Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was just having a ponder on growing ornamental fish.

I know the problem with most aquarium fish is that they come from hot areas, reefs and the like, and they can't handle the cold, and will die without heating over winter. But I figured there had to be a few apart from goldfish (and I think Guppies).

Do you guys know of any other ornamental that'll survive?

Koi - but I guess you have them in same category as Goldfish.

there are probably other things in China, Korea, Japan etc but cant have here in Aust.
Maybe something from Chile, Peru or Argentina.

I do, but they are illegal in SA

Ahh, good old wikipedia, answered my own question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldwater ... arium_fish

guppies will die without heat too.

try murray river rainbows (all other are tropical).

looks like a typical list of banned fish.......

how are you planning to use them ? Most would be OK in an aquarium but would struggle in a pond situation.

eg. I have run Chinese Algae eaters (on the list) no problem from Spring to Autumn and even had a couple that I thought had disappeared but popped up after winter couple years ago. They got to 15cm. I suspect most in that list would have same issue - apart from the feral things that you probably cant have anyway.

I've been buying a few fancier goldfish to use as breeding stock, but I see all the fancy looking fish at the aquarium, I thought it'd be cool to have something like them in my pond, but they all want warm water.

The glofish looked cool. Little luck of them in Australia though.

Not how cold you are getting, but...

My husband surprised me with some beautiful silver tetras and black mollies for my pond one spring. I occasionally saw the mollies (black on black liner) and was working to capture them to take inside for the winter that fall. I'd thought all the tetras died immediately as I never saw them.

Noticed a short silver, grey fish in small puddle on TOP of a lily pad and thought my goldfish had spawned. Nope! It was a tetra getting out of the cold water into the sun warmed puddle. There was already ice crust on the pond each morning. 4 of the original 5 tetras he released were recovered and lived on. They were approx twice their original size in about 5 months.

Ive also kept guppies in a pond where winter temps were in the 40-50 F. They breed in late spring and I had plenty to give away each summer.

I didn't heat the ponds. Cory cats also handle the cooler water quite well.

If looking for something a little hardier, sunfish are pretty.

Pat

Whiteclouds might be a good option, they cope OK being outdoors in Adelaide and they're kind of pretty. Not sure if you'd sell them for any more than a goldfish.

They breed pretty easily and If I ever build a DWC I'll probably stick some in to help keep things tidy.

They are pretty tiny

I just wanted something like this:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8PdDHi6sqAg/T ... n_Fish.jpg

Oh well, I guess I'll stick to Goldfish, and get jealous of the other states that can keep koi.

That is pretty. What is the fish?

Flowerhorn cichlid - As a man-made hybrid not found in the wild they are a bit controversial. However they are pretty and different!

--
Sam

These are pretty and may be a contender, except that they may be agressive to fancy goldfish!





Source:http://bettatrading.com.au/Paradise-Fish-Fact-Sheet.php