Hawaii monster keepers. Any ponds or big fish.

[LawOne]

I live in Hawaii. Thank God for year round fish keeping temperatures. I have an outdoor pond above ground 3'hx8'x8'. I was interested in knowing if anyone here keeps anything in ponds besides koi and goldfish.

I'm interested in keeping giant gourami, silver aro, peacock bass, jaguar cichlid, aba knife and snakeheads. Of course not all together but any info on how to get some of these would be much appreciated. If you have any for sale that would be great too.

I know snakeheads are illegal to import but this article says that this guy sells them to a restaurant and that they are in Hawaii already. So if anybody has one or knows where to get one thanks.

starbulletin.com/2002/07/28/news/story6.html

Also Pet Depot in Ewa Beach is getting some Aba knifes this week. Probably be offered for $20 ea. If need more info let me know. My cousin's girlfriend works there.

 

[Acheloos]

I keep several guppys in my aquarium, but during the summer I have also some of them in a mini-pond in the garden. The pond is very small, lesser than 1m², but this is still very big for those small fish. They grow there very well and even reproduce without problems. They are very hardy and consume also a lot of mosquito larvae. It is really interesting to see how they live nearly among natural conditions. Normally I don´t feed them, there is enough natural food in the pond, but sometimes I do. They share the pond also with a small population of Common newts and Alpine newts.
At the end of the year I have to fish them out, because the temperatures become much too low here in Germany. I have even read about people which had ampelfish during a hot summer in the pond, and they became exceptionally healthy and beautyfull. Some exotic armoured catfish do also very well in ponds during the summer. As you live in Hawaii, ther are surely masses of species you could keep for the whole year in your garden-pond. Even if you prefer bigger fish, you could still make a miniature pond with guppys, small armoured catfish and other small and hardy species as addition.

 

[Muske]

What kind of native's do you have in your area?
Look up local pond keepers and see what they stock.

 

[Fatmantechno]

Hello. All native hawaiian freshwater species are protected and is illegal to take from the stream because of course, theres so little of them left. I've got 2 maybe around 50 gallon ponds , 1 in the 100's and a 700 gallon pond. I don't really like koi either in my ponds so I keep cichlids. Catfish are good too. Tuna cats get large and pacu's is usually what I see in other peoples ponds in hawaii. I would try some bala sharks before you try the aba knife in a pond. If you want tough fast growing fish get some tin foils or albino tin foils. Go to sports authority, go to the gun/fishing counter and ask them for a freshwater fishing liscense with wahiawa resivour entrance $5. Read up on the restricted areas of the resivour. You'll find your snake head "pungi" in wahiawa. Can't keep the Pbass and large mouths though. I think the rest of the fish in there is fair game. I've recently heard of a guy raising prawns so I'm going to try set me up a pond and try that. Crayfish and ghost shrimp is easy starters for your pond.

 

[Muske]

Fatty... Are you going to raise prawns for food, fish food?

 

[Acheloos]

It would be really great to see some photos of such a pond in subtropical climate.

 

[Fatmantechno]

I am going to raise the prawns just for fun. Theres many diffrent types of prawns in hawaii both brackish and fresh water but the ones that I was planning on raising come from streams way up in the mountains where there still are because hawaii is basically fished out. To find native species you have to go hiking in the mountains usually a few miles where most people wouldn't try.
http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll218/Hemphampster/
those are some old pictures of my tank and pond set ups. I have taro growing in the green pond now and my those pictures were taken before my bigger pond was set up so I don't have pictures of that one. I only have gold fish in the big pond now and they are starting to show some nice color since the algae has been growing well.

 

[Muske]

Seeing fish tanks outside blows me away.... That would be a few months of grow outs for me.

 

[Fatmantechno]

keeping fish tanks indoors used to attract a lot of unwanted pest's. Its easier to clean tanks outside and once you've got the tank balanced well its all smooth sailing.

 

[tuggerd]

I live in Costa Rica and I have a 3,000 gallon pond with all native fish. I have Guapote or dovii and I'm trying to get a hold of some Peacock Bass. I'm just not a Koi man. I like the more natural stuff.