Indoor/Outdoor Guppies in SoCal?

[stitchandbrambl]

Hi everyone!

I've been toying around with an idea for a while and doing lots of research, but I'd love some direct feedback on my plan! My husband is an engineer who's been wanting to design & build an above-ground fish pond for small-scale aquaponics on our patio. I work with animals professionally (an animal trainer at my "day job," and currently completing an aquarist internship at a small aquarium/zoo) and have been wanting to set up a planted community tank indoors where I can enjoy my fish up close & personal!

I'd like to have a 20-50gal with primarily guppies and perhaps one or two other species as tankmates. The guppies would be allowed to colony breed; the gups with traits I like will stay in the tank, and the "culls" would move outside to the pond. I figure that every once in a while, we could swish a net through the pond and see if there's anything neat to reintroduce into the tank for genetic diversity.

Soooo... my questions are:

1. Has anyone tried anything like this before? Does it seem like a reasonable plan?
2. Can guppies handle being moved between indoor & outdoor enclosures? Any tips for housing guppies outdoors in Southern California?
3. Favorite tankmate suggestions always welcome. I'm partial to small cats (cories, upside-down, etc), loaches, celestial pearl danios, crustaceans (I care for a lot of shrimp, crayfish, crabs, and lobster at my internship & love their personalities), and bettas (I know some people have successfully kept them with guppies in large, heavily planted tanks) and would love feedback on who might be compatible, including both water conditions and personality!

 

[OnTheFly]

My neighbors raised guppies in a pond/pool outside during summer months in Iowa. The only this that raised an alarm with your plan is the above ground part. Will you be able to maintain a proper temperature? Guppies can definitely take a wide range but there is some limit for healthy fish. Wide temp swings or overheating in mid-summer could be a potential problem. Much of the year I think you might have good luck.

 

[nirbhao]

I didn't know what to do with our first brood of guppy fry. A friend with a koi pond offered to take them. They spent a week in a bird bath before she decided it was too cold and gave them back. I brought them back inside, set up a 10 gallon, and preventatively treated them for parasites. After a few weeks, we took most of them to a Petco. We still have one of the daughters.

Soooooooooooooooooo guppies are pretty resilient when it comes to temperature change. These particular guppies, and all fry from this dam, seem to be invincible.

 

[stitchandbrambl]

My neighbors raised guppies in a pond/pool outside during summer months in Iowa. The only this that raised an alarm with your plan is the above ground part. Will you be able to maintain a proper temperature? Guppies can definitely take a wide range but there is some limit for healthy fish. Wide temp swings or overheating in mid-summer could be a potential problem. Much of the year I think you might have good luck.

Yes, unfortunately we rent and can't make permanent changes to the property, and our backyard is essentially a gigantic patio bordered by landscaping- nowhere to put an in-ground pond! Would heavily insulating the walls of the above-ground pond help with regulating/stabilizing temperature, or is there not much we can do to simulate the benefits of being below ground level?

 

[Toad]

You could do it outside but I'd make sure it's in a shady spot. Google pond keeping in California and see what tips and tricks you can learn from other peoples experiences and avoid their mistakes guppy ponds are neat, I've always wanted to start on in a pool