December - Hill Country Cichlid Club

8
Keeping Cichlids Outside Year Round—Ghetto Style! - Greg Steeves
After many years of fishkeeping, there comes a time
when adding another tank is just not enough. For
most serious hobbyists I know, the next step is generally
a trip to see and/or collect fish in their natural
habitat. We are truly fortunate here in South Texas
to be able to easily do both. Many of my friends
have gone to Mexico for cichlids and livebearers or
on the Amazon for some exotics. There are even
several friends that have gone to Africa to collect on
the Great Lakes. I have not made those trips yet but
they are in my bucket list. I always admired the
large tank full of Malawians at the San Antonio Zoo
and figured it it could be done there, why couldn’t I
figure out how to keep these fish outside as well.
After a little research it became apparent that the
Zoo had access to better funding than I had. Still,
where there’s a will there’s a way.
The cichlid pond in all its glory.
Now I have to admit that keeping tropical's out of
doors was not a revolutionary idea in any way. My
friend Jeff Johnson had been doing it for years. The
difference is that Jeff had been using the vats he
kept out of doors for growing fish in the warm
weather. When the water turned cooler he either
sold his stock or brought them inside. Jeff had
given me great advice on a number of questions I
had including the “growing” season. He, quite correctly,
advised me that fish could be maintained outside
safely from April 15th to October15th. During
this time there are other potential problems to deal
with such as oak and cedar pollen and animals.
Geographically I had figured that we were close in
latitude to Florida. This is where the majority of
North American tropical fish farms are. There are
only two big differences that we have to be con-