Anyone know a certain breed of livebrearers that survive houston winters outside

[rebelliondog206]

I had a lot of mollies that made it.

I have 3 Synodontis Euptera that survived outside as well....they are getting big.

Water temp went down to 48F at its coldest (that I saw)......when it got cold here......I had covered the pond (above ground box I built and lined) of 400 gallons, put about 800 watts worth of heater in and added extra circulation.

The strong will survive and go on to breed strong offspring.

[myjohnson]

Them heaters running all the time is going to get pricy!

[Doug A]

Haha ok im prolly going to need it for my tropical lilies anyways.Do i have to buy a heater according to the size of my pond or can i just use any size heater with just lest water being heated.

I never had any trouble geting tropical lilies throu the winnter.

[Ca Nguyen]

heater watt per gallon and the tank size rating is unreliable. it really should be for indoor purposes unless otherwise specified. if the temperature outdoor and the temperature you want the tank to be is too far different, you would end up needing a heater rated alot more than your pond. on the other hand, most indoor aquarium hardly ever need a heater rated their tank size.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/heating/a/heatersizeguide.htm

[merkurmaniac]

BTW, the idea that 3 small heaters will consume more electricity is bogus. Electric heaters are really simple, economically speaking. 3 50 watt heaters would comsume 150 watts total. A 300 watt heater would consume twice that. BUT, only when they are running. If you are trying to maintain a set temperature, say 50°F, the heaters will all cycle on or off as required to maintain the set temp. Nearly all the electricity that comes down the wires ends up as heat *. You simply replace the heat lost with heat gained. Insulating the tank will help a lot and would allow for more "off time" in the on/off cycle of the heaters, saving you money. The bigger heater will cycle on less often, but would draw a lot more electricity when its on.Picture this, you are trying to maintain a set water level in a bucket with a big hole in it. You have to add water at the same rate as it is leaking out. You can fill it using a big cup, or three small cups, but you only need to add so much water to keep it level. Using a big cup or a small cup does not affect how much water you need to add, just how often you add it.If the 3 small heaters cannot maintain the set temperature, then you need a bigger heater.* which sound like 100% efficiency, but its not hard to do, since you are going from a valuable source of energy (electricity) to a sorta valuable form (heat.) Its like saying that you are 100% efficient at converting wheat into mud. Big deal. Its not hard to do.

[rgsiii]

My grandmother had a "goldfish pond" in Lafayette, LA. It was about 20'x10'x3' (approximately 4,500 gallons). It had common goldfish and black mollies for around seventy years. They overwintered with ice covering the pond. There was no filtration system or heater. It had a large amount of vegetation like hornwort and lilies. The fish were fed white bread.

As the pond aged, it developed leaks and a garden hose was running constantly at a low rate to keep it filled.

I guess the moral of the story is that with a large pond, there is less need for technology.

[black_knight]

Gambusia are tough little boogers. They will survive huge variations in temp. You may windup with a population explosion.

[allysangels]

gambusia aka western mosquito fish are doing extremley well in the creek behind my house. you can just scoop them out with a net. they should do fine.