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Balcony pond

malik uddin

malik uddin

Member
Joined
23 Feb 2024
Messages
73
Location
East London
Hi. I am thinking of setting up a small planter or barrel pond about 50l. Can I keep fish in it. If so which type and finally will they survive the winter. Any equipment I use will have to be solar powered. Is this possible. Cheers for any help
 
Solar-powered pond equipment sounds great, but in my experience that is as far as it goes.
Anything solar-powered needs to have the solar panel at the "optimal direction/angle" that will not be easy being on a balcony. :confused: Then you have the problem of "not enough sunshine" to power your solar device, not just in the summer but in winter the sun is never that bright, and of course there is night time when there is no sunshine at all, so anything solar will not work.
There is also the problem of freezing, being outside on a balcony.

I would never suggest anything solar for a pond, let alone a balcony, as there is never enough sunlight, and to make it work you need lots of equipment, that in turn makes it financially not viable. :( Not in this country
 
malik uddin said:
Hi. I am thinking of setting up a small planter or barrel pond about 50l. Can I keep fish in it. If so which type and finally will they survive the winter. Any equipment I use will have to be solar powered. Is this possible. Cheers for any help
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Check out Superfish Patio pond. It’s a decent size pond that doesn’t take up lots of space.
 
This guy is rather sweet and has lots of videos of his rice fish. None of the bowls have filters and things seem fine. Some may dispute that. I think water changes may be enough.
 
It seems pretty obvious that medaka are as likely to escape from an aquarium as a tub on a balcony. It's common sense and respect that stop a fish or plant entering native waterways.
 
What about white Mountain minnows will they be fine if I can stop it freezing? I got power so the superfish patio pond is a defo option
 
Mains power was always an option, I just love the idea of solar. I was hoping for a solar cells charging a powerbank running a small usb pump for water flow or usb air pump. Mabay a low wattage heater set to 10 Celsius just to stop the pond from freezing over. But realistically it would be a solar and mains combo. Servicing white cloud mountain minnows
 
martin-green said:
"OATA is reminding retailers to only sell Japanese rice fish or Medaka (Oryzias species) for indoor aquariums and to ensure customers understand they cannot be kept in outdoor ponds or barrels."

It was also debated on this forum in 2022
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Get your tinfoil hats on, that's what the government wants you to believe! just kidding, in all seriousness, if you do it, be sensible with the fish. I think the main reason is disease, (as medaka were identified as a vector for a pretty serious disease recently) spreading from birds to other pond with native wilds in them, which isn't good
 
malik uddin said:
What about white Mountain minnows will they be fine if I can stop it freezing? I got power so the superfish patio pond is a defo option
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They’d probably want something a bit larger. Medaka would be your best bet and you won’t need a heater. I’ve had them swimming under a thin layer of ice before.
 
Conort2 said:
They’d probably want something a bit larger. Medaka would be your best bet and you won’t need a heater. I’ve had them swimming under a thin layer of ice before.
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I lost mine this year. While they did survive -10 once, the second winter got them.
 
SamTheMan said:
they definitely wouldn't survive our Scottish winters.. .
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I’ve got minnows in my outside pond. We got some ice on top this year but I saw some fry swimming about a few weeks ago. I’m in Edinburgh.

Haven’t seen the adults mind, hopefully in about the algae somewhere. If I can see them at the weekend I’ll snap a photo.
 
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