C'mon A Pond Is it Possible

[mattdoe78]

Ok, I have lots of weird questions but this one is way out there.
I'm thinking of making a pond in my front yard but instead of putting goldfish I plan on putting cichilds in there. Is this possible? I'm sure some people have done it but I havent seen or heard of any. If it is possible what would the min depth or dim. have to be. I was thinking of putting africans in there. I live in South Central Louisiana so climate is best for such a pond to exist.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Aaron (verse914) manages a cichlid pond. With sucess, of course not sure about an update on this, havn't heard. http://www.verse914.com/PondPics.html He lives in....Indiana is it Aaron?

Louisiana would be good, of course it might get really hot in the peak of the summer so you might consider some kind of shade. I think its possible though. I'm not a pond guy so i couldn't help you on depth.

Watch out for cats and raccoons though

 

[mattdoe78]

Thats a above ground Pond I mean hot tub lol I wanna make a nature- isc pond kinda like a mini habitat for cichilds something that will make these things feel like there back in africa. That link is a hot tub with fish in it . Im thinking of taking 2 or 3. 40 gallon tubs and sinking them into the ground along with a pool liner then making a river of rocks then maybe even a screen netting on-top of the water to keep the pesty birds out of the water.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Oh i know, i got you were kinda going for inground but thats the only "cichlid pond" i knew of.

 

[Fish Friend]

ive seen a massive pond with cichlids and koi once in the 'stapley water gardens' because its very warm in there and they have like a mini zoo kinda thingy, and they have a massive kinda jungle, and there is streams in it and loads of guppy,platy... fry in it !!! it is really good there, you could look it up on google if you wanted ?

 

[wayne]

The last cichlid ponds I saw were in the monkey house and tropical house at Kristiansand zoo. The have big , big S American and 4 (!) adult redtail cats in with some caiman in the tropical house, the other, probably more relevant one contained random mbuna, swordtails , some big plecs and some random bits and bobs. There were a load of mbuna in this as they had bred like crazy, and I'm pretty sure they harvest a few hundred out a couple times a year.
What you want is a pond like any other, so you need to swot up pond filtration and think about how you'll heat itin the winter. Summer overheating is not likely to be a real problem if you dig it 3 feet deep.
Compared to goldies mbuna should be easy to filter, but you need to work out the situation with heating

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I really wouldn't worry about the South Central Lousiana winter. O_O

 

[wayne]

Well you can't drop below 70 for many hours...

 

[mattdoe78]

Im just looking for a min. dimensions or depth So 3 feet or better how about 5 feet deep by maybe 8 feet across with some caves and stuff Ive always wanted to do one now I have some time and money lol Im going to buy a pool filter from walmart and convert it into a pond filter thats a lot cheaper dont ya think?

 

[wayne]

I've never done that, but I believe they choke up badly and become a p.i.t.a. to maintain. I would be more tempted to try to get a proper pond filter or big pond pump and use the return water to gravity feed through a gravel bed (still some maintenance) or a vegetable/plant filter.
8 or 10 feet across and 3 feet deep is plenty big with a central island of rocks. Any more than that and your heating bill will be astronomical. That's assuming you go with africans. What is your min and max summer/winter day and night temps?

 

[discus4everGrl]

Since some aquarist collect rain water (don't know where they get the time) to use in their tanks because its pure, and acidic, I would think that the pH would be hard to maintain if it rains alot. I have been reading up on ponds, because I want on - but thats another story. What I have read is 3 feet min deep because thats the point at which it will retain enough heat to not freeze. However, thats with koi and they are cold water fish to begin with. I guess you would need to as c-man what the min temp the cichlids you want can tolerate and determine if you will be able to maintain that temp. Also, because the cichlids you are suggesting like to hide out in holes in the rocks it could be possible that viewing from the top of the pond, you may rarely see your fish. You may also find that you would be dumping alot of money in chemicals into the pond to maintain a proper pH. IMO, it would be a pond that you will constantly be dumping money into.....not trying to be sour puss.

However, if you have your heart set on it then anything is possible within reason and maybe a high budget. You may have to house the fish indoors during the coldest months.

 

[wayne]

Depends if you put some large lumps of limestone in there, and it eventually depends on what you want your pH to be at anyway.
3 feet min depth to not freeze depends on the climate - if you live here it needs to be a good 5, if you live in Caracas it's a moot point. I have no idea what long term temps in Louisiana are like.
I do know that I use to visit our old office in Houston that had a good stock of live bearers and convicts in the pond, though cons are of course pretty tough. You can find some species of apisto and pike cichlid that are good down to 5 degrees C. Africans (edit Rift Africans,not nearly indestructible Tilapia) will require it to always be above 20 and that might be costly for heating if you get a cold snap.
As a sidenote I wouldn't get too hung up on koi being coldwater fish. Go to SE Asia and you'll see fantastic koi in water into the high 20's, they jsut need more space to provide enough O2. I know a lot of people like to heat their koi ponds a bit to make sure they don't freeze.