Indoor Pond

[JOSH]

I'm just looking for some feedback on an idea I came accross while in Vietnam. I noticed that many people there keep fish in large ceramic pots and I thought it would be a cool idea for our entrance....

Do you think I need to treat the inside of the ceramic pot with anything prior to adding water?

I plan running a pond filter within the pot which should double for circulation & possibily building some kind of simple fountain for surface movement. What do you think?

[G1GY]

If you're using a ceramic pot maybe coat the inside of it with an epoxy coating to make it inert. This might prevent anything from leaching out of the ceramic (Lead) into the water.

[Beverly]

Dang, I gotta poo-poo your idea :neutral:

Goldfish, when properly cared for, can live for 20 years and grow 12" long. They are strong swimmers and require a space long enough for them to exercise swimming back and forth. A large ceramic pot isn't going to provide a good home over the long term for them, no matter which way you look at it.

Here's my webpage on the indoor GF pond we used to have in our old house...

http://www.lostmymarblz.com/indoorpond.htm

[JOSH]

The pot we are considering is going to be 5' long, 2' wide & 3' deep. That would make it as large or larger than some outdoor ponds.

Josh

[Matt]

While you never mentioned goldfish, I'll second Bev's opinion that they're not a good choice for this application. They generate a lot of waste and poison their water faster than most people account for.

Guppies and similar small fish are what I always say in the pots when I was in Thailand. A buddy kept them on his deck the entire time he lived there (>2yrs) -- they were there when he arrived, and they were there when he left. As far as he knew, nobody tended to them at all.

Matthew

[Beverly]

The pot we are considering is going to be 5' long, 2' wide & 3' deep. That would make it as large or larger than some outdoor ponds.

That's one heck of a pot :biggrin: It should be plenty large for GF :biggrin:

As Matt has mentioned, they are very messy and big eaters. Keeping that in mind, keep the number of fish to a minimum.

Weekly maintenance with GF is a must, imo, and you probably already know this. Clean the filters in outgoing changewater to preserve bacteria colonies, siphon out all the crud you can, and change at least 15% of their water.

Are you planning on overhead lighting for this monster pot? We used plain old halogen pendant lights. They were enough to grow algae on the sides of our indoor pond. The GF ate the algae with gusto :smile:

Would love to see pics of the set up once you get it cycled and stocked :cool:

[JOSH]

thanks for the feedback ill post some pictures once the pot is all set up, but I don't expect it will be until Oct or so as we are building a new house.

Josh

[Beverly]

If you're using a ceramic pot maybe coat the inside of it with an epoxy coating to make it inert. This might prevent anything from leaching out of the ceramic (Lead) into the water.

Good idea. I'd probably use 3 or 4 coats of epoxy to make sure the seal is super scratch resistant from moving around decorations, the filtration system, and from siphoning the bottom. Also, go BB with a few larger rocks and fake plants for decoration. This'll make siphoning out the crud much easier and more effective.

Looking forward to pics :biggrin: