Danios in outdoor SoCal pond

gmh

gmh

AC Members
Feb 5, 2007
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Santa Barbara area
Has anyone kept Danios such as Zebras or Pearls in an outdoor pond year round?
My pond water gets down to as low as 40 degrees on some winter nights, yet I've kept White Cloud minnows, Florida Flag fish, and even dwarf Barbs in there overwinter.
How about Danios?
 
I also have cherry shrimp that do ok overwinter. Oh, and Least Killifish are a new experiment. Their numbers are down quite a bit. I may have erred in keeping them outside.
 
Well I tried out a few zebra Danios in my pond. They were not happy campers and spent most of their time sulking near the substrate and hiding in plants. They started dying off after a couple days so I gave up on the experiment.
My Least Killifish are doing pretty well but are shyer and stay smaller during the winter months. I have White Cloud minnows that are thriving and on their third winter outside in the pond.
 
My Least Killies go outside 6 weeks sooner than the Endlers. I'm in St. Louis, so mid April out go the Least Killies. May 15th Endlers May 25th Swords. Everyone in except Least Killies by September 15th. Least Killies in mid to late October.
 
several counties in cali will provide you with free gambusia affins as part of their mosquito abatement program.these fish are incredibly hardy.
 
Oh yeah, I can catch those by the hundreds at a local creek mouth.
But I suspect my Least Killies would not be able to compete with them and would die out.
 
the least killies would not be given an opportunity to compete with the mosquito fish -- they would be quickly killed off
 
6 weeks since my last postand I recently discovered a couple zebra danios swimming together in the pond. I had assumed they had died. So I only lost one or two of the original group. I guess they can indeed live in water temps down into the mid 40s where ours have been during cold snaps.
My Least Killies are proliferating again but still seem smaller than they get in the summer months.
 
gmh said:
6 weeks since my last postand I recently discovered a couple zebra danios swimming together in the pond. I had assumed they had died. So I only lost one or two of the original group. I guess they can indeed live in water temps down into the mid 40s where ours have been during cold snaps.
My Least Killies are proliferating again but still seem smaller than they get in the summer months.
Click to expand...

The least killies may be smaller because of he cold. When the water is cold, fish tend to not be as active. This would lead them to eat less and therefore nt grow as much. When the water heats up the fishes metabolism increases and they eat more and grow more.



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