Hi everyone! I've been reading this forum on and off for years and finally signed up. I've kept fish for years, tropicals, natives, goldfish, etc. My current project is my approximately 500 gallon outdoor above ground pond, no filtration or aeration, just plants. Last year I loaded it with as many plants as I could find, threw in 3 shubunkin goldfish and a bunch of tropicals, and let it go for the summer. The tropicals bred like crazy, I had a large school of guppies, rosy barbs, zebra danios and platys. At the end of the season I donated a large number of fish to the local high school science room for their fish tank (I'm getting the fish back for the summer) and kept the rest in a 55gal tank over the winter. Due to an accident with the tank, I lost most of my tropicals over the winter, including all my rosy barbs, but my goldfish and a few other survived. The goldfish have already been out in the pond for a week and are loving the "green water" phase. Water lillies have also been put in as of yesterday, I can't wait until they start growing!! I have a few other small aquatic plants to go in, not sure when it would be safe to put in anarchris, and I'm going to give java ferns, java moss, and water wisteria a try this time around. I probably won't put my tropical fish out for another few weeks, as we are still having some fairly chilly days and nights here in Wisconsin. I went to several fish stores yesterday and had to fight the temptation to buy fish. I may try my hand at throwing a male betta and a couple of females and see if they'll breed. And of course I'll have to figure out what I want to keep in the 55gal over the summer. Looking forward to participating on the board here!
Niki
Niki
