# SELF SUSTAINABLE ECO AFRICAN AND SOUTH AMERICAN CICHLID POND



## killwill (Jun 26, 2011)

hi my name is will I am currently active duty army. My brother passed the aquatic life of cichlids into my life at the age of 16 I am 23. Even we always had a fish tank full of aggressive cichlids no matter the reagion. My brother and I always mixed different type of aggressive cichlids together and we've always been successful in raising and breeding both african mbuna cichlids with south american cichlids, american cichlids, central american cichlids. *** even had two fist sized turtles in a 65 gal and needle nose and such. So mixing is not a cocern for my project. This is just a rough rough draft. I plan building a 1000 gal + pond highly decorated with rocks drifwood half pots with some kind of light color gravel or coral sand type. I will have great filteration and pumps along with trees suitable for pond life. After building my pond and my cycles are done I plan on starting off with ghost shrimp, guppies, maybe some white meadows and have them breed and make the pond there habitat, then i would add like my gold fish, tetras, etc. Let them get aquainted with the habitat. Maybe add some inverts you know to get the producers, consumers, and decomposers cycle goin. Then I will add my african mbuna lake malawi cichlids along with american, central, south american cichlids. Before I put the cichlids in I know the fish i mentioned before must be thriving. Once I put the cichlids in they will start to breed and a very fast rate to the point that i would need maybe one turtle, a pirahna, or arrowana to help keep the cichlid population down. Like mentioned before i will use filteration i just want to get my pond to the point where i dont have to feed it and it needs little maint. Like i said rough rough draft, please send me advice to help. Please dont post a problem without the solution to that problem. Oh yea i plan on being stationed in colorado in fort carson. Of course it will be year round, i will use hot tub heater for that and a pool covering to help keep heat in. i also plan on adding some koi, plecos and other aquarium creatures i find. also i apologize about the my grammer and spelling on this post im in the field right now on duty sleepy freezing cold cause im in the moutains right now in the middle of the night.


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## killwill (Jun 26, 2011)

oh and what gave me the idea about the pond was one weekend my wife and i went on this submarine tour of the reefs of hawaii in wakiki at the hilton. when i walked through the hilton and seen they had an outdoor/indoor pond throughout the whole outside and main areas of the hotel. and inside the pond was millions of cichlids of all sizes from fully grown to just born, also there was koi ranging from new born to like 2ft long. they had guppies, tetras, ghost shrimp, etc. also they had a eels and red head turtles, and other larger aquatic animals to help keep the koi and cichlid population from overproducing. lots of birds came to this pond, i mean it is HUGE! and beautiful, its a self sustaining ecosystem with little maint. needed. i talked to the person i seen cleaning the huge pond and he said it takes him about two hrs to clean the whole pond; all he lookes for in the pond is large debri and potential harmful threats, he refills the pond and he is done for about a week for the sake the hilton 5 star needs to make sure there pond is top gun and good shape. its soo beautiful its right next to a pool and right off the light blue beach. i **** there stayed there just to sit and look at the amazing pond. thats where i got the idea from and im sticking to it, i have about two years to plan this pond before i can start building so research research research is my watchword


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## JoelRHale (Apr 22, 2011)

I too have seen set ups like that, they are very impressive.

The only piece of advice I'd offer having kept a koi pond for a while- you need to find away to keep birds and other predators out. I lost a few 1' koi to raccoons until I learned to put a screen over the top. My pond was only about 200-300 gallons so screening wasn't hard, I am not sure if 1,000 would be practical to screen. But maybe a wall, high pitch speakers, something to keep animals you don't want eating the food the fish you do want need to survive.


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## killwill (Jun 26, 2011)

thank u for the advice joel cause all is needed for my research phase. my friend down the way just gave me a plastic pond about 200 gal. its great cause its a good tester for me, right now im thinkin of what kind of set up i want and what i want to house in it. i know i cant get a mini self sustaining eco system in that pond its not big enough but atleast i can gain general knowledge about ponds. my first.


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