just pure curiosity...

Hi everyone,

I live in the DFW area and have a pond with koi that have been there for several years. The thought crossed my mind of introducing livebearers so I started researching some indigenous species; however, I could not find much information on it. I asked a few folks in my area but they weren't too keen on the idea since temperatures here may get below freezing (e.g. this past winter) and they would not make it through that.

So my question to you: Do you agree with that? Like I said, the thought crossed my mind and I thought it would be neat to do, but I would rather be able to keep the fish out there year round like the koi can tolerate those conditions without any trouble.

Thank you for the time.

We gave wild sailfin mollies that live here year round. How deep us your pond? The depth may be the main determining factor.

MarkM wrote:

How deep us your pond? The depth may be the main determining factor.

Hello,

I'm guestimating the koi pond is about 3 ft deep.

I left a snakeskin gouramis in a pond in Va over the winter by mistake and he survived I did have a deicer in the pond.

Your local wildlife control website would be a place to start your search. Usually there some links to colleges with full blown lists and lots of info on native fishes.

If it is local it will cope with the local temps just fine.

A friend of mine (Pennsylvania) has a huge pleco in her goldfish pond. She leaves him out there year round and has for several years. Her pond freezes and she just keeps a basketball in the edge of it that she pushes down on daily to release the gases under the ice. At least that's what she tells me it is for. Works for her though!

Thank you everyone for your input. I've been reading up on some native livebearers and found the following site: http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/tres-amigos-three-texas-livebearing-fishes.htm

I'm going to give sailfin mollies a go. The worse I figured is that when conditions get bad in the winters, I'll net out a small group and grow them in one of my 10s till conditions warm back up and then move them back out.

Thank you again...