That's great to hear John! I'm glad they reacted quick enough to escape the heron in the first place. Will their newfound fear of shadows moving over the pond make it challenging to remove them for the winter? Or do you use some sort of traps in the water? I can't imagine they'll sit still for repeated cast net attempts.
outdoor stock tanks...successes and failures
- Thread starter jjohnwm
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I've tried traps of several kinds, catch lots of the fry that way but never an adult. The same intelligence that I commented on earlier makes them too wary for traps. Even an umbrella net doesn't work very well, and my pond is way too small for a cast net. Some midnight dipnetting will be done likely with limited success, but sadly there will be a wet, miserable, likely cold and altogether unpleasant day coming soon when I will be forced to go into the pond after them. 
It's not my favourite part of goldfish keeping.
It's not my favourite part of goldfish keeping.
Shorter memories than what?
Only kidding, really happy to hear that some of them have survived albeit now in a mood to make bringing them back indoors more of a challenge.
Only kidding, really happy to hear that some of them have survived albeit now in a mood to make bringing them back indoors more of a challenge.
More like a cross-over; The Three Stooges meet Kramer from Seinfeld.
Saw another impressive example of goldfish intelligence yesterday, or at least that's how I interpreted it. I had just gotten a cold shower from the new motion-sensor sprinkler, by stepping off the deck to reach something. Stepped into the house for a dry shirt, got distracted by the phone, made a coffee, blah, blah, blah. I stepped to the window to look out at the pond, and sure enough, there was that long-nosed skinny sumbitch standing on the deck (outside of sensor sweep). It looked to me as though he might be able to stab down into the water from the deck if the goldies came too close, as they do for hand-outs.
I charged back to the door and into the yard, sending the would-be thief squawking and flying. I walked down to the pond-side deck and peered into the water.
Not a fish to be seen. The goldies had been gurgling and slurping at the surface when I had been there earlier, but the heron had sent them running. I didn't see one for the rest of the day. This morning, they were back to their normal obsequious selves, begging for food.
Okay, it doesn't exactly qualify them for Mensa membership, but it's difficult not to interpret their action as an indication that they can discern the difference between me and a heron...and further, that they understand the difference. Heron: bad. Me: good.
Pretty impressive, IMHO.
Nighttime temps are in the mid-positive-single digits Celsius lately. Stock tank temps so far have stayed in the mid-teens but today the daytime temp only got up to 13, so out of an abundance of caution I have begun moving the most sensitive fish indoors. What a PITA! l spent a couple hours slowly sifting the Jordanellas out of their tank; they shared it with Bristlenose Plecos who don't tolerate the cold as well as some of my other fish, so they were my first project. Catching the adults is merely inconvenient; finding and catching this year's fry, many of whom are barely a quarter-inch long, is sheer tedious torture.
It never ceases to amaze me to learn how cold the temperature can be for some of the species of fish that are sold as "tropical".
I spent the past couple days, mostly in cold rain, bringing my fish indoors from the stocktanks in the yard where they spent their summer. The past two mornings, the water temperature has been well below 50F, down to a low of 42F one morning, and the fish were fine. Green Swordtails become very quiescent at about 50F but bounce right back as the water warms; Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus and Cichlasoma dimerus have somewhat reduced appetites but are still very active and alert; Amecas, Jordanella flagfish, Corydoras paleatus (no, I'm not bothering to find the newest/latest/greatest name for them...deal with it!), Oryzias ricefish, Macropodus paradisefish, all "weathered the weather" without a hitch.
They all go into a 5-gallon bucket of water from the stocktank and brought into the basement fish room, which is currently around 62F. It takes only a few hours for the water to reach ambient temperatures, at which point the fish are transferred to their tanks. Makes me laugh when I read about people taking several days to alter the water temperature by a couple degrees.
I spent the past couple days, mostly in cold rain, bringing my fish indoors from the stocktanks in the yard where they spent their summer. The past two mornings, the water temperature has been well below 50F, down to a low of 42F one morning, and the fish were fine. Green Swordtails become very quiescent at about 50F but bounce right back as the water warms; Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus and Cichlasoma dimerus have somewhat reduced appetites but are still very active and alert; Amecas, Jordanella flagfish, Corydoras paleatus (no, I'm not bothering to find the newest/latest/greatest name for them...deal with it!), Oryzias ricefish, Macropodus paradisefish, all "weathered the weather" without a hitch.
They all go into a 5-gallon bucket of water from the stocktank and brought into the basement fish room, which is currently around 62F. It takes only a few hours for the water to reach ambient temperatures, at which point the fish are transferred to their tanks. Makes me laugh when I read about people taking several days to alter the water temperature by a couple degrees.
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Definitely with you on this mate. People have some funny management strategiesMakes me laugh when I read about people taking several days to alter the water temperature by a couple degrees.
My outdoor tanks' quirks and foibles have extended indoors and into my basement fish room. Adding a healthy dash of my own stupidity results in problems.
My 6 Paradise Fish (Macropodus opercularis) grew big and beautiful outdoors in their rainwater barrel. They transitioned without incident down into the basement, where they were installed into a tank with some cats, some livebearers, a bunch of plants from outdoors...and also, to my horror, one of those monstrous Dytiscid water beetles that snuck in with the plants. These buggers are close to 1.5 inches in length and are voracious predators, probably one of the most destructive pest species I am forced to accept as one of the challenges of outdoor fish-keeping. They actively pursue, catch and kill fish much larger than themselves with ease.
So, seeing one of these critters casually swimming through the water of the tank was a bit of a shock. I grabbed a net but the thing had already gone into hiding, so rather than tear up the tank I took a minnow-trap, baited it with a Massivore pellet, and lowered it into the tank, smugly congratulating myself on how smart I was and how quickly I reacted to the menace; I won't comment on the fact that the dang beetle must have been in there for well over a week before I even noticed it.
Whenever I see large numbers of these beetles outdoors, I use one or two of these traps and usually find them full of drowned beetles the very next day. Went back downstairs later in the evening. Yep, there was the beetle, drowned and dead in the trap...and so were all six of my Paradise Fish.
Did I know that Paradise Fish require access to the surface for air? Yes. Did I know that they would eat almost anything? Yes. Did I actually think it through and see the danger inherent in my plan? Uh...no...
I hate getting up in the morning and going about my day without actually waking up first.
My 6 Paradise Fish (Macropodus opercularis) grew big and beautiful outdoors in their rainwater barrel. They transitioned without incident down into the basement, where they were installed into a tank with some cats, some livebearers, a bunch of plants from outdoors...and also, to my horror, one of those monstrous Dytiscid water beetles that snuck in with the plants. These buggers are close to 1.5 inches in length and are voracious predators, probably one of the most destructive pest species I am forced to accept as one of the challenges of outdoor fish-keeping. They actively pursue, catch and kill fish much larger than themselves with ease.
So, seeing one of these critters casually swimming through the water of the tank was a bit of a shock. I grabbed a net but the thing had already gone into hiding, so rather than tear up the tank I took a minnow-trap, baited it with a Massivore pellet, and lowered it into the tank, smugly congratulating myself on how smart I was and how quickly I reacted to the menace; I won't comment on the fact that the dang beetle must have been in there for well over a week before I even noticed it.
Whenever I see large numbers of these beetles outdoors, I use one or two of these traps and usually find them full of drowned beetles the very next day. Went back downstairs later in the evening. Yep, there was the beetle, drowned and dead in the trap...and so were all six of my Paradise Fish.
Did I know that Paradise Fish require access to the surface for air? Yes. Did I know that they would eat almost anything? Yes. Did I actually think it through and see the danger inherent in my plan? Uh...no...
I hate getting up in the morning and going about my day without actually waking up first.
Today marked the beginning of the removal of goldfish from the inground pond. My homemade trap was in the pond for a couple weeks, snagged a couple dozen youngsters ranging up to 2 inches in length but none of the big guys. I was dreading this task...
So yesterday I dropped a submersible utility pump into the pond and ran the drain hose out across the lawn and into the pasture. I turned it on for about 10 minutes at a time throughout the day, draining the water very gradually so that all the goldies hiding in the cattail corner would make their way into the main body of the pond rather than being caught and stranded in the thicket. By evening the water was about half gone, and the cattail corner was high and dry, no longer accessible to the fish.
This morning I wandered out to the pond with a couple of long-handled landing nets, and within a half hour I had captured a half-dozen of the large goldies and another dozen or so small fry...all while remaining high, dry and clean myself. Took them inside in a 5-gallon bucket, left them on the floor next to their winter quarters for a couple hours while the temperature equalized, and then unceremoniously plopped the big guys into the tank. The fry went into a much smaller aquarium until I decide what to do with them.
The capture went so well, so smoothly, that I suspect I could have gotten them all if I repeated the exercise a few more times throughout the day. However, the biomass of even the six I caught probably came close to doubling the total biomass of the tank, which contained only a couple dozen 2-inch Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus, a pair of adult Cichlasoma dimerus, a foot-long pleco and a small handful of assorted loaches and others. I want to add the goldies in stages over several days to avoid the possibility of an ammonia spike.
This whole operation...at least compared to the dog-and-pony shows of the last couple years...was a piece of cake. I'm looking forward to enjoying the goldies throughout the winter months in comfort.
So yesterday I dropped a submersible utility pump into the pond and ran the drain hose out across the lawn and into the pasture. I turned it on for about 10 minutes at a time throughout the day, draining the water very gradually so that all the goldies hiding in the cattail corner would make their way into the main body of the pond rather than being caught and stranded in the thicket. By evening the water was about half gone, and the cattail corner was high and dry, no longer accessible to the fish.
This morning I wandered out to the pond with a couple of long-handled landing nets, and within a half hour I had captured a half-dozen of the large goldies and another dozen or so small fry...all while remaining high, dry and clean myself. Took them inside in a 5-gallon bucket, left them on the floor next to their winter quarters for a couple hours while the temperature equalized, and then unceremoniously plopped the big guys into the tank. The fry went into a much smaller aquarium until I decide what to do with them.
The capture went so well, so smoothly, that I suspect I could have gotten them all if I repeated the exercise a few more times throughout the day. However, the biomass of even the six I caught probably came close to doubling the total biomass of the tank, which contained only a couple dozen 2-inch Gymnogeophagus rhabdotus, a pair of adult Cichlasoma dimerus, a foot-long pleco and a small handful of assorted loaches and others. I want to add the goldies in stages over several days to avoid the possibility of an ammonia spike.
This whole operation...at least compared to the dog-and-pony shows of the last couple years...was a piece of cake. I'm looking forward to enjoying the goldies throughout the winter months in comfort.
