The Best Pond Fish - Vieja breidohri

Over the last 12 years, I have been putting some of my fish out into a 1200G in ground pond between late May and early October. The water temperatures have fluctuated from highs of 90 to lows in the low 50s (and colder). In the early days, I went with NA native sunfish (L. megalotis /Longear, L. punctatus / Spotted, L. gulosis / Warmouth, C. macropterus / Flier sunfish) in there from early May to the beginning of November because of their tolerance to temperature extremes. After a year or so, I started putting out Uruguayan cichlids, such as Australoheros facetum (sp. Red Ceibal), Cichlasoma dimerus and some of the Gymnogenys group, knowing that in their native habitat, the temperatures sometimes plummeted to near freezing. At some point, I decided to try more ’tropical’ cichlids, both SA and CA. An extremely good candidate was Andinoacara rivulatus. After researching them, I discovered they do optimally at more moderate temperatures (low 70s). To name a few: Vieja hartwegi, V. fenestratus ’Catemaco’, V. breidohri, V. bifasciatus , and V. sp. Coatzacoalcos, V. argentea, Cincelichthys bocourti, Nandopsis beani, Caquetaia kraussii, Astronotus ocellatus / Oscar. This year I invested in a 1000W immersion heater that I turned on, on particularly cold nights. I tried to keep the water temperatures in the 60s or higher, although on a few occasions the temperatures did get down into the low to mid 50s. One year. I pulled out a 12“ plectostomus which frankly I had forgotten about, when I saw it through the ice. It was fine when moved inside. Where I was going with this, is it’s amazing how resilient fish are in a pond. I qualify my statement with the proviso that the pond must have a large enough volume to maintain a stability, both in temperature and water quality. And when taken out, they just ’glow’ with color and radiance. This video is of a pair of Vieja breidohri tending a spawn. Two weeks ago, they were in my pond along with 10 other adult breidohri, 20 or so Caquetaia kraussii, a pair of V. argentea, a pair of Paratilapia polleni, a pair of Oscars, and other singles such as C. bocourti and V. hartwegi. I know I’ve overlooked a few The breidohri are, in my opinion, the BEST pond fish I have ever had out there followed by Andinoacara rivulatus, a close second.