My little jungle pond….

[LaSelva]

I have a small, 400 gallon pond made from a water storage tank in my garden here in the jungle in Tulum, Mexico. I took these photos at feeding time this afternoon. I have platys, tetras, gouramis, goldfish, loaches, corys, danios, barbs, angelfish, guppies, red tail sharks and a few baby turtles in there along with some elodea, hornwort, irises, hyacinth and papyrus plants. Here is an overview:




The male betta likes to go up onto this really shallow, stone ledge and bask in the sun:



He gets grouchy when I get too close with the phone to take his picture and disturb his slumber:




Just some fish pics:

 

[RobAmy]

reminds me of my aquarium days with the types of fish you have.

 

[sissy]

I like the way you have it set up the rocks and the plants make it look so natural

 

[Tula]

Very lovely and natural.

 

[Priscilla]

Really nice. Looks like you have some pregnant platys in there. I have so many in my pond I don't know what to do with them.

 

[haver79]

Love it!

 

[Big Lou]

Nice, really nice.

 

[LaSelva]

reminds me of my aquarium days with the types of fish you have.

The pond is really not large enough for koi but with the smaller tropical fish I can have more variety and color in the smaller space. I've got the basic tropical fish tank guys in there and they're doing well so far. Just have to keep my eye out for the black birds and the mot mot birds. I've already had a few bird losses of some of the surface dwelling fish.

 

[LaSelva]

I like the way you have it set up the rocks and the plants make it look so natural

Thanks Sissy. The rocks are just beginning to get a patina of algae on them and the aquatic plants are starting to gain height and send out some new shoots. Compared to the natural lagoons and cenotes around here my pond still seems pretty barren, but I tried to mimic the environment here in its creation. The club moss and dichondra is really taking off around the rock edges of the center island. I'm going to root some more under the rocks around the edge of the liner to cover that transition.

 

[LaSelva]

Really nice. Looks like you have some pregnant platys in there. I have so many in my pond I don't know what to do with them.

Yes! Platy and guppy babies are already crowding around the papyrus tops and hyacinth roots during the day. Lots more than I thought would be in there after only a few weeks. I know many of them will be eaten but still it's nice to see that the environment I've created is suitable for breeding. The different types of barbs and tetras I have are exhibiting breeding behavior too but with so many types of fish in only a 400 gallon enclosure I'm not sure how likely it will be for any of the egg layers to be able to raise fry. Maybe some of you with similar types of fish can prepare me for what's to come with so many babies swimming around already and so much spawning activity evident?

 

[Priscilla]

Your Betta should help with some of the babies, but the platys just seem to bred like CRAZY! I have over a dozen pregnant in my pond, and I'm expecting at least a dozen to live from each of those births ...... so that's alotta fish! I wish I could open up my pond to some birds, but I can't with the koi and goldfish.

 

[Priscilla]

Are those fantail goldfish in there as well? And some long tail comets?

 

[addy1]

Very nice! Warm enough to have a nice tropical fish pond. love it

 

[LaSelva]

Your Betta should help with some of the babies, but the platys just seem to bred like CRAZY! I have over a dozen pregnant in my pond, and I'm expecting at least a dozen to live from each of those births ...... so that's alotta fish! I wish I could open up my pond to some birds, but I can't with the koi and goldfish.

I do see the pair of betas and the gouramis stalking the papyrus for fry to munch on. I guess the goldfish are big enough to eat some too. If I start having too many I guess I can give some back to the fish guy in town. His selection is pretty sparse so he'd probably appreciate it.

 

[LaSelva]

Are those fantail goldfish in there as well? And some long tail comets?

Yep. One orange fantail, two red and white fantails, one orange long tailed comet, one white with a red cap long tailed comet, and one little black moor. His mate was eaten by a blackbird so he's all alone hiding in a papyrus top all day. The other goldfish are racist and won't let him poke around the bottom in their group. They bully him and chase him to the surface. He's also much smaller than most of the orange, red and white guys. Hanging out up top like that he'll probably be nabbed by the birds eventually as well so I may move him to the smaller pond with the guppies.