so, i just got another 18 inch x 10 x 10 inch fish tank, the other has been running beetles and woodland land life for a year ok

this one i want to put pond life in it, diving beetles, fish some surface thingys

its the second test tank for my huge 6 foot by 2 foot main wildlife viv that i want to get later

question is what hardware and tempature should i be looking at to have pondlife ?

i've never had fish or water beetles before
i'm going to set it up with gravel in the bottom, a water fall that will run into the water gently rather than crash down onto the surface
or should i have it crashing down to make bubbles for oxygen???

i want to run a flo buld with it as i want to simulate what the main tank will have, but what tube should i have for pondlife?

i'l post some pics when i get it going

and no i have no idea at all what fish will inhabit this pond apart from what i find

when i get the main 6 foot tank i will probably by small fish suitable
hmmm, what small fish are suitable for pond life tank?
would they be called cold water or freshwater

questions question, well i guess thats why we are all here lol

thanks for any info on this side of things

oh and what type of water would amphibians prefere also

are you planning on just fish and beeteles, or the likes of frogs and newts aswell, you will need to provide things for them to get out of the water if you do. fish wise, we have gold fish in our pond, so i guess they would be a good one to test with, as they are really easy to keep, and rather forgiving with conditions, as for the beetles etc, i havent got a clue if they could survive in a tank, as there will not be any food for them.

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If you can't provide an adequate waterbody, and if you can't filter or oxygenate your water, your fish will more than likely die.

That said, I'm always one for experimentation and testing the boundaries so my suggestion for fish would be White Cloud Mountain Minnows. These are very hardy and tolerable of a whole host of water temps. Available at 90% of aquatic shops.

As for freshwater/coldwater, these can be the same thing:

Freshwater Tropical
Freshwater Coldwater
Tropical Marine
Tropical Coldwater

are the four main brackets of salt and temp related water types. White Clouds fit somehwere in between the top two.

yeah, there will be a way in and out of the water for creatures, the main tank will be more a paludarium, having both land and water life so some small amphibs might get introduced,
as for water life food i will have to findout what they eat and introduce that too

any bought fish would only be introduced after the water has settled down and then able to say what type of water i got, so that would depend on weither fish can be kept, and yeah i realise adding fish will alter the balance.

btw if i want to grow water plants in the 18 inch test tank, whatshould i line the bottom of the tank with regaurding gravel, soil etc

should there be a layer of soil then gravel so roots can go into?