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Hi, everyone. My condo neighbors and I have set up a small pond in the back patio of our place and I want some feedback/thoughts from you guys. It was a super cheap deal so we decided to give it a shot. We got a 50 gallon circular tub style pond with 3 ledges below the water line to place potted water plants and a small pump for a vertical water fountain. It was only $17 on sale so we couldn't resist.
We have one potted water plant in there so far, don't know the name but it consists of tall thin stems that end in a large dandelion puff shaped bit. Heh. Cruddy description. I'll try and get a pic up tonight. And I also threw in 2 bunches of my tank clippings: elodea, rotalla, duckweed and other assorted bits. I also have some java moss that I need to trim but wasn't sure if it would be good to put in.
It's going to be located in our shaded courtyard so there won't be much, if any, direct sunlight. We live in Chicago, and it gets anywhere from 65 degrees F at night and it'll hit 90 degrees this week. The plan is to move it into our boiler room during the winter with a timer light to keep the plants alive.
I was thinking of just putting schultz aquatic soil on the bottom and the potted plants will provide nutrients by leaching out into the water. So, sort of a el natural style? Any suggestions on plant types or if this will work?
We were initially thinking of putting a couple cheapo feeder fish in there since they are strong but they might grow too large. Our next thought was to put some of my red fire guppies in there since I have so many and I was going to put the "deformed" ones into the pond. This would kinda help me as well since no one will adopt the "hunchbacks" and I can't bring myself to euthanising the critters just cuz they have a lil bit of crooked spine. Do you think the guppies will survive in these conditions? My tank is currently 78-80 degrees.
What else should I do to prepare them to acclimate to the new pond?
Any suggestions on pond mates?
We have one potted water plant in there so far, don't know the name but it consists of tall thin stems that end in a large dandelion puff shaped bit. Heh. Cruddy description. I'll try and get a pic up tonight. And I also threw in 2 bunches of my tank clippings: elodea, rotalla, duckweed and other assorted bits. I also have some java moss that I need to trim but wasn't sure if it would be good to put in.
It's going to be located in our shaded courtyard so there won't be much, if any, direct sunlight. We live in Chicago, and it gets anywhere from 65 degrees F at night and it'll hit 90 degrees this week. The plan is to move it into our boiler room during the winter with a timer light to keep the plants alive.
I was thinking of just putting schultz aquatic soil on the bottom and the potted plants will provide nutrients by leaching out into the water. So, sort of a el natural style? Any suggestions on plant types or if this will work?
We were initially thinking of putting a couple cheapo feeder fish in there since they are strong but they might grow too large. Our next thought was to put some of my red fire guppies in there since I have so many and I was going to put the "deformed" ones into the pond. This would kinda help me as well since no one will adopt the "hunchbacks" and I can't bring myself to euthanising the critters just cuz they have a lil bit of crooked spine. Do you think the guppies will survive in these conditions? My tank is currently 78-80 degrees.
What else should I do to prepare them to acclimate to the new pond?
Any suggestions on pond mates?
