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livebearers in ponds

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  • livebearers in ponds

    Is anyone else keeping livebearers in ponds, outdoors? I have some koi goldfish and orandas in ponds but I also have livebearers in ponds right now. I do some summer tubing as well.

    max

  • #2
    Re: livebearers in ponds

    What do you mean by tubing?

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    • #3
      Re: livebearers in ponds

      To keep fish in totes, tubs, horse troughs or some other kind of container outside seasonally is tubing. In my case the guppies spend most of their time inside in winter and outside in summer. I have a big shade and rows of mostly 15 gallon totes. I have a regenerative blower with PVC air piping between two rows. Each tote has a box filter but I am moving to sponge filters. The totes are drilled so they overflow through tiny holes on the front or back. I can have two or three times as many fish and bigger water in the summer. The sunlight, algae and associated biology is good for the fish.

      Bullfrogs, tree frogs and toads lay their eggs in my totes and I tend to raise more frogs than guppies. Racoons mess with my box filters and strew the contents all over the place so I am moving towards sponge filters. They may have eaten all my koi goldfish and half of the orandas.

      max
      max

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      • #4
        Re: livebearers in ponds

        Interesting.  I am wanting to set up a pond in my garage to raise and hopefully breed cichlids, like frontosa, peacocks and parrots.....etc.  I have a pond made of black colored fiber glass or plastic.  Its like a crazy eight shape and about 2-3 feet tall, but halfway down the sides come in about a foot.  Roughly about 5ft long and 4ft wide.

        Have you or anyone reading this post, set something up like this?  

        RT
        Raul
        PokerFace

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        • #5
          Re: livebearers in ponds

          I have not used one of these containers but I think it will work. Is your garage insulated? What about gasoline or paint or other toxic stuff in the grarage? Do you keep the car in there?

          Until recently, it has been though that Parrot Cichlids could not breed because the male was sterile. The pair go through the normal courtship but the eggs would never hatch. There has been rumors lately, that the fish farms are now introducing males that ARE able to fertilize the eggs. They are doing this by injecting them with a hormone that makes them fertile. At azoo.com there is a news page that will sometimes put out information pertaining to this very subject. Check there frequently for the latest updates on what they call a "man-breed."

          Scott's fish are in his garage in glass tanks. My fish are in an insulated truck trailer with a concrete floor in glass tanks.

          max

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          • #6
            Re: livebearers in ponds

            The garage is an oversized two car garage with poor insulation.  I do not use for my autos. Some paint can and two small gas containers.  I moved in to this house a little over a week ago and instead of putting all my tanks in the house, I put all of the them except for my 125g in the garage.  

            Currently I have 5 tanks up and running in the garage....1(55g), 1(30g), 2(20g), and 1(10g).  I've had a couple of nights where the temp was around 40 and no problems.  I have plans to setup the more ( I have 6 more 10g and some 5's) soon along with the pond.  

            I've heard the same about the parrots.  I was informed that I could use a red devil male or gold severum male to breed with a female parrot.  Of course using the Red Devil would breed in more aggressiveness, so I was gonna try the Severum.  I think they use those two to produce parrots to begin with.....at least that is what I remember from somewhere.  

            My wife and I have enjoyed the hobby of caring for freshwater fish for years and now want to move up to breeding differ ones....mostly concentrating on cichlids.  So far, we've breed black and pink convicts, jack dempseys, ice blue zebras and red zebras.

            I want to try my hand at parrots, frontosa and peacocks.

            I've just added additional power to garage and in the process of adding more light.  The smaller tanks I'm thinking of using something simple for filtration, like the corner filters and just uses an air hose/line.  I'm wanting to save some power and find an inexpensive way to channel air to the tanks.  My plans are for a single row to the left of the garage by the wall and then about 4 feet over another double row.  

            I'm looking at about 15-20 tanks of various sizes plus the pond.
            Raul
            PokerFace

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            • #7
              Re: livebearers in ponds

              Patty likes it better now that I do not have any fish in the house. She can set off a bug bomb, use hairspray, Raid or whatever she wants. If I want I can have guests any time. I have a little refrigerator but no restroom. I can feed mosquito larvae to the fish if I want now because I don't have to sleep there in the guppy house.

              Scott is set up a lot like you are in a two car garage. He hosts the LHA meetings and is moderator for the club. You might like to see his setup.

              max

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              • #8
                Re: livebearers in ponds

                Hey Rocket, like Max says, I am in a garage as well. I have a metal building with very little insulation which has been converted to the fish room. What I have done to help with the insulation problem is to buy some plastic sheeting, the kind used for painting drop cloths. I used this to make a false ceiling and drops as walls. This cheap solution actually made a 20 degree difference in the tanks. As for air, I use a regenerative blower to power all my air drops. I have 8 75 gallon tanks which are on centralised filtration, and about 15 assorted others which are on stand alone. I will see about getting a couple pictures posted.
                Scott
                Consider my posts as general information based on personal experiences, and in most cases, far oversimplified. Actual mileage may vary. Don't try this at home. If symptoms persist, contact your physician.

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                • #9
                  Re: livebearers in ponds

                  I just moved to a retirement home 2-1-1 (built in 1940) and the 10x20 garage has become my fishroom. Cheap paneling and a couple of coats of white paint and a dozen 4' shop lights make it perfect for my needs.

                  When I was stationed in Pensacola, Florida we used kiddy waiding pools in the yard to grow out our fish.  You cant beat the price and they hold up under the sun.

                  Got just the thing for you Max - 1/2" sq hardware cloth made from plastic.  All you have to do is cut it to fit over your tubs.
                  'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust ...'
                  He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four-year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

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                  • #10
                    Re: livebearers in ponds

                    Hey that plastic hardware cloth sounds like a prescription for success. The racoons, frogs, chicken hawks, owls, and snakes are driving me crazy.

                    max

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                    • #11
                      Re: livebearers in ponds

                      Howdy,

                      Mark and I do tubing like how Max descripes for mollies and platties.  We have 3 100 gallon retangular tubs, we also have some 50 gallon barrels for over flow.  These are all outside a hundred feet from the house with fiber glass tops on them to keep the leaves out and solar heat in (switch to 1/2" screens starting in april.  We use under water heaters for the coldest nights; usually when it drops below 50F.  No filters, two of the three tubs you can see the bottom which is about 30" down.  The mollies and platties have been breeding all winter in them and they each have a placo.  We use floating food and depend alot on aquatic plants to keep the water healthy.  We totaly agree with Max that there is an increased vigor in the fish we raise outside when you let things go a little natural.

                      Inside we have 4-20gallon tanks and a 10 gallon.   By the end of the month we should have most of our fish outside.  Later, ken & mark

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                      • #12
                        Re: livebearers in ponds

                        I think we are saying that guppymax & ken/mark have some mollies that live outside year around in tubs or ponds that never come inside.

                        max

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                        • #13
                          Re: livebearers in ponds

                          I have mosquito fish outside.  I've only had them for about a week.  I hjave two ponds, my main pond and a small stillpond.  The stillpond is for plants and fish.  It has no aeration or filtration other than the plants.  The mosquito fish are breeding in there.  Every week or so I catch a few and move them to the main pond.  They don't last very long there, because my turtle eventually catches and eats them.  Today I put a few into my biofilter, to see if they will breed there.  He can't get to them in the filter, and I can scoop them out when they come up to eat.
                          Zone 9
                          150G stock tank: one RES and a buncha mosquito fish.
                          2 half-barrels with mosquito fish & snails.
                          Seeking 2 small goldies!

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                          • #14
                            Re: livebearers in ponds

                            I have two 200+ ponds that I will be using to hot tub pupfish if any one wants I have a magazine article on how to set up a natural environment in the pond b/4 you put the fish in it's mostly for hard to breed fish

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                            • #15
                              Re: livebearers in ponds

                              Incidentally, I was wrong about my turtle eating the fish in the main pond.  They were just really good at hiding.  He's not eating them; in fact, he's ignoring them.  They are breeding in the main pond, too.  He goes crazy for rosies or goldfish, so maybe it is the color of the gambusias that makes him ignore them- they are dull grey.

                              I have not seen the ones in my filter since I put them in it.  The immediately swam down into the filter and have not come back up that I can tell.  The filter is probably full of bloodworms, so they must be having a feast in there.

                              I almost never see them visit the surface, but I also don't see mosquito larva in the pond- maybe they eat them immediately and then just hang out eating bloodworms and whatever food my turtle misses.  I do not feed the fish particularly; I figure they can get along on his leftovers and on larva and other bugs.
                              Zone 9
                              150G stock tank: one RES and a buncha mosquito fish.
                              2 half-barrels with mosquito fish & snails.
                              Seeking 2 small goldies!

                              Comment

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