Other fish to keep in pond

[purplemuffin]

In general, most sites that talk about pond talk about..well, goldfish and koi.


Are there any others that could be kept peacefully? What about a native species that would be able to tolerate weather conditions? I was looking at people with pet catfish in community tanks and there are a few texas species that only get to 6-10 inches, not big enough to really do damage to goldfish of the same size. Unless I guess if they are an aggressive species. I didn't search too hard, just was curiously reading.

Just out of curiosity. I like variety, even if it's not a shiny yellow/gold fish. :) If there are any that come to mind who would handle the Texas seasons and won't get too big and will tolerate goldie company, I'd love to know.

If not, no problem. Just being curious here.

[Bombalurina]

There are the obvious minnows - rosy red, white cloud - and mosquito fish (a strain of guppy) but I can't think of any larger species. Also not knowleadgable about Texas natives. :p
Sorry I can't be more help!

[Marlboroack]

I've had an Oscar outside for 2 years now.. Ate everything in there though..

[thekoimaiden]

Mosquito fish (Gambusia spp) are good for a pond. I have a breeding population in with my fish. Sturgeon are another pond fish, but they like colder waters year-round than what Texas can provide. (They are my favorite fish and I would love to keep them one day.) For catfish you would want to look into bullheads. Channel cats are also nice (and I think prettier) but they aren't as hardy as bullheads. Gar might also be an option. These two websites will be able to give you much more info on gars and ictualurid catfish than I will: Channel Catfish @ Planet Catfish, Brown Bullhead @ Planet Catfish, Biology and Captive Care - Captive Care (this one also has care info on many other North American native species).

I would play around on the Texas A&M site and see if they have a list of native Texas fish. It will probably be much easier to go out and catch these things yourself rather than buy them.

[purplemuffin]

That's true. Though another option other than catching them is that near my house they actually have a big breeding pond that sells to locals to stock their own fishing ponds--So they sell all the big mouth bass, catfish, etc. Though I guess I don't know if they would sell just one, most people buy 100 or more haha!

I do looove the look of the channel catfish, but they do get large. Like 3-4 ft long. Which sounds incredible, but not in a 5 ft pond. :) I think the bullheads sound interesting, the black bullheads get 6-10 inches long with 15 inches being extremely rare. Some people were saying they struggled keeping them alive longer than 3 years, which is a little disappointing. Yellow bullheads have a 7 year lifespan which is a little better.



My worry with mosquito fish is how small they are. I kept hearing warnings that they would be goldfish snacks!



Though I could get a smaller fish species for the top half of the pond above the water fall. I was looking at longear sunfish and they are pretty!

[thekoimaiden]

Oh ya. Some of the catfish might get a bit big for a 5ft pond. I agree that channel cats are the cutest. As part of a classroom project my mother has a 55 gal tank with 5 channel cats that they release into the local river at the end of the year. The channel cats are sooo cute as babies.

I completely forgot about sunfish! Redbreast, longear, pumpkinseed (personal fav), and many others have colorations that rival some cichlids. Just make sure you get males as they are the prettiest. The only sunfish I would stay away from is the green sunfish as they have a tendency to eat anything smaller than it. Most of the others that I mentioned are insectivores.

Gambusia do become goldfish snacks (at least I know they become koi snacks), but they are livebearers and breed like crazy. I have seen my koi eat one of them whole, yet I still see tons of Gambusia swimming around. If you have some plants in the pond, the young will gather around them to get away from the goldies.

[purplemuffin]

Woah!! That pumpkin seed sunfish is AWESOME, and the right size and a good life span... I think you found my fish!

[thekoimaiden]

Glad I could help! I can't wait to see pictures. They are a beautiful fish.