does any one keep tropical fish in ponds? I was thinking of putting some swordtails and endlers in a small pond in the summer. what are your thoughts on this?
A natural pond, or a man made pond? Never ever introduce a species to the wild, even if it is native to the area. But if it is a garden pond or what have you, I've been told you can, however never have tried.
Been doing this for almost 20 years. Provide lots of cover, depending on fish size be aware you will have losses to animals ( frogs, racoons, snakes) be prepared to deal with having to bring them back indoors come colder weather.
Floating plants would help deter predators as well. Also you may want to see what the temperature is like during the summer for your pond. That'll tell you if you need a heater or not.
What kind of temperatures are you going to be experiencing? I don't know what the weather is like in Wisconsin. Is there a large difference between the temp during the day and the temp at night? If it's a large difference the temperature swings may kill tropical fish.
I should clarify. The water containers I place fish outside in, in May are very large, a minimum of 500 gallons. Smaller containers will see a much higher rate of temperature change in a 24 hour cycle.
I was curious at to the temp swing in my pond, so one day I tracked it. I put a floating thermometer in the pond and went out about every 1 - 2 hours and read the temp. I started at about 4 in the morning and went til 2 the next morning. I did this in the middle of summer (late July when we are getting some of our hottest weather) and again in mid winter (January). My pond is about 180 gallons. It is a preformed plastic pond, and I have it built up around with block and back filled with dirt. This helps with insulating the pond to keep the water temp a bit more stable. Even so, there was still a 20 - 30 degree change from day to night - especially in the summer. That much of a change might cause problems for some tropical fish.
Talking about tropicals in a pond. Anybody ever seen a frontosa pond. I hope to do something like that soon!
I agree you may experience issues with the temp change. I think adding a heater would fix it tho. Most heaters only kick on when the temp gets to a certain point so the heater would primarily work at night.
I really want to do this and I think I'm going to be doing it this summer I think that you need to find a fish that can handle dramatic changes in temperature.
