Pond Experiment 2011

This years pond experiment is a bit different than last years with the guppys & platys. Since they got utterly out of control took me 2 days to catch all of them LOL went a different route. In the pond this year are the "jar babys" which were some angel fry I pulled from Betty & Barney they went into the pond at earaser size other than 1 which was bigger from a previous batch. This angel had been growing out with 10 dime size discus and a trio of curviceps. Then along the way I had a brain fart and decided since I do keep the 150g heated as a backup to our Oregon weather so instead of just leaving it set at 76F for livebearers its kicked up to 82F. So now the current residents are the following fish:

6-9 Marble veil angels ranging in color from light to dark
2 Smutty red quarter size discus
1 L.curvicep

24 hours into this experiment and so far so good, the baby discus seem to be enjoying themselves swimming around in the water lilly, came up for breakfast. If the discus show any signs of stress I'll bring them back into the house but for now they seem happy, good color and full tummys.

Water changes on the pond are regular since I dip out of there to water plants that are under the front yard tree because my syphon hoses are long yet don't reach all the way out there.

Shay Good luck with keeping the fish outside!!
I enjoy my fish more in the ponds than the tanks inside!!

I have a tank outside this summer. I read it was a good way to get chiclids to grow faster and more healthy. So I filled it with some chiclids from walmart as an experiment to see what happens. So far they are doing great and growing too.

good luck, if i lived in a house i would always have angels in it. depending on how deep the pond is those angels will get huge up to 8". if so, i would like to buy a couple of them.

Day 2

Everyone is doing fine, the discus colors are even brighter!!

The weather is light rain here, the baby angels & discus are hanging out under the lilly leaves. Coming up for meals as they are still getting fed the same time as if they were in the house only difference they aren't getting a midnight snack.

Added some male guppys (6-8)

should add some female guppies so you wouldnt really have to worry about feeding the discus and angels

looking good. keep us posted.

Sounds great Shay.

Awesome !

Do to the L.cirviceps spawning and being terrific parents guarding the fry and still in the shuffle process of other fish (UGH) now there are 5 red discus in the pond. The original 2 look as if they have grown already and the baby angels have literally taken off!!! The parents of the angels are a large pair so will be interesting to see how big they get.

Otherwise everyone is doing really good for the most they like to hang out around the lilly, wish there wasn't a glare on the pond so I could get some pics or vid as its interesting to watch them in a somewhat natural enviroment (out there several times a day for 10 minutes or more).

fish is going to enjoy it OUTSIDE!

Get a Polarized filter for you lens . Works wonders at eliminating glare .

Okay everyone is doing AWESOME!!! think that I'll pick 1 angel & 1 discus that I can tell apart from the others to document with photos the growth as a photo journal to go along with my blog

Well thought I'd post a few pics of my redneck pond along with a couple pics of the 2 smallest angels that went into the pond. The light marble was just over an eyelash starting to get fins and the dark was right about the size of an eraser. Was going to catch one of the discus also for photos but in the process of doing a water change out there lets just say I had a brain fart knocked over the lilly and couldn't see them LOL gotta redo pot that plant!!!!








I'll catch these guys/gals in a week or so and take some more pics

cool deal.

Awesome Shay.

For about three weeks not I've been trying to catch one of the two Angels I put in our pond. The dang things are so fast I can't get them they dive down deep but I can see them. They have turned from silver to black out there. I'll keep trying. Oh also. The platys out there are huge. I have never seen platys this big.

The platys I pulled from the pond last year are nearly twice the size of the ones that are tank raised, amazing difference.

Spotted the discus here a bit ago going to attempt catching one of them this evening, they are wise buggers living out there!!!

Okay finally captured one of the baby discus - dang them buggers are fast - this one will be easy to tell from the others since it has lip liner LOL

Alls well with the pond residents!! Did the weekly Friday water change but had so much other stuff going on forgot to capture them so next week I'll do that (sticky note to self to do so LOL)

Any update on the pond experiment Shay?

Nice experiment! I wish I could do that here. I think taking the fish back in the for winter and back out in the spring, and predators on top of that, would stress the fish out a bit.

My fish are moved outside in the ponds each April and moved back in the house
in November. I have been doing this for years now! I believe the fish
benefit from the outside exposure. I have fish that are in their 20th year,
doing this year after year. Any stress is on me , having to catch them!!!

Hi Ornate
I'm guessing as I live in E Texas you and I have similar temps etc. I have a tank of hybrid cichlids + some kenyii, I would love to do a similar project.
What size of container do you have them in, what filtration do you use, is it in the shade (thinking the temps here have been 100f in the shade)..hell..just tell me how you do it!!
I have outlets at the back of the house (zero shade) and at the front porch (East facing, concrete base and covered).
They are tough buggers, and may enjoy the life outdoors.

Pm sent