Wine barrel foutain/pond.

[sea-community]

so my mom wants me to set up a little pond out side with a wine barrel. wellt he wine barrel was my idea she wanted to use a metal bucket. so basically she wants this to be low tech...very low tech, basically the only thing running would be the water pump for the fountain. anyways i was thinking of addign a few moskito fish and or gold fish. but this is the first time i have set up a pond, are they any recommendations for fish? theres a cold water sucker fish at my lfs, maybe that would be good to add?

 

[ohbly]

In my opinion you should get a paradise fish.
They are a good size for a small pond, very colourful, intelligent, and they spend nearly all their time hanging out near the surface where they can be seen.
They are also very hardy and can breath air if oxygen levels get low.

 

[bazil323]

How many gallons will the barrel be? I'm guessing somewhere between 30-50 gallons? If so, you could do 2 fancy-type goldfish. Comet-types would get too large for a wine barrel and need much more swimming room even if they had enough water (at least 55g, preferably more). Mosquito fish or guppies would likely work fine. I like the idea of the paradise fish posted above as well.

How hot and how cold will it get to be day to night? Is it shaded? How cold does it get in winter where you are?

 

[sea-community]

How many gallons will the barrel be? I'm guessing somewhere between 30-50 gallons? If so, you could do 2 fancy-type goldfish. Comet-types would get too large for a wine barrel and need much more swimming room even if they had enough water (at least 55g, preferably more). Mosquito fish or guppies would likely work fine. I like the idea of the paradise fish posted above as well. but i was thinking i might need some type of cover, if im putting fish near my house in the open. i doubt my dog would be interested but i think my cats would...maybe they could find better things, but i dont know if i want to risk. any suggestions for a "cover".

How hot and how cold will it get to be day to night? Is it shaded? How cold does it get in winter where you are?

well it gets very cold during the winter outside it can go done to 30 easily. right now its getting up to eighty's, but it can get up to 100+. were in California (Redway,Humboldt County), so if you live in cali your probably getting the same temps. and yes the spot i have picked out is in the shade next to our deck, i think the highest it could get in the water during the summer is mid to high 70's.

In my opinion you should get a paradise fish.
They are a good size for a small pond, very colourful, intelligent, and they spend nearly all their time hanging out near the surface where they can be seen.
They are also very hardy and can breath air if oxygen levels get low.

Lol. i just bought a pair of them for my 45 gal, but maybe i could throw them in there for the summer, put them back during the winter. i dont know
though, because if there always at the top can be more tempting for animals(cats racoons, ect.).

 

[pbeemer]

good thing you talked her out of the metal bucket -- probably would have been bad for fish and plants, and without them you just have a bucket of water.

you should at least get some floating plants in there to help regulate temperature swings and provide some cover for your fish. something a little less aggressive than duckweed, unless you put goldfish in (then it may all get eaten).

you definitely need to have one or more fish to keep the bloodsuckers down. half a barrel is maybe 12 gallons, i wouldn't think you would want more than 1 paradise fish. as an alternative, you can get a few mosquito fish from your county mosquito vector control folks (they'll give you lots for free). local ones probably are acclimated to your climate.

i don't think your dog would much care about the fish (mine don't) but they will drink from the barrel if they happen to be thirsty, so you need to check the water level. (i have a somewhat smaller pot pond in basically full sun (down near Los Angeles) and in summer i lose ~1/2 to 1" of water per day -- including the dogs.)

if your Mom just wants a waterfall / fountain, maybe you could consider a disappearing fountain? less maintenance other than mucking out the captured silt periodically and not letting the pump freeze in winter

 

[pbeemer]

and make sure the power to the pump comes from a GFI circuit