Baos Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I have a friend who gets his pond filled with I believe rainbow trout every year. he says you don't need a rod to go fishing, just a net. Good eats =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 It is a good thought, don't really like eating fish though. Rather spend time looking at them. Update my goldfish status while i'm at it...I bought 12 feeder fish, and 11 made it. Used salt, melafix and parasite clear on them and there doin great! At first they were all kind shy and swimming all over the tank, but now a few weeks later they swim as a school and come to the front of the tank and beg for food everytime i sit down to watch them. They absolutly go crazy over NLS and are lookin happy and healthy. Doing daily, or every other day water changes/gravel vacuming. One apple snail also doing great at keeping the glass clean. Just noticed today (after a LFS trip) that they seem much bigger than the ones in the store. Our pond is completly full from spring run off and figure in a couple months the water will be warm enough to put them into their new home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgama Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Thats what I have in my pond!!! I bought 3 for 10 cents each last spring when the y were under an inch long... and now the biggest one is 3.5 inches long! they grow pretty fast and did a great job of keeping the bugs under control! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Why don't you just buy 100 feeders and throw them straight in. My friend and I put two comets in his dugout tonight and I'm sure they'll be fine. I'm gonna put in a 100 or so next week as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanGSP Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 The goldfish get too big to eat mosquito larva. Buy the feeder minnows because even the adults will eat the misquito larva. This is what we use in our pond and every year we add 2 dozen just to keep fresh blood. The seem to stop spawning after 2 or 3 years but keep going if we add new ones. They also make good koi food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted May 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 (edited) Why don't you just buy 100 feeders and throw them straight in. My friend and I put two comets in his dugout tonight and I'm sure they'll be fine. I'm gonna put in a 100 or so next week as well. I would have gotten a bunch, but feeders here arn't very cheap..I paid 13bucks for the 12 that i got..so spending hundreds on them is out of the question. Nows a good as time as any to update a bit. I took the 11 out of their 15 gal and put them into a largish heavy duty plastic container on the deck two days ago. It's in the sun for most of the day and i put the HOB filter out there too. Went out this morning and the filter was just dribbling water, and it turns out one of the smaller ones was stuck in the intake not sure if he died cause of the cold, or got sucked in alive. But now we'r down to 10. I'm keeping them on the deck for a couple weeks to give them time to adjust to being in much colder water. And for those of you wondering why I don't just throw them in there..It's cause my bf is kinda leery about the whole thing..So any degradation in the quality of water is going to be directly blamed on my 10 fish. So i'm bein extra careful that they stay alive and I'm allowed to put more in there later on. Edited May 2, 2009 by balikiss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted May 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Here is the container and fishies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 I find some goldfish just don't like cold water. Some individuals will float belly up in cold water, but will recover in hours if you bring them in - my one friend had 3 'wimps' they had to bring in... I would personally hit a petstore next time you are in the city and get those 10-25 cent mountain clouds. Yeah they are small, and 25% usually never make it, but I find them much better bug control than the fatheads. Those that live breed pretty readily. I would call to find out if they have them and the prices - some places will give discounts if you buy so many (eg. I buy 50 and they only charge me for 40). I wouldn't add mosquito fish, they can get pretty aggressive - tearing up fins of other fish. Good mosquito control, lousy fishy companions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted May 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 I find some goldfish just don't like cold water. Some individuals will float belly up in cold water, but will recover in hours if you bring them in - my one friend had 3 'wimps' they had to bring in...I would personally hit a petstore next time you are in the city and get those 10-25 cent mountain clouds. Yeah they are small, and 25% usually never make it, but I find them much better bug control than the fatheads. Those that live breed pretty readily. I would call to find out if they have them and the prices - some places will give discounts if you buy so many (eg. I buy 50 and they only charge me for 40). I wouldn't add mosquito fish, they can get pretty aggressive - tearing up fins of other fish. Good mosquito control, lousy fishy companions. well the remaining 10 are doing good. swimming happily about their bigger container. I can't use any fish that won't be surviving the winter, so goldfish are my best and cheapest bet for right now. so far the goldie arn't that big. the largest of them being maybe 3 inches. i know that in the future they will be getting too big to be interested in misquito larvae, but i'm hoping that they will beed and thus produce small enough fish to eat up all those irritating buggers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddio Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 hey everyone. thought i'd run an idea by you all and see what you think. all comments are welcome. So i have a very large pond aka the dug out (some of you who live out of town know what i'm talking about). The pond is about 120feet long, 50 wide, and at least 10 deep all year around..It's approx 673000 gallons lol. The problem is that all this water breeds alot of mosquitos. I was thinking about getting a dozen cheap feeder goldfish and raising them up a little in a 20 gal rubbermaid container and then putting them in the pond in the late spring. Do you think they would survive the winter? The pond is aerated all year round and is usually a hole in the ice all the time. How about putting a dent in the mosquito population? Any thoughts would be very welcome! I wish I had a pond that big in my backyard! Keep us updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddio Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Why don't you just buy 100 feeders and throw them straight in. My friend and I put two comets in his dugout tonight and I'm sure they'll be fine. I'm gonna put in a 100 or so next week as well. I would have gotten a bunch, but feeders here arn't very cheap..I paid 13bucks for the 12 that i got..so spending hundreds on them is out of the question. Nows a good as time as any to update a bit. I took the 11 out of their 15 gal and put them into a largish heavy duty plastic container on the deck two days ago. It's in the sun for most of the day and i put the HOB filter out there too. Went out this morning and the filter was just dribbling water, and it turns out one of the smaller ones was stuck in the intake not sure if he died cause of the cold, or got sucked in alive. But now we'r down to 10. I'm keeping them on the deck for a couple weeks to give them time to adjust to being in much colder water. And for those of you wondering why I don't just throw them in there..It's cause my bf is kinda leery about the whole thing..So any degradation in the quality of water is going to be directly blamed on my 10 fish. So i'm bein extra careful that they stay alive and I'm allowed to put more in there later on. You should visit the city sometime and just stock up on feeders, I mean they're like 10 cents each or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted May 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 As i'v said before..Not around here they arn't. In peace river you pretty much pay a dollar for a feeder fish, i'd have to drive two hours to grande prairie to get cheap feeder fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted August 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Do a bit of an update. So I put all 10 fish into the pond at the end of may or so. And then I didn't see them and assumed that they had either got eaten by the muskrat or a crow or something. And then last week while riding my horse around the pond I saw a big school of them! Counted all ten there still. They are so bright and colourful now! Must be all that natural food. They seem to be about five or more inches long now. Can't believe how big they've grown in just a few short months. I'll try and get a couple pictures next time I ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanGSP Posted August 25, 2009 Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Try Minnows next year. They will never get big enough to stop eating the mosquito larvea like the goldfish will. Depending on how deep your pond is the goldfish should make it through the winter. Ours is 4.5 feet deep and they make it okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balikiss Posted August 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2009 Minnows? like white clouds? will they survive the winter tho. Our pond should be at least 12 feet deep. Did you aerate ur pond all winter?? Thats the only thing i'm not sure about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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