Self-sustained aqua life in a 1000 Liter (250 G) tank

[Shankar Patel]

Hi. I am a novice in this field. I have recently built a 1,000 Liter
tank (approx-250 G, dimension 7Ft * 3Ft, 2Ft deep) in my garden
(Ahmedabad, India). It is built with bricks/mortar and covered in/out
by glaze tiles/glass mosaic. Yearly temparature varies between 5C (1
or 2 nights during winter) to 45C (1 or 2 afternoons during summer)
degree centigrades. Annual rainfall (June-Sept) 25 inches. Tank is
open to sky.

It all began 2 months ago, when I put an old bath tub in the garden
with some grass and 50 guppy fishes (1-2 inch long fish supplied by
our malaria department to prevent growth of mosquitos). After one
month I put a turtle in
it. I have NEVER fed anything to fishes or turtle. NOW, there is a lot
of algae in it.

Since past 1 week, I have (in the new tank) some water grass, some
algae, one fresh water turtle (2kg weight) and hundreds of guppy
fishes.

***I need some help***
1. I will be glad if someone could guide me to a website with "useful
advise ***AND*** Common/scientific names ***AND*** pictures of aqua
life (including plants)"

2. I would like to have aqua life in my small pond tobe SELF-sustained
with minimal intervention just in case it may have tobe left unttended
for few days whenever we are not at home.

The reason for this posting is that, most of information on net is
regarding indoor aquaria of much smaller sizes. Tips regarding
design/layout of aqua life in new tank is also welcome.

Thanking in anticipation.

- Shankar

[Derek Broughton]

Shankar Patel wrote:

> Hi. I am a novice in this field.

Hi Shankar - we all were once :-)

> I have recently built a 1,000 Liter
> tank (approx-250 G, dimension 7Ft * 3Ft, 2Ft deep) in my garden
> (Ahmedabad, India). It is built with bricks/mortar and covered in/out
> by glaze tiles/glass mosaic.

That's an unusual design by most of our standards (we tend to dig holes and
either leave them natural (if they're very large) or line them with either
flexible liners (mid-sized) or preformed plastic containers (small). But
it takes all kinds, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else here has
done exactly the same :-)

> Yearly temparature varies between 5C (1
> or 2 nights during winter) to 45C (1 or 2 afternoons during summer)
> degree centigrades. Annual rainfall (June-Sept) 25 inches. Tank is
> open to sky.

Not unlike some of the southern US. A bit warmer than I'm used to!

> 1. I will be glad if someone could guide me to a website with "useful
> advise ***AND*** Common/scientific names ***AND*** pictures of aqua
> life (including plants)"

The difficulty here (at rec.ponds) may be that we tend to be North American
and don't know what plants are available to you - but I'm sure we can find
some sources that will help. K30 tends to have great lists of these things
and will post them, I'm sure.

> 2. I would like to have aqua life in my small pond tobe SELF-sustained
> with minimal intervention just in case it may have tobe left unttended
> for few days whenever we are not at home.

That's the aim of most of us. Keep your planting levels high and your
fish/animal levels low and it's possible. Filtration allows you to
increase the animal loads, but even in your temperatures it should be
possible to have a garden pond without filtration.
--
derek

[Ka30P]

Hello Shankar Patel,

Generally aquatic plants fall into general catagories. Marginal plants which
grow at the edges of ponds and lakes in muddy, moist soil or up to five or so
inches over the crown of the plant (all measurements in US form, even though I
was born in Canada, they hadn't switched yet).
These plants would be cattails, reeds, sedges, papyrus, lotus and can be grown
in a garden pond by placing their pots on bricks submerged in the pond.

Next are the water lilies. Their pots sit on the bottom of the pond and can
have anywhere from one foot to four feet of water over their crowns. Their pads
and flowers reach the surface and float on the water.

There are actual floating plants like water hyacinth and water lettuce. They
bob along on top of the water and dangle their roots below them.

Submerged plants like anacharis, hornwort and grasses live at the bottom of the
pond. They can be planted in a pot and submerged.

All these plants help filter the water of fish waste and help keep the pond
healthy.

If your water becomes very warm a fountain is a good idea, keeping the water
moving and the oxygen available for the fish.

You can find pictures of these plants on google.com, click on images and enter
the name of the plant.

Differnt parts of the world have different regulations on plants. Here in the
USA, water hyacinth is considered a real nuisance plant in the south but in
northern parts of the country and neighbor Canada it dies in the winter and can
not survive.


kathy :-)
zone 7, SE WA state

[[email protected]]

I dont think most of India has any heaving frost .... but they do have a long
tradition of exquisite tile work making shallow formal water features.
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/tajmahal/watergarden.html
drool, slobber... notice the engineering of the water devices.
..... but elegant ponds are not easily compatible with fish unless the fish are few
and somebody willing to clean the algae off the tile every week. Ingrid


Derek Broughton > wrote:
>That's an unusual design by most of our standards (we tend to dig holes and
>either leave them natural (if they're very large) or line them with either
>flexible liners (mid-sized) or preformed plastic containers (small). But
>it takes all kinds, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else here has
>done exactly the same :-)

>Shankar Patel wrote:
>> I have recently built a 1,000 Liter
>> tank (approx-250 G, dimension 7Ft * 3Ft, 2Ft deep) in my garden
>> (Ahmedabad, India). It is built with bricks/mortar and covered in/out
>> by glaze tiles/glass mosaic.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[George]

"Shankar Patel" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi. I am a novice in this field. I have recently built a 1,000 Liter
> tank (approx-250 G, dimension 7Ft * 3Ft, 2Ft deep) in my garden
> (Ahmedabad, India). It is built with bricks/mortar and covered in/out
> by glaze tiles/glass mosaic. Yearly temparature varies between 5C (1
> or 2 nights during winter) to 45C (1 or 2 afternoons during summer)
> degree centigrades. Annual rainfall (June-Sept) 25 inches. Tank is
> open to sky.
>
> It all began 2 months ago, when I put an old bath tub in the garden
> with some grass and 50 guppy fishes (1-2 inch long fish supplied by
> our malaria department to prevent growth of mosquitos). After one
> month I put a turtle in
> it. I have NEVER fed anything to fishes or turtle. NOW, there is a lot
> of algae in it.
>
> Since past 1 week, I have (in the new tank) some water grass, some
> algae, one fresh water turtle (2kg weight) and hundreds of guppy
> fishes.
>
> ***I need some help***
> 1. I will be glad if someone could guide me to a website with "useful
> advise ***AND*** Common/scientific names ***AND*** pictures of aqua
> life (including plants)"
>
> 2. I would like to have aqua life in my small pond tobe SELF-sustained
> with minimal intervention just in case it may have tobe left unttended
> for few days whenever we are not at home.
>
> The reason for this posting is that, most of information on net is
> regarding indoor aquaria of much smaller sizes. Tips regarding
> design/layout of aqua life in new tank is also welcome.
>
> Thanking in anticipation.
>
> - Shankar

This site should be able to provide you with most of the information that you
need. If you have specific questions, feel free to post them in rec.ponds.
There is usually always someone there who can help you.

http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/

[Shankar Patel]

"George" > wrote in message >...
>
> This site should be able to provide you with most of the information that you
> need. If you have specific questions, feel free to post them in rec.ponds.
> There is usually always someone there who can help you.
>
> http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/

Thanks a lot for couple of responces. In fact I found it surprising
that very few suggestions regarding related websites were posted in
responce.

One more website I found having load of useful information and
pictures is http://www.fishpondinfo.com/ I am sure there would be
many more.

- Shankar

[George]

"Shankar Patel" > wrote in message
om...
> "George" > wrote in message
> >...
>>
>> This site should be able to provide you with most of the information that you
>> need. If you have specific questions, feel free to post them in rec.ponds.
>> There is usually always someone there who can help you.
>>
>> http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/
>
> Thanks a lot for couple of responces. In fact I found it surprising
> that very few suggestions regarding related websites were posted in
> responce.
>
> One more website I found having load of useful information and
> pictures is http://www.fishpondinfo.com/ I am sure there would be
> many more.
>
> - Shankar

There are, in fact many web sites pertaining to ponds. I was just trying to
point you in the direction of the one I tend to refer to because the guy has a
lot of experience with ponds.

[Shankar Patel]

"George" > wrote in message >...
>
> There are, in fact many web sites pertaining to ponds. I was just trying to
> point you in the direction of the one I tend to refer to because the guy has a
> lot of experience with ponds.

Yes, I also found useful info on http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/. Thanks.

- Shankar

[George]

"Shankar Patel" > wrote in message
om...
> "George" > wrote in message
> >...
>>
>> There are, in fact many web sites pertaining to ponds. I was just trying to
>> point you in the direction of the one I tend to refer to because the guy has
>> a
>> lot of experience with ponds.
>
> Yes, I also found useful info on http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/.
> Thanks.
>
> - Shankar

De nada.