gold fish at the allotment

[hedgerow pete]

I have some large water tanks at the allotment. 1,000 litre IBC tanks, is there any reason why we cant just sling some gold fish into it as a "fish pond" apart from fish food they dont need oxygenators or any thing else do they?

 

[mexbigshow]

wouldn't it be a bit dark for them pete?

 

[countryman]

how far down in a pond can you see? thats why they have big large pupils and a lateril line down the middle of there bodies

 

[hedgerow pete]

the tanks are 3 foot square and made from white plastic so there is plenty of light for them, at the moment they are filled with tap water so i dont know if they need treating with that chlorinate treatment stuff or not and what else do they need to live with in the tank. also what about winter and the tank freezes over do they need the ice removed all the time.

and lastly is its that easy, why cant i use rainbow trout fingerlings instead , yum yum??

how long does a trout take to grow??

 

[keithgrimes]

Obviously if you can oxygenate the water by pumping it would be better, but 'goldfish' could survive. Trout won't, and even if they did you would have to spend a fortune on feed to fatten them up at a reasonable rate. Winter is an issue, you would need to keep at least a tennis ball size area free of ice to allow oxygen through. A daily splash of hot water would suffice

 

[DorsetB]

You will have a couple of problems with IBCs:

- if keeping the original 6" diameter neck as the sole means of filling & aeration there will not be enough oxygen exchange. On a warm day they will suffer and possibly die, depending on how many fish you have in there.

- because the tank is above ground, the temperature will fluctuate wildly, stressing the fish, also if it is one of those opaque IBCs, there will be nowhere for the fish to hide, stressing them further.

On the other hand, if you saw the top off completely, assuming the IBC is in a cage which will help keep its shape, and put a lot of plants in there, and not too many fish, you may get away with it!

 

[keithgrimes]

You will have a couple of problems with IBCs:

- if keeping the original 6" diameter neck as the sole means of filling & aeration there will not be enough oxygen exchange. On a warm day they will suffer and possibly die, depending on how many fish you have in there.

- because the tank is above ground, the temperature will fluctuate wildly, stressing the fish, also if it is one of those opaque IBCs, there will be nowhere for the fish to hide, stressing them further.

On the other hand, if you saw the top off completely, assuming the IBC is in a cage which will help keep its shape, and put a lot of plants in there, and not too many fish, you may get away with it!

I was assuming the top is cut off. Obviously Dorset B is right, with just tthe original neck, no chance

 

[hedgerow pete]

You will have a couple of problems with IBCs:

- if keeping the original 6" diameter neck as the sole means of filling & aeration there will not be enough oxygen exchange. On a warm day they will suffer and possibly die, depending on how many fish you have in there.

- because the tank is above ground, the temperature will fluctuate wildly, stressing the fish, also if it is one of those opaque IBCs, there will be nowhere for the fish to hide, stressing them further.

On the other hand, if you saw the top off completely, assuming the IBC is in a cage which will help keep its shape, and put a lot of plants in there, and not too many fish, you may get away with it!

the tops are already cut off so thats ok, plants does it matter, i have oxygen pond weeds but very little else so far, do i need to also have some form of tube or pipes for them and given a surface area of one metre square whats the sort of limit with the gold fish i was thinking six?

and what about the temp changes in the tank, how hot does gold fish go in the summer time.

and what other fish can i use, no i dont want a foot long kio carp, small and colourfull so the grand kids can see then,


i can if i wanted to remove them in the winter and bring them closer to home and more unfrozen temps

 

[DorsetB]

I would think that living inside a bare white IBC would be like being in a room in an asylum!

At least put a £2.00 bag of washed gravel in the bottom, and some Elodea and Myriophyllum (sp?) in there. They are both cheap (free if you are lucky) and grow very quickly.

If you have some roofing felt or dpc sheeting or simmilar, run it round the bottom of the IBC on the outside, all the way round, to a height of 10-12" or so.

And if you can get a couple of 12" pieces of 4" soil pipe or similar, usually for free, chuck those in the bottom as well.

My IBCs freeze solid every winter, so you will want to take the fish out in some of their water and take them home for the winter.

Get 10 x 1 inch or so tiddlers to start, they will grow fast, so don't keep adding fish. Also your grandkids will enjoy watching them grow.

Once you start to get a lot of organics in there, ie fish poop, you will want the plants to use some of it to grow.

See if you can also get some pond snails as the inside of the IBC will get green and slimy otherwise.
If the tap water you mention is aged, it will be fine, otherwise see if you can drain at least a third, and add rainwater.

Let us know how you get on!

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

is there any reason why we cant just sling some gold fish into it as a "fish pond" apart from fish food they dont need oxygenators or any thing else do they?

I guess the responses suggest it was a nice idea but not really practical.

 

[hedgerow pete]

it does seem easy enough to do , i will have to organise the fish and source the plants ect and i will post some pics when i do it , but it wont be untill aprill before i can afford to get every thing organised and set up

 

[Finman]

.
I have kept fishes in a small tanks like 600 litre or 1000 litre.

What happens when you fill it with water?

At once all kind of stuff start to rain into water: pollen, dust, flying animals, birds, frogs, earth worms, dragon fly larvae, moskitoes.... huge amount of dead bees, dead leaves

A pond need some kind of balance
- big plants take nutrients from water and make oxygen
- or algae take their place
- golden fishes eates everything and free swimming green algae take their place.

- without oxygenation the bottom start to rotten and generate stink
- in a month the pond is green slimy dirty water where you cannot see anything.

 

[Luminos]

You might want to think about the local cat/heron/kingfisher etc population and have some sort of netting to cover the top

 

[roche]

I'm pretty sure my IBCs freeze solid in winter - 1 cubic meter ice cubes...

 

[BeeJayBee]

... given a surface area of one metre square whats the sort of limit with the gold fish i was thinking six?

This site says If the pond has no pump, filter or other equipment, in a warm climate, you shouldn't keep more than two 15 centimetre fish per cubic metre (two 6 inch fish per cubic yard). You can keep fish at much higher densities than this, but the chances of them remaining healthy are not good.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2466324


Check online for information about 'above ground' ponds. If you go ahead you will need to insulate the outside of the tank, otherwise it will cook in the summer and freeze in the winter.

Because there won't be any shallow areas in your 'pond' you should net it or cover it with a grating, otherwise you will find dead birds in it. They will fall into an unlidded water butt, so something larger will be more deadly. If children might wander around the allotment when you're not there, can you be sure they won't fall in? IBCs have a nice, climbable cage.

 

[psafloyd]

.
- in a month the pond is green slimy dirty water where you cannot see anything.

At least you'll have a perfect watering hole for the bees!

 

[foxhill]

I have 3 gold fish in my water butt (200l). I have had them in there for 2 years now, the butt is in my polytunnel to stop them freezing in the winter. I have just bought a solar powered air pump to oxygenate the water. Last year I put oxygenating plants in for them but once it got cold they died off and started to make the water stink. I did a few partial water changes and they survived! I am now experiementing with a floating basket full of watercress. The fish waste should feed the watercress and I get a crop from it!

The fish are great at eating all the midge larvae and keeping the flies down.

 

[yeogi75]

frog spawn, and gold fish, a fish bowl with two fish in how many in 1000 ltr ibc, cover outside with straw in winter,in summer use straw for strawberries and mulching and add to compost heap in layers,cover in summer to give some shade, collect plants from local ponds and frog spawn, collect the curly leaved type pond weed wind a thin strip of lead to weight down

 

[Finman]

.
Me and my boy we have 3 "gold fish pool" on our summer cottage yard.
The bottom is this material, flexiple plastic?:

Drinking hole to bees? - thousands of bee bodies on bottom

 

[Hombre]

It would be good to see you trying to squeeze into the 6" hole on the top in your diving kit to get the fish out for the winter Pete!

All the more reason to be concerned about people interested in hydroponics . . . ha ha.