Fish & plants ideas for zone 6 (extreme temp swings and arid conditions)
Was researching rice fish to add to a shrimp aquarium and stumbled upon the world of mini ponds.
I'd love to get a 30 to 40 gallon ceramic planter and do something on my patio. Unfortunately I live in the mountains out west (zone 6) with extreme heat, cold, arid conditions, low temps can reach -20 f. There are a couple small naturalized fish in my area, like mosquitofish and fathead minnows, but I don't live near many bodies of water and most local fish are either large stocked fish or are protected species.
I'm most interested in rice fish but dont know their cold tolerance. Alternatively mountain cloud minnows could work In low temps? Hardy goldfish breeds that don't get enormous? May grab a heater but don't know how efficient that would be in 40 gallons for anything other than keeping it above freezing.
interested in plant ideas too, especially floating plants, but there are a lot more local aqautic plants I can work with (cattails and watercress do just fine here)