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Killies for the container pond?


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#1 Joshaeus

Joshaeus
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Posted 12 June 2017 - 06:00 PM

Hi all! I have (successfully!) set up a 24 inch pot as a container pond and am looking for fish to put in at the beginning of next month. I was wondering about our native killies for this pond - either Fundulus or Lucania. Would either of those be enjoyable pond fish (would I see them often, in other words?) Also, would either jump? (Predation is not likely...the pot is 20 inches high and thus too high for any raccoons or cats to easily disturb, and my landlord has a labrador retriever). NOTE: The water garden has a noticeable thermocline but still gets well into the 80's in its coolest portions on a very hot day like today...


Edited by Joshaeus, 12 June 2017 - 06:01 PM.


#2 gerald

gerald
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  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 12 June 2017 - 09:32 PM

Yes killies often jump.  If you can make some kind of screen top, that would be safer.  Lucania are less jumpy than Fundulus, but they also stay deeper and you may not see them as much.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#3 don212

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Posted 13 June 2017 - 07:10 AM

raccoons can easily get up there, so can herons, is it in the sun? shade it  try to get surface temp a little lower, golden topminnows are pretty visible, but they do jump, a screen would stop predation and jumping



#4 Dustin

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  • Forum Staff

Posted 13 June 2017 - 07:56 AM

Starheads would be great since they are obvious from the surface, but since they are obvious to you, they are also obvious to the herons, etc.  They do also jump but usually only when startled.


Dustin Smith
At the convergence of the Broad, Saluda and Congaree
Lexington, SC


#5 Joshaeus

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Posted 13 June 2017 - 02:05 PM

I did say my landlord has a large dog, right? It's in sun 2 hrs in the morning and 2 in the afternoon with about 2 hours in between. Today I did extensive temperature tests on it...it is 94 degrees out now (it doesn't get much warmer up here), and at the end of the second direct sun period the sunlit surface was about 90 degrees, the shade directly under the peace lily I'm using as a marginal plant (it's thriving, by the way) is 87 degrees, the temperature in the hole in the center of the concrete block that peace lily is sitting on was about 83...then I lost the thermometer in it, so I don't know the temperature at the bottom (but from another test an hour prior, it was likely in the high 70's). While doing all of this, it became apparent that my pot has a VERY well developed thermocline...there was a hot layer about 6 inches thick at the top and a much lower temperature below.



#6 Joshaeus

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Posted 13 June 2017 - 02:10 PM

I will also look into ways to repel coons and herons to avert problems.



#7 gerald

gerald
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  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 13 June 2017 - 02:37 PM

Thermoclines are tricky; they can be your friend AND your enemy.  Yes they provide a cool refuge in the deeper layers, but you need to be careful about how much decaying organic matter is down there.  If the dissolved O2 gets too low, fish have the choice of dying from heat at the surface or from suffocation in cool water at the bottom.  Unfortunately there's no easy way to oxygenate the bottom water while still keeping it isolated from the hot surface water.  I've seen ideas on paper, but don't know if anyone has built a hypolimnetic-oxygenator that really works.

 

I recently had some fish die in a 20-gal tub a week after green frogs spawned in it.  Either the gelatinous egg masses (which pretty much covered the whole surface) blocked gas exchange at the surface, or the decaying gel and unhatched eggs caused oxygen depletion in the deeper strata.  The tub is also chock-full of Elodea, so the water stratifies and doesn't move much.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#8 Joshaeus

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Posted 13 June 2017 - 03:54 PM

Guess I'll be doing plenty of vacuuming of the bottom then...fortunately none of the plants are planted in dirt at this time, although some were in dirt when I bought them and thus added a little dirt to the water garden.





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