XregnaR wrote:

opsec wrote:

XregnaR wrote:

As we are getting all confesso-smurgly here, I am on several Water Gardening Forums.  I have quite a reputation for taking 9¢ feeder fish from PetSmart and growing them to 8 inches long.

I never knew you were a fellow fish geek. 

A good friend of mine builds some sweet ponds and water features.  Recently he's been dumping cichlids in customer ponds in spring to harvest in fall, and the growth and fecundity is amazing.  It's also amusing to see 3" fish cow 2' Koi.

I do however grieve that you buy feeders from PestilenceSmart.

The sample work on that site is nice stuff.  The house I currently occupy used to have a pool, but the previous owners filled it in due to leaks.  I dug out some of the dirt and used that as my basin, so I was somewhat limited by the existing shape.  On the plus side I didn't need to do as much 'scaping.

As for P'Smart feeders, think of that as a rescue operation (picture me going in all ninja style if it makes you feel better).  Koi are high maintenance fish, and as I am sure you are aware, ridiculously expensive for a carp.

I know of one pond farmer in the area that raises cichlids, or as they are known in the supermarket, tilapia.  This same person, however, jumped the shark when they told me they were considering raising guinea pigs for food.

I'm an aquarium person - ponds in Vancouver tend to freeze over during the winter, which is okay for big koi, but a little chilly for cichlids. I used to raise tilapia for research, now I raise a handful of geophagus jurupari in a smallish tank, but only because I love the little dirt shovelers. They're active, friendly fish - a bit like dogs in a way, although they're not as intelligent as Oscars (nor do they eat everything else in the tank). Anyone who has successfully raised mouthbrooders knows how fascinating it is to watch the fry swim in and out of their mother's gaping jaws. There's also an art to knowing exactly when to reach in for the tummy grab - in a tilapia tank it's best to force mommy to disgorge her babies before a quick cannibalistic stress-reaction gulp ends your own pisco-paternal yearnings (I don't bother grabbing the jurupari - it's a low-stress tank if the nitrogen cycle is under control).

I'm planning a plant tank soon - I have an enormous fondness for aquarium lilies.