Indoor blood parrot pond project!! NEED YOUR HELP AND IDEAS!!!!

[AndyHR]

wow say that title five times fast



Hello as you can see in the picture above i have 4 blood parrots 1 albino oscar and 1 green texas cichlid you might have read in one of my previous threads i rescued these from my aunt who was going to let them go in lake erie. (shes retarded)

Well anyway i feel terrible keeping them in a 55 gallon because i know the tank isnt even big enough for one of those fish

so what i was thinking and what i need YOUR IDEAS for is making an indoor koi pond type deal with substrate and all the rocks and caves parrots and oscars need to thrive

i looked around for ponds shortly on the internet and could only find liners does anyone have a site they know with the actual hard shelled koi ponds you put outdoors

since i love these stupid fish so much i am going to be quiting my other hobby paintball and selling my gear to finance this project i know it is going to take time and all so i would love to have someone who knows alot about south american cichlids give me some well appreciated advice on how to set up and aquatic enviornment in a pond type tank,ie filters heaters lighting substrate rock structure maybee some driftwood and some fake plants

i know the pond isnt going to be to much fun watching because i personally cant see through black plastic but i would really like to keep them and take care of them because i promised my aunt i would and i have fallen in love with these fish

my budget for this is going to be around 4to5 hundred bones so i have to figure out something cheap i even looked into big tupperware storage bins but found most were to small or couldnt actually hold a large amount of water

i want this to be the mekka or however you spell it of indoor ponds (not really) but i want the fish to be as healthy and happy as possible

if you have made it this far thank you for your time and thank you for reading my longest post yet i greatly appreciate any help and adivice :hi:


Note(i want to add more fish when the pond is finished thats why im not going to just buy a bigger tank)

There is a website that sells a preformed pond designed for koi. I forget the name of the site but you can find it on google by typing in preformed pond and koi and looking around a bit. Koi ponds need to be deeper than most. I'm not sure if the type of fish you have need to be that deep. Unfortunately the preformed pond advertized on this particular site is around $2000.00(just for the pond). Your best bet if you want to go cheaper is to use cinder block or four by fours I think. Obviously it would be a cool if you could make part of one wall glass.

 

[legendaryfrog]

Tommy, I believe you are overreacting when it comes to fllor supports. A cement basement floor can easily support a 300g stock tank.

As for you, a 300g stock tank would work perfectly fine for them

For the filter, look up some plans on the internet on how to build a diy wet/dry.

IM0, you can easily do this under 400 dollars.

 

[Dwarf Puffers]

Well, thats your opinion...

in MY opinion, youll probably climb the hundreds and prolly the mighty thousands...

 

[Shagmaster]

Whoa, hold up a second! I have some things you might want to think about before you go ahead with the indoor pond idea!

I am a landscaper, and I am very familiar with outdoor ponds, AND have done two indoor 'ponds' last winter.

First, you need to think about where you are going to put this huge amount of water. Obviously, you shouldnt be putting a 300 gallon tank, jug, tub, or cow trough anywhere you havent planned long and hard for, even in a basement in many cases. If you are thinking about putting this amount of weight combined with water any place but a basement, you are going to have to spend 4 or 5 hundred dollars getting estimates from some construction companies to get your floor strengthened. Even in some basements, especially older ones, you can either damage the flooring to the point that it needs to be replaced. The idea being that no matter how hard you try, you are most likely going to be creating an area of 'moistness', for a lack of a better term.

However, I have seen some marvelous indoor ponds in my time (I actually live near a 'pond company' who has some awesome displays in their showroom). Typically, to acheive a pond that will fit into the odd corners and areas that most of us have in a basement, the pond walls are build out of cinder blocks and then a flexable pond liner is used. This way you can make your pond any depth you wish and also in any shape (you can also buy special blocks that will create smooth curves or perfect triangles)

You also need to think about the fact that you are heating this pond. I am sure that you are smart enough to know how to get the water into the appropriate temperature range, however, have you thought of the amount of evaporation this is going to cause? It is just like any tank, over time it needs to be filled up a little bit. So, you need to think about where this evaporation is going to go. Most likely it is going to be sucked up by drywall or even the studs and floor joists. So, you could also be weakening your upper floors by having the pond underneath them.

So, in reality, the best option is going to be expensive and I am sorry to tell you that. Many people who have ponds or hot tubs inside their houses need to have a large amount of fans to exhaust the water vapors outside. Otherwise they need to seal the area in which the water is to keep it from damaging other areas of the house.

Have you thought about getting more tanks and seperating your fish? I know that you can buy a complete 55 gallon aquarium 'kit' at a Walmart for around 200 dollars and probrably can get the same for cheaper if you shop around and buy the tanks and equipment seperately.

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but like I said, I have seen these ponds go into people's houses and it is much more that just creating the vessel and filling it with water.

I so totally agree!

 

[Shagmaster]

I have 5 tanks in my bedroom, (55, 30, 26, 90, 50) and in order for me to do that I have to keep the place well ventilated and run a de-humidifier. You would not believe how humid itcan get in an enclosed space. Played havoc with all my electronics.