Gold fish info

[StirCrazy]

Ok so I got a Oak 1/2 barrel I am making a water fountian/pond out of. I was thinking of throwing a couple feeder in there but I need to know what kind of temp flux a gold fish can handle. it is about 25 gal of water in a wooden barrel above ground and it will have a old well pump spilling water back into it.

Steve

[kellehar]

i just gave rodsboy my goldfish and i kept them at 78F.
But according to the book they can be from 66F to 70F.
Like i said above i kept mine in a warm temp i figure as long as isnt above 80f and below 60 your ok.

hope this helps
Justin

[Ryan]

Dont buy feeders they are not bred to live long. They are so inbred they wont last 3 months. Well most. Go out and get yourself some sarahasa Goldfish. Little more expensive but worth every penny. Also when you buy remeber to choose the fish you like the most from viewing at the top b/c you will never see the side of the fsih :mrgreen:

As for temp fluctuations keep the barrel in the sun for the morning and in the shade for the hot part of the day.

Also Goldfish dont like alot of light so some floating plants like water lily's will help your fish out alot. This was our experience with our pond. Otherwise the fish just stay at the bottom or in the shade.

[Beverly]

Steve,

I would be concerned about the wood deteriorating and causing water quality problems, and probably wouldn't put fish in the barrel. Perhaps run it this summer and see if water quality will be an issue. The wood might also cause low pH. If there aren't water quality and pH problems, I would put fish in it next year.

It probably gets cold enough in your location that you would have to overwinter your fish indoors, unless you can manage to heat just enough for there to be no ice forming. At such cool temps, you won't have to feed the fish all winter.

We had a 110g indoor gf pond a few years back. Had the pond running for over two years. It was stocked with four fish if I remember correctly - 1.5" shubunkin and at least one feeder gf. All grew like crazy while we had them and were over 3.5" long when we found new homes for them because of a house move.

[Tangman]

Ever been to King Ed's they keep there feeder gold fish out doors in a pond so they must handle the temp. flux

[StirCrazy]

Ever been to King Ed's they keep there feeder gold fish out doors in a pond so they must handle the temp. flux

but in how big of a tank, a 25 gal will flux a lot more than a 200 gal if you know what I meen.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Steve,

I would be concerned about the wood deteriorating and causing water quality problems, and probably wouldn't put fish in the barrel. Perhaps run it this summer and see if water quality will be an issue. The wood might also cause low pH. If there aren't water quality and pH problems, I would put fish in it next year.

It probably gets cold enough in your location that you would have to overwinter your fish indoors, unless you can manage to heat just enough for there to be no ice forming. At such cool temps, you won't have to feed the fish all winter.

We had a 110g indoor gf pond a few years back. Had the pond running for over two years. It was stocked with four fish if I remember correctly - 1.5" shubunkin and at least one feeder gf. All grew like crazy while we had them and were over 3.5" long when we found new homes for them because of a house move.

Hey Bev, the average winter temp is 5 here but I plan on shutting down the system in the winter anyways. another thing I was wondering about is it is a coopered barrel, if anyone doesn't know what coopering is it is the process of charing the barrel's inside to seal the wood but that also means the barrel is chared on the inside so I am going to scrape it down a but, but I cannot remember if burnt wood releases anything.

There would be some tannins released into the water but I know this isn't a problem for most fish and as for other stuff, would we make wine in barrels that would release poisions? Good point about PH I will let water sit in it for a couple weeks and see what happens there but I am starting with a PH of about 6.5 anyways, maybe I could put a couple hunks of dead coral in the bottom to bolster the water hardness and PH a bit?

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Dont buy feeders they are not bred to live long. They are so inbred they wont last 3 months. Well most. Go out and get yourself some sarahasa Goldfish. Little more expensive but worth every penny. Also when you buy remeber to choose the fish you like the most from viewing at the top b/c you will never see the side of the fsih :mrgreen:

As for temp fluctuations keep the barrel in the sun for the morning and in the shade for the hot part of the day.

Also Goldfish dont like alot of light so some floating plants like water lily's will help your fish out alot. This was our experience with our pond. Otherwise the fish just stay at the bottom or in the shade.

the only direct light it will get is going to be from about noon untill about 2 as it is in a corner of the front of the house.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

here are a couple pics to show how it will be. we are going to be doing a container flower bed in the area so there will be a bunch of flowpots and such on the graveled area, hence the reason fror the stepping stones to define a path. I also got to get my pump set up and plumbed to the old well hand pump. another question how will using a metal object for a fountian affect the set up?

http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/housefront/close.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/stircrazy/housefront/front.jpg

Steve

[Beverly]

Steve,

GF are excellent swimmers. They like to swim from one end of a tank to the other, especially feeders and other flat bodied GF. For the psychological well being of the fish, I would not put any into a container of such small diameter. JME, though.

As for the burnt wood thing, all I can think of is carbon residue. But what that means for keeping fish, I don't know how that would affect them.

Tannins reduce pH. If you are already starting out with low pH water, then you will certainly have to compensate for these two factors somehow.

What kind of metal will you be using in the barrel? Anything that would oxidize, like iron, would be a bit dangerous. Even copper would oxidize and you'd have too much copper in the system. Don't really know the composition of brass, or how or if it would oxidize.

Anyway, all these points are moot given the fact that the barrel is still too small for GF, ime, over the long term.

Nice idea, though. You could still have a lovely water feature without fish, maybe even with water plants, without all the hassle of worrying about metals, tannins, etc. in that great looking barrel :biggrin:

[Ryan]

Our filter for our pond is an old wiskey barrel from the plant in lethbridge. We just filled it with water and rolled it everyday to get the wiskey out. We then cut the top off and filled it with lava rock. I will get a pic for you if you want. Has never hurt our fish. I seen an article about doing a fish pond in a barrel a while back I will see if i can find it again.

Bev I have never had tannins from a barrel leach into the pond water so i do not think this would be any different.

If you are worried just soak the barrel for a week or two.

Bev does have a point about Goldfish and their swimming. It may be better off to buy some Orandas, Black moors, or Ryunkins (sp?). THey seem to to do the least amount of swimming.

That set up looks good put a water lily in there the wife will love the flower it will grow. This summer we are planning to cut down on some of our water lillies I could save you a choping if you wanted. We have all 3 sizes. Just let me know.

Just remebered you can use the feedeer minnows if you wanted. They only get about 2 inches and are nice to look at in a school of 5.

[Ryan]

Here are some links for you:
http://www.shooterdog.com/barrel.htm
http://www.water-garden-ponds.com/arthalfbarrelpond.htm
http://www.gardenworld.co.uk/project-barrelpond.asp

[StirCrazy]

Steve,

GF are excellent swimmers. They like to swim from one end of a tank to the other, especially feeders and other flat bodied GF. For the psychological well being of the fish, I would not put any into a container of such small diameter. JME, though.



um, the barrel is 2 foot across, and I have seen lots of gold fish in a 20 gal tank which is smaller than the barrel. you realy think they wont have enuf room to swim? I am only think one or two little goldfish.

Steve

[Beverly]

Steve,

When they are 1"-2", they should be okay. But over the longer term, you'd have to upgrade your barrel :razz:

[Ryan]

I think bev is right our goldfish are well over 12 inches. But bev they will be fine up to 4 or 5 inches. This is 5 times their lenght they will be fine. Just from my experience they only swim fast when scared. They mostly just peck at the bottom looking for food.

If you are realy worried just buy the fantails they will be fine.

[snailbuddy]

How about getting some of that rubber pond liner for inside the barrel . . . might solve many problems. I bought feeder goldfish and kept them for 3 years in my pond - over-wintered at a friends house. They grew to about 7 inches, nice and fat! I'd pull them out of the pond when ice began forming - really had no difficulties except for rooming them for the winter. Your winters are much milder, just keep an eye on them and enjoy them.

[pocilipora]

What about getting your metal parts powder coated? Do they make a clear powder coat? Just a thought...

[StirCrazy]

I ended up getting a hard plastic insert designed for barrels and put that in tonight. I am not to worried aboyt the metal as iron isn't harmfull just fuels algae, but I am putting lots of water plants in also so they will take care of that.

Steve

[Samw]

Hi Steve. Any updates on your container pond? I read that Shubunkins reach about 15cm (6") in length. Also, White Cloud mountain minnows are hardy and can survive in cold temperatures down to about 5 Celsius.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/goldfish/ShubunkinGoldfish.php
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/freshwater/cyprinids/whitecloud.html