how does a waterbed heater work in a pond? where do you put it? i have an outdoor pond right now it is 4 feet deep and 7x4 on the sides right now there are just feeder goldfish in there right now and have a bunch of insulation on the side of the pond too but i still thin that the pond is too cold i know i might not need it but if i was going to use one how would i use it?

Essentially a waterbed heater is an under the tank reptile heater, only on a significantly larger scale.

I use a waterbed heater on an indoor pond. Mine at least wouldn't survive the outdoors, since it's non water proofed plastic housing. You may be able to make one waterproof but it be cheaper at that point to get a low end spa heater.

If you are doing it inside, it's something that would need to be planned for in construction, or you would need to drain your pond and then put it under it provided it was the right sort of pond liner.

I built a pond indoors, and used flexible liner. At the time I didn't know what was going in it, but I wanted a way to heat it if need be. While I was building the pond, I built a wood frame so it was up off the floor slightly, put down plywood, the waterbed heater then ran the power and thermometer lines out and put the empty pond liner in on top of it.

Once you fill the pond (or waterbed for that matter) the weight of the water keeps the heater from moving. Average waterbed is 200 to 250 gallons, the pond this thing is heating is around 500 and managing just fine. It took a while to get up to temperature, but the hose line I was using averages 55 to 60 degrees for tap cold water around here. Once it finally did get heated the temperature in the water is about 2 degrees off what the thermostat says it is.

I don't know what the weather is on average in St. Louis, but large enough and well fed enough goldies should be fine overwinter outside. The biggest issue is that the pond doesn't completely freeze over or freeze solid. We built around a 4 foot deep by 20x15 pond at my mom's and she has various goldies outside year round. The babies that don't get eaten or given away often make it just fine to next summer.

yeah this was a bad and long winter inSt. Louis but it never completly froze and since you are in tight with some park ranger peeps how hard do you think it will be to get some muskie in there?

I wouldn't want 'em. Those get gigantic. Adults do things like eat ducklings out of the water. No thanks.

I'm not sure what they're status is, I don't believe they're threatened/endangered but I remember there being a lot of catch and release stuff for them, or at very least for the big ones.

i know and i think they are VHS or something like that i've tried to look up getting some byt havent found any info except that they are sold in LFS in Miliwaukee

Huh. I had no idea. Tiger Muskies are available, with the breeding farms they're almost common now and go for $30 to $40 bucks.

I can't find any info on max length though so if you really want one, just be sure to do some research. Some of the pics of them I was seeing online they get at least 4ft as adults.

yeah i know they do get big one of my dad's friends has a fishing pond and there was this beast of a muskie or northern pike and was prob 5-6 feet long wish i woulda caught lol

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy Here ya go

Ah Mike. Enabling my lazy.

What I was seeing on the wholesale list was the Tiger Muskie though which appears to be a hybrid of Esox masquinongy and Esox lucius.

Northern Pike crossed with a muskie specifically so anglers could have a fish that would put up a major fight. They should have just left the snakeheads alone then.

yeah i will maybe call some LFS in Wisconsin and maybe pay a visit to some cousins up there and see if i canpick up 10

Uh. Where exactly you gonna put 'em when they all get 5 feet. I thought your pond was only 4x7x4?

when they get that big they get put in my dad's friends pond and then we fish for them

Oh. I see what yer doin there.

If they behave anything like the Arowanas do you're going to need to have places to hide and to make sure they all get fed. There actually seems to be a number of farms listed online in Missouri that breed muskies. Maybe there's one close to you that you could call or visit and see what they have to say.

I'm assuming the pond they'd be going in is filtered? Goldies are kinda messy, but since these are mostly carnivores, they're gonna make the water filthy pretty fast.

I know nothing about these fish or how they act, so if you do go through with it, I'd recommend getting maybe two or three to start with and see how they fair.

Also check and make sure the pond they'll end up is privately owned and the owner is cool with it. You could get in trouble if it's public land.

oh yeah were they would go when they are big enough is private land 600 acres with 7 lakes i will look up some farms in Missouri but i dont remember there being any thanks a bunch SF and hopefully by the summer i will have some