David,

This is not hat hard to realize. I sometimes put my Clown loaches outside
in the Summer, but you have to make sure that it is at a time when the
temperatures are suitable for the fish you are putting in the pond. When I
put the clowns outside the water has to be at least a stable 75 degrees all
the time. You can do this with any species, but the problem is getting them
back out of the pond when the temperatures start falling again. Clowns are
extremely hard to catch especially after the freedom of a good quantity of
water. I usually have to virtually drain the pond to get them out.

The advantage of KOI and Goldfish for the pond culture is that they can be
enjoyed from looking down on them from above, while tropicals kind of
disappear into the pond. I had six Clowns in the pond and virtually didn't
know if they all had made it until the early fall when I drained the pond to
get them out.

Tom L.L.
---------------------------------------
"David" wrote in message
...
I can already hear the howls of derision, and taste the flames of
scorn g.

Don't get me wrong -- I like koi. However, I also find the extremely
large variety of tropical freshwater fish fascinating. So I am
wondering whether it might be possible to bring the worlds of ponding,
water gardening, and tropical aquaria together in the same place? Has
anyone in the group ever attempted this, or know of anyone who has?

The first obvious (and reasonable) question would be, "why would you
want to do this, you couldn't see them? -- you can see koi." Well,
suppose one side of the pond was next to your living room, and had
windows into it. Like, well, the aquarium at your local zoo? (I'd
rather not get into all the practical issues of design and engineering
yet -- I'm only just starting to think at the very conceptual
top-level.)

The next obvious (and reasonable) question would be, "what happens
when all these tropical fish are subjected to freezing temperatures?"
Well, suppose this affair was to be installed in S.E. Asia, where it
never freezes. (Which if this thinking works out, will be the case.)

If you haven't lost interest by now, and already gone on the the next
post, we are now at the crux of the matter. It would appear to me
that this concept would have to deal with at least all of the same
issues that a koi ponder would have to address. Plus, the additional
untidy little detail of, "how do you keep all these cute little fish
from being sucked into and lost or chewed up in all of the ponding
apparatus?"

I have gone through many of the designs in rec.ponds, and in AWGS and
Koiphen, and this has been a very interesting and enlightening
experience for an (obvious) newcomer. I think some of this hardware
technology, and the bio-filtration systems are just wonderful! But is
it possible to apply it to little fishes? Is there a way to keep them
from all being sucked into a Savio skimmer, or a Spindrifter bottom
drain?

Is there any wishful hope that fishes generally tend to avoid things
that try to suck them in??? Or are completely different kinds of
filtration, (and a whole lot more manual effort) going to be
necessary?

(After, {if?}, I hear from anyone in this group, I will address
something like this to rec.aquaria.freshwater -- however, conversely,
they won't know anything about all of this wonderful ponding
technology that is available.)

Thank you for all your endurance if you have made it this far with me.
And most certainly, thank you for any thoughts.

Regards,
David