One 1,000G Indoor Monsterfish Pond Coming Up! (Ghetto Style)

[~ocean]

wow man, keep it up!

 

[Lambrakopoulos]

Actually aggression is not really my main concern. Here's my timeline:

June '09, I realized that the Intex pool wasn't being used anymore, I researched online and realized there were other crazy folks who used this pool as a pond. I set it up and realized that there was a very minor leak. Took a few more weeks to source tarps and finally set it up by August.

August 05, 2009: I started to dump water changes from my 100G into the pond.

August 09, 2009: I set up an improvised filtration system mixing my old media with my new media. Added some tilapia, feeders and hito. Pond is about 1/3 full at this point.

August 13, 2009: DIY 4 Level Cabinet Filtration set up. The 4 day old+new media was further mixed into the cabinet allowing BB to further multiply exponentially. On this day I added the 2' ID Shark. Might be earlier than I should have but the owner was in a rush to dispose. 2/3 full at this point.

Checked for ammonia: 0ppm. (That friggin' cabinet filtration actually works!! )

Throughout this time, I've been adding more and more water into the pond, I have not done any water change yet. I guess I should test for Nitrates. For all intents and purposes, my pond is not even 2 weeks old. Today, the pond is about 75-80% "full".

So my question is whether my pond is stable and mature enough for me to start throwing other fish into it. I'm generally a patient man who can exercise restraint, but if you guys start encouraging me, I'll start stocking that pond like crazy...

Hey throw him in there a week is fine, & you already have other fish in there the Pacu are hardy you could throw them in easyly without a worry, trust me I do it all the time. Fish arn't weak they can handle more than what people think, like people are alwaays saying dicus are SO HARD TO KEEP, if you can keep a NEON TETRA YOU CAN KEEP A DISCUS I have 19 Discus I don't even try to keep them & their starting to breed just keep the water clean & PH at a good level thats it, ITS THAT EASY. People need to stop making everything sound like its super hard if you take it slow everything will fall into place.

 

[Lambrakopoulos]

Come on MeAko update this thing already I wanna see this pond with all the good stuff.

 

[MeAko]

Good things come to those who wait. Especially for water parameters...

Okay, here's an update. After 10 days with me the 2' ID Shark ate two pcs of ....

grapes...wooohoo.

This ID Shark is extraordinarily tame that when I put my hand down with food, he comes near and virtually takes the food from my hand. Of course, he's been spitting out the pellets, dried tubifex and beef heart that I tried to feed it. Only took the grapes last night. Very inquisitive and very relaxed...seems unique for a Pangasius, I guess they really belong in a pond and not in a glass enclosure. Almost comes to my hand after 10 days, wonder how we'll be 10 months after...very excited!

 

[gigas12]

Hi,really nice, keep up the good work!

 

[oscarfish1395]

keep up the good work looks great

 

[Wet Whiskers]

MeAko, looks fantastic. Great thread to show people to be creative and you can make a converted above ground pool look really cool.

I just want to give you a heads up about the combination of the RTC, TSN and the broken pottery. I read that someone had their big, beautiful RTC eat a piece of broken pottery, and almost die. It punctured all the way through its stomach and stuck out its side. They did emergency surgery on it, and it, fortunately, somehow survived. I know the cats are small right now, so it wont be a problem right away. Just wouldn't want this to happen to your catfish in the future.

Good job on the pond, and looking forward to more pictures.

 

[BigLinc]

MeAko, looks fantastic. Great thread to show people to be creative and you can make a converted above ground pool look really cool.

I just want to give you a heads up about the combination of the RTC, TSN and the broken pottery. I read that someone had their big, beautiful RTC eat a piece of broken pottery, and almost die. It punctured all the way through its stomach and stuck out its side. They did emergency surgery on it, and it, fortunately, somehow survived. I know the cats are small right now, so it wont be a problem right away. Just wouldn't want this to happen to your catfish in the future.

Good job on the pond, and looking forward to more pictures.

i have 1" or so size rocks in with my rtc and it freaks me out every time he sucks a rock up before he spits it out, he does it daily, so i can see that happening very easily, think im going with sand once i get this pond built, just scared for my pumps and filters

 

[MeAko]

MeAko, looks fantastic. Great thread to show people to be creative and you can make a converted above ground pool look really cool.

Thanks for your encouraging and appreciative comments. I really don't consider myself having any knack for artistic land or aquascaping, but in this case, I guess I get passing marks from you...hehe.

I just want to give you a heads up about the combination of the RTC, TSN and the broken pottery. I read that someone had their big, beautiful RTC eat a piece of broken pottery, and almost die. It punctured all the way through its stomach and stuck out its side. They did emergency surgery on it, and it, fortunately, somehow survived. I know the cats are small right now, so it wont be a problem right away. Just wouldn't want this to happen to your catfish in the future.

Good job on the pond, and looking forward to more pictures.

Thanks for the heads up Wet Wiskers and BigLinc. I will just keep an eye on the pottery, I could imagine that they will try to swallow it because it might feel a bit different from normal rocks/pebbles. Incredible how they were able to operate on the RTC. Gives new meaning to "will eat anything that fits in their mouths"... Well short of removing all my pebble and substrate, and making the pond look spectacularly minimalist, I don't know what else to do, but again, we're getting way ahead of my concerns..."my" RTC is only 9", I might actually return her also because it was packaged with a TSN that I didn't know had only 1 eye.

Next steps:
1. Get another ID shark so that my 2 footer doesn't get lonely.
2. Transfer my CKF into the pond.
3. Buy some plastic basket crates and DIY another filter.
4. Add some metal rods to my 30G metal stand for it to serve as my filtration table.

 

[RyanS]

You could hide the baby mats under the rocks by attaching all sorts of fake plants to it.
Something like this: http://www.aquariumguys.com/giantbamboo.html

Just wrap it up into a bundle and tie it down.

Pond looks great!