seconds times the charm they say hey.
I’m privileged to live in the sunny surroundings south of Sydney, and unlike @jjohnwm’s harsh Canuckistan winters, my water temps very rarely drop below 14 C, although we do get the occasional freak cold snap like the one we had this year where water temps reached 8.
Regardless as seen in the post above I use quite a few different types of tubs. 55 gallon drum ponds which are cut into a 15 and 40 gallon ponds respectively. Also been using rectangle tubs from Bunnings, they work really well for colony’s of fish, as well as new additions in rope-handle buckets and my big Val pond.
Now for species reviews.
I keep a lot of rainbows in these ponds comeback of a summer, mostly fry which grow up outside over summer before moving indoors to continue growing, although there are a few species I keep outdoors year round.
When it comes to rainbows, I keep two Melanotaenia outdoors year round, that being Murray river rainbows, M. fluviatillis and crimson spotted rainbows, M. Duboulayi. These species work great for me and have bread multiple generations of each in the ponds. For those interested the fluvies are from Edwards river and the dubs are from kangaroo creek up in tin can bay.
Another rainbow I’ve kept quite successfully outdoors are rhads, or ornate rainbows, Rhadinocentrus ornatus. These are nice fish, one of my all time favourites. The colour variety in these fellas is next to none. A species which really does well outside, with some of the nicest rhads I’ve seen coming from pond raised fish. There’s a significant difference between tank raised and pond raised rhads. A fish I love and a fish that loves being outdoors. These guys are so underrated and definitely deserve to be way more popular than they are.
Keeping with the atherinid theme, next up are the two species of blue eyes I’ve kept outdoors, that being Pacifics, Pseudomugil signifier and Honeys, Pseudomugil mellis. I’ve kept signifiers for a number of years now. Here’s a vid of some wildcaught fish from the Maroochy river up on the Sunshine Coast that I caught on the last ANGFA convention. ( on a side note it’s a bit crazy it’s been 2 years since then and the next convention is in cairns in under 2 weeks)
Honey blue eyes are a fish that absolutely thrive outdoors. Lovely little fish, my favourite blue eye, they don’t seem to breed in tanks, but it becomes a chore removing fry from their tub when they get going! Simple set up for these fellas, foxtail, azolla and some java moss ontop of a piece of styrofoam which dangles over the edges. They lay in the java moss and I just collected fry when I see them.
The honey pond.
Another couple of species of fish I’ve kept for a couple years outdoors now are the Pygmy perch, nannoperca sp. I’m yet to breed them, but my mate Chris produces them on mass so I’ll have to pick up some tips from her next week. Currently running westerns, southerns and Yarras.
Another fish that have done well for me are paradise fish, although they never bred for me because turns out I had two males! Regardless plenty of bubble nests so for sure keen to breed.
Kept a couple species of danios in the ponds. These guys pop when out ther. They’ll make a zebra danio turn into a hundred dollar fish. Here’s the thread with some of the choprae I bred a while back now.
Also been keeping a group of southern purple spotted Gudgeons, mogurnda adspersa, the so called zombie fis. These are the Kerang locality from Chris Lamin. Great little fish.
As of late I’ve also been doing some flagfish. Don’t have a clue if they’ve bred, but would be neat if they did
Also, a tool that’s been very beneficial for me is this thing. An old broomstick with an old bucket lid on top. Allows you to see fish in the ponds by putting it underneath them. Very useful for seeing darkly coloured rainbows from above
I’m keen to try some other species. Mainly cichlids like geophagus brasiliensis, Gymnogeophagus Balanzi, jack dempseys, Texas cichlids and apistos such as cacatuoides and borellii, which according to my apsito nut mate should do well.
I’m privileged to live in the sunny surroundings south of Sydney, and unlike @jjohnwm’s harsh Canuckistan winters, my water temps very rarely drop below 14 C, although we do get the occasional freak cold snap like the one we had this year where water temps reached 8.
Regardless as seen in the post above I use quite a few different types of tubs. 55 gallon drum ponds which are cut into a 15 and 40 gallon ponds respectively. Also been using rectangle tubs from Bunnings, they work really well for colony’s of fish, as well as new additions in rope-handle buckets and my big Val pond.
Now for species reviews.
I keep a lot of rainbows in these ponds comeback of a summer, mostly fry which grow up outside over summer before moving indoors to continue growing, although there are a few species I keep outdoors year round.
When it comes to rainbows, I keep two Melanotaenia outdoors year round, that being Murray river rainbows, M. fluviatillis and crimson spotted rainbows, M. Duboulayi. These species work great for me and have bread multiple generations of each in the ponds. For those interested the fluvies are from Edwards river and the dubs are from kangaroo creek up in tin can bay.
Another rainbow I’ve kept quite successfully outdoors are rhads, or ornate rainbows, Rhadinocentrus ornatus. These are nice fish, one of my all time favourites. The colour variety in these fellas is next to none. A species which really does well outside, with some of the nicest rhads I’ve seen coming from pond raised fish. There’s a significant difference between tank raised and pond raised rhads. A fish I love and a fish that loves being outdoors. These guys are so underrated and definitely deserve to be way more popular than they are.
Keeping with the atherinid theme, next up are the two species of blue eyes I’ve kept outdoors, that being Pacifics, Pseudomugil signifier and Honeys, Pseudomugil mellis. I’ve kept signifiers for a number of years now. Here’s a vid of some wildcaught fish from the Maroochy river up on the Sunshine Coast that I caught on the last ANGFA convention. ( on a side note it’s a bit crazy it’s been 2 years since then and the next convention is in cairns in under 2 weeks)
Honey blue eyes are a fish that absolutely thrive outdoors. Lovely little fish, my favourite blue eye, they don’t seem to breed in tanks, but it becomes a chore removing fry from their tub when they get going! Simple set up for these fellas, foxtail, azolla and some java moss ontop of a piece of styrofoam which dangles over the edges. They lay in the java moss and I just collected fry when I see them.
The honey pond.
Another couple of species of fish I’ve kept for a couple years outdoors now are the Pygmy perch, nannoperca sp. I’m yet to breed them, but my mate Chris produces them on mass so I’ll have to pick up some tips from her next week. Currently running westerns, southerns and Yarras.
Another fish that have done well for me are paradise fish, although they never bred for me because turns out I had two males! Regardless plenty of bubble nests so for sure keen to breed.
Kept a couple species of danios in the ponds. These guys pop when out ther. They’ll make a zebra danio turn into a hundred dollar fish. Here’s the thread with some of the choprae I bred a while back now.
Also been keeping a group of southern purple spotted Gudgeons, mogurnda adspersa, the so called zombie fis. These are the Kerang locality from Chris Lamin. Great little fish.
As of late I’ve also been doing some flagfish. Don’t have a clue if they’ve bred, but would be neat if they did
Also, a tool that’s been very beneficial for me is this thing. An old broomstick with an old bucket lid on top. Allows you to see fish in the ponds by putting it underneath them. Very useful for seeing darkly coloured rainbows from above
I’m keen to try some other species. Mainly cichlids like geophagus brasiliensis, Gymnogeophagus Balanzi, jack dempseys, Texas cichlids and apistos such as cacatuoides and borellii, which according to my apsito nut mate should do well.
