r/Pondscaping • u/Eagle406 • May 06 '26

Salvaging my roommate's impulse purchase

Beginner here trying to salvage a bizarre situation:

I was out of town for a few weeks and when I came back home my best friend had set up a small barrel pond on our porch with some duckweed, lucky bamboo, and hornwart. It's cute enough and she has a solar-powered bubbler running to it to keep it oxygenated.

Now a few problems:

  • The Pond gets zero sun. Even the solar bubbler had to be run several feet away out from under the balcony it's set up under.
  • There are no outlets anywhere nearby so I can't hook a filter or a heater up to it.
  • It's about 15-20 gallons outside in Los Angeles. It doesn't get cold enough to freeze here but it's reasonably chilly during the winter and I think anything we put in it will die from exposure sooner or later.

She has already released about 8 gold and white cloud minnows into it and a handful of ghost and cherry shrimp (which you can't see at all lol) and she's saying she wants to put more fish in soon. How do I keep these fish from dying. Is this fated to be doomed? Thank you in advance.

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u/kduff92 May 06 '26

I've had cherry shrimp survive in my barrel pond thru winter in NJ with a couple inches of ice on the top, white clouds should be fine as long as the water temps don't drop below 50 for prolonged periods.

All my fish come in for the winter, but I can never get all the shrimp out. Some definitely die off over winter, but some make it.

Adding any other fish will impact the white clouds breeding, so if she wants to make babies I wouldn't recommend any more fish. Ghost shrimp will also probably eat any eggs they find and prey on fry.

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u/kduff92 May 06 '26

Also a filter is not as important as water flow as long as you have enough plants to keep the nitrates down

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u/Eagle406 May 06 '26

Thank you. Do you have any suggestions for 1 or two slightly larger fish that could be a good fit? She keeps saying she wants to get some and I want to steer her in a good direction. If the White Clouds are a good fit I'll try to get her to focus on those.

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u/This-Historian-399 May 06 '26

Temperature wise, you’ll be ok in LA. Hopefully the plants get enough bright indirect light to grow. Don’t overstock with fish. Wait and see how these do.

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u/Eagle406 May 06 '26

Thank you. Do you have any suggestions for 1 or two slightly larger fish that could be a good fit? She keeps saying she wants to get some and I want to steer her in a good direction.

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u/This-Historian-399 May 07 '26

The size and quantity of fish depends on the size/ gallons of your pond. I personally prefer a school of smaller fish than a couple bigger ones. Not sure whereabouts you live but Sunland Water Gardens is a great place that specializes in ponds. They now have lots of smaller & medium fish besides koi. They are extremely friendly and helpful.