# Fish pond questions, advice appreciated.



## lkfishy (May 13, 2012)

I have a 35 gal freshwater and my original goal was to upgrade it in a few years. But now that we have had a reef tank for 5 months we are hooked and would rather upgrade our saltwater, and have our 20gal long as a freshwater . My only stipulations were that Harold the betta and Catfish the sailfin pleco had to stay with the family because we have had both of them for 2 years. The pet store sold me a sailfin when I had a 5 gal! He was super tiny then, but they didn't even ask me what size tank I had...after some research he moved to the 35 gal, 2 years later he is 6 inches long and I am attached. I know he needs a much bigger space to continue growing healthy and downgrading him to a 20 gal is not going to work. So my question is what do I need to know about having him in a pond? We are moving soon and planning on putting in a pond for him and maybe a koi or two? I know it would need to be like 3 feet deep and 200 or more gallons and I was planning on going the DIY route and just digging a hole with different levels and line with sand and pond rubber. Would a simple pump and water fall system be enough to support a pleco or would I need filtration or heaters? Does anyone have experience moving a fish from a tank to a pond? Thanks!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

no experience moving fish from tank to pond, but check out savio pond weirs.They can be equiped with all sorts of stuff(uv , bio media...).They usaully come equipt pre filter sponge/basket.Depth of pond has relation to algae growth(deeper less algae).Good luck.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

acclimation is nessecary as well as keeping predators out.
racoons scoop fish up easily in ponds.


Bascially an outdoor pond is an indoor tank that aint square and alot bigger. The main thing is getting the water in check, you will need chemicals to do this because of the environment. Also how cold does it get there, that is another thing as your catfish are tropical and oregon aint tropical. Goldfish(koi) are pretty hardy and will adapt easily to a new environment but the catfish might now, infact its hard to get them to acclimate without stress.

I would keep the tropicals indoors and get a native to oregon catfish which will survive pretty much anything mother nature throws at it. Ponds arent hard to control but a heavy rain can throw alot of stuff off, especially with most the moisture the west coast gets is from the ocean, salt wont be an issue as it doesnt evaporate but other contaminants are.

Out here we raise fish in tubs outdoors and rely on rain water to keep them fresh. Alot of times its pure green water but the livebearers like it.


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## lkfishy (May 13, 2012)

Ok thanks. I went and talked to my Lfs and we decided on a set up made from a 150 gallon trough, a filter/pump combo and a heater for a 150 gal aquarium. Like a little above ground pond that that we can keep outside during the hot summer months and move inside to our workshop/garage for the rest of the year. Getting a cold water fish would probably be more practical but my goal is to keep my sail fin since I have already had him for so long. We are moving on sep 15th so that's when the whole tank swap is going to go down. I will set up his heated "pond" in the workshop first so hopefully he doesn't see it as too much of a change other than more space, and next summer he can be an outdoor fish for a few months  we definitely have raccoons so we will have to figure something out when it's outside, but after reading I'm thinking the pond will spend most of it's time indoors which at first I was disappointed about but now I'm thinking an indoor pond could be very zen and inspirational. Thanks for your input!


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## DustyFish (Jul 29, 2013)

New to posting: / Question, Thailand outdoor cement block pond/6' x 12' size. Clear plastic lining cracking/drying out due to high temps/UV light from sun. Water is leaking from the cracks in lining/ so dry that as my brother (renting the house) touches the plastic laying over the "edge" of the above ground pond it (the plastic) crumbles away.

Water chem is O.K. as there are MANY baby,small, adult (He says +/- 100) endlers (I think) or mosquito eaters pus a 6"-8" PLECO ( sounds like ).

Cost is a big factor / I thought replacing plastic with rubber liner ? / owner may-or-may not be willing to make change.

I'm not sure if there is filter or pump involved with water circulation. ' Brother does bucket brigade H2O changes and "Add-On". Water there is collected from rooftop drained into LARGE calderas for general use. House piped in water has a tan colored cloudiness to it. Drinking water is bottle water so that is out of the question for "in pond use". Rainwater keeps the pond well supplied with water most of the time.

Any ideas for correcting the problem ? "On the Cheep" Most "specialty" items there are rather expensive. City is UBON RATCHATHANI good sized city. Pet store availability is unknown. When "things" start to go wrong the populous usually just "chuck the old" and rip apart the old and put in another clear (cheep) plastic liner and the "state" will supply a new "batch" of mosquito eater fish, to help control the mosquito populations. My brother and sister however would like to save all these fish.

Most "pets" there are allowed to roam free and are really sad looking,sick,week,etc.

ANY IDEAS will be greatly appreciated 

Thanks.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Rubber would work for pond.The same brands of rubber are used for ponds as roofs so it is likely that a roofing supplier would have ability to have /get rubber.It is officially called EPDM and comes generally in two thicknesses;being .045 or .060 the .060 is thicker.Most water garden garden suppliers in the US use firestone .045.There are many other international manufacturers;Genflex,Carlisle,Mule Hide,John Mansville,Versico.should be able to find one of those even in Thialand.Check roofing supply distributors.Some will possibly cut to length.Comes in 5 1/2' ,10',20' wide and 50-200 ' long rolls.Comes in black as standard but many now have it in white also.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Agree, use rubber.


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## saltydad (Jun 27, 2008)

BTW, to the original question on plecos and ponds: I have a 1200 gallon pond with koi. One spring I added my pleco thinking it was solely a summer addition and he would be removed along with the black mollies in there as algae eaters. Cut to the chase, I didn't get to do my fall pond maintenance until late in the fall that year. Lo and behold, the pleco was still alive and had doubled in size to almost a foot long. I successfully removed him and the mollies to their aquarium. Oh, and the pond water temp at that time? 56 degrees F!! Tough fish.


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

Billy Bland Fishery in AK raises plecos outdoors year round. It gets cold, down in the 30s and they don't medicate or anything. Snow King Plecos do really well yearround in outdoor ponds. They can take what ever Koi can. One drawbac, they do get over two feet long, but awsome fish.

I have moved livebearers and cichlids from indoors to outdoor ponds and back indoors. Livebeaers did excellently, grew larger, bred like crazy and did not seem to flinch at the rapidly changing conditions. The cichlids, were terrified and basically hide all the time. They grew more slowly even with an abundance of live food. Not sure why or just what to do about it next year. Next summers projects will be Koi Swords, Endlers and Least Killies, Red Cherry Shrimp, Marble Crayfish, Cory Cats, Fire Mouth Cichlids and maybe some sort of molly.


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