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fish in a barrel
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Posted by gerina (My Page) on Fri, Jul 25, 08 at 17:56
| I hope that somebody can answer a couple of questions for me. I have an old wine barrel which was cut in half. It holds approximately 30 gallons of water, some water hyacinth (some stowaway snails), 6 baby koi that were being sold at the local pet store as feeder fish (six for $1) and one anonymous feeder fish. The two largest koi are about 2.5" long and the rest are about 1" - 1.5" in length. I have a solar pump that runs during the day unless we have fog. I am guessing that the water is oxygenated well enough because we have had consecutive days of fog and the fish seem to be fine and getting bigger.
The water is still clear, but I can see some velvety green growth on the sides of the barrel, as well as some little bits of uneaten food on the bottom. Do I need to clean this? If so, is it safe to change out all of the water at once? I feel like I should scrub and rinse out the barrel. Also, I have a second barrel and I imagine at some point there will be too many fish for one. At what point do I thin the herd?
Any other pointers are welcome because I don't know what I am doing. I only got the fish because I have a large potted plant on top of a block in the water and I didn't want mosquitoes. I have gotten very attached to these fish and I don't want to harm them.
Thanks in advance for your help. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: fish in a barrel
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| You found koi being sold as feeder fish,,wow,, I am not an expert but have 4 ponds of my own, the largest being about 2500 gallons, and I only have 3 koi in it, and some goldies, I am thinking you are gonna get alot of people on here telling you 6 koi in a barrel are way too many and not healthy at all, these fish need filtration at all times and lots of it,,all fish are "dirty", and release alot of toxins into the water, that are dangerous to them, a solar pump is only circulating the water, not doing anything to clean it, if you want something to control mosquitos in a small environment, I might suggest mosquito dunks or some "rosey reds" which are sold pretty cheap at the pet store, I hope you dont think I am being harsh, I am only trying to help, best of luck |
RE: fish in a barrel
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| Thanks for you input - not harsh at all. After posting this and realizing that this board wasn't getting a lot of hits, I began reading many of the threads. I totally understand what you are saying and I have a client w/a 2500 gallon pond who will take the little guys. I did change out most of their water and they seem to be fine, so I guess that's at least good. Thanks again. AND...they really are koi. The guy at the pet store said that it was killing him to sell them as feeders. |
RE: fish in a barrel
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| Don't jump to conclustions to fast if these are still that small they will do fine for a while, you can do a cleaning for a barrel by syphoning the water from the bottom with a small air hose. if you want to get rid of the waste in the bottom just rub the bottom with your hand as you guide the hose around it. then when it's as clean as you want you can add fresh water. If the water get green the fish love it, we are the ones who think the water should be clear, so we can see the fish. Koi and gold fish nibble on the green stuff. Have you ever seen green fish flakes? Did you know that mosquito larva are what baby koi and gold fish love and can really grow on. But mosquito are to smart to lay their larva in a water sorce with fish in it. When we bred our koi and the babies hatched we fed them all the larva that we could find, that's when they get big enough to get one in their mouth lol. Anyway just a little advise, keep the fish if you want and you will now when they outgrow their space. |
Here is a link that might be useful: koigardening
RE: fish in a barrel
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| Thanks for the input. My little fish family appears to be doing well. I haven't seen any floaters nor anyone on the bottom. I'm sure you're right, I will know when its the right time to move them. Thanks again. |
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