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[Fishobsessed7]

It depends on the species.


Fishobsessed7

 

[FWFishTanks]

I would say gold barbs and some mollies or platies

 

[Aliray]

One suggestion is to google the fish you want to know about. Find out where it is native to and then google the ambient temperature for a year of say thiailand for a Betta or Saigon for vietnam, ect . Bettas live in an much wider temp swings over the course of a year in the wild then people would have you believe. Idid because I was curios . I think I also looked up Ho Chi MIN for one of them. In case of a freeze you could drop a cover over it. With that and a heater I would think it would work. But being as small as they are I would use a screen cover all year to keep them from being eaten by the neighborhood racoons. Alison

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Sounds like a seasonal pond is your best bet from reading the thread. You could keep them outside for 3 seasons with heaters, but you've got to bring them all in for the winter. If you have a garage you can get a Rubbermaid agricultural tub and put a diy filter on it for the winter.

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[NatureFish]

What if I just kept it in the garage all year? I have a lot of stuff in there so it would take a garage sale's worth of cleaning for enough space. I could always make like a mini greenhouse specifically for that.


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[Aliray]

What if I just kept it in the garage all year? I have a lot of stuff in there so it would take a garage sale's worth of cleaning for enough space. I could always make like a mini greenhouse specifically for that.


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That sounds like a better idea however if you a planning on Bettas breeding you would have to be able to set up a place to keep each male betta seperate to grow out so they wouldn't kill each other. Alison