Outside tubs in summer for breeding

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warhawk

warhawk

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 26, 2015
137
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Indiana
How many people keep small tubs with fish outside in the summer? I have read how many people do this and have pretty good luck breeding fish. A few years ago I had a small kiddie pool that I keep guppies in and they did okay I ended up with a good number of fry but not sure if it was any different the keeping in the 20g tank in the fish room.

I was talking to a employee at a fish store and he told me how he uses tubs to breed bettas over the summer. He would set up 3-4 tubs with some easy plants and let the water turn green, put 1 male and 2 females in each tub then at the end of the summer pull hundreds of fry just had to feed them once in a while, It does sound easy but he could be way off. This got me to thinking about keeping some fish in some tubs I have this summer. While I would like to breed betta I think I want to do some other fish, but not sure what to try. I'm thinking White cloud Minnows would be cool or maybe some live bearers. This would give me a reason to pick up a group of Swordtails or mollies which I would love to do but i don't know.

I'm thinking I could set the tubs out around middle of May they around June add fish, that should give the micro food to start growing and by June the water should stay pretty warm. Then late Aug or Sept could pull the fish out and see how it worked. For Tubs I have a 55g barrel with the top cut off, two large round buckets about 25g each and one 35g. As long as I keep them in the shade in the middle of the day they shouldn't get too hot.


Anyone else do this?
 
I have one, it's just under 25 gallons. I have used mine for keeping warmwater fish outdoors but it currently houses small goldfish from my big pond. Once those are gone I want to breed some livebearers or just leave it unstocked to attract amphibians. I leave mine outdoors year-round; it gets a good cleaning every spring and autumn though. Whether you leave yours outdoor or take them inside is your choice, if you have cold-water plants (like I do) it's easier to leave them outside, though.

A few pointers:

-where do you live? This obviously has a massive influence on the matter
-unless you are in a really cold climate, I would set them up in late March, not just may, that way the plants, algae and whatever else will have time to get established. When you add the fish of course depends on the species and your location.
-I have had problems stocking fish that came directly from a store, they have a hard time coping with the new situation and the temperature fluctuations at once, so ideally get the fish from another hobbyist or your own tanks.
-because of the temperature swings these small tubs have, it's ideal to place them where they will recieve lots of sun in the morning and evening, and less in midday.
-it is much easier for cats, raccoons etc to access the fish in small tubs so make sure they can't

That's all I can think of for now. I'd definitely recommend doing it though, mine is huge fun and the fish look insane.
 
Thanks for the info.

I'm in Northern Indiana so in March it will often get below freezing about half the month. Normally April it doesn't freeze but this spring it has been warmer then normal I could set up them this month I guess.

I have been looking at getting some "native" fish from one of the local creeks because some of awesome looking and those should do well in a mini pond. I didn't think about the store bought fish having a issue but that is a good point.

I'm thinking about putting them on the west side of my house and it gets sun after about 3:00. Plus it won't be seen by the wife every time we go out side so that keeper her happy. I could also make some screen lids for the ponds to keep any cats or raccoons out. I had forgotten until I read that but I remember something getting into the pond a few years ago I assumed it was a cat. We say rocks moved around but never lost fish we knew off.

I was thinking for plants I could add some duckweed or maybe pick up some Water lilies. Or maybe some other stuff too many options.
 
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Sounds good mate. I'd check with local authorities before catching wild fish, though.

As for plants, you can use common aquarium plants or collect some from the wild (again, with caution)
I have tried some from my big pond and duckweed (goldfish eat it though), also have a water lilly now but only put it in last autumn so will see it flowers this summer.

I know some people here keep lotos in theirs, the tubs heat up very fast and where you are you should have really hot summers so you could give that a try. One of the most beautiful plants around.
 
I have done this for several years in a row.
I use the rubbermaid "stock tanks" from Tractor Supply. Sometimes you can find a reef person that is quitting the hobby who is selling these (they are popular to use as sumps).
I have had to replace the plug on all the "new" ones, with a bulkhead and then use a PVC valve.. The stock plug will leak. That is another good reason to buy used from a reef person, they have probably already replaced the plug. Be careful buying from random people on CL. I got a bad one that way and it was a huge PITA to get my money back, so now I only buy them used from fish people.

Anyhow, I have three that are 110 gallons and one that is 50 gallons.
The 50 gallon one is nice and shallow with a huge surface area. I don't bother to put any kind of aeration in that one. Last summer I put 5 guppies in there (along with fake plants). At the end of the summer, it was packed. I had to put them all in a 55 gallon tank and I had hundreds to give away.

I put a sponge filter and powerhead in the 100 gallon tubs. I have grown swordtails, mollies , platies in those. In general, they do very well.

This summer, I am going to lay down some breeding grass to catch eggs and try some egg layers. I have heard that barbs, white clouds, rice fish, grouamis, and danios do great and breed. My friend puts rainbows in his pond with mops.

On my 50 gallon, the tub is not high, so at night i cover with a netting material to keep raccons out. I have not had problems with herons.. I think my fish are so small , they do not bother.

I live in a simliar climate to you. I put the tubs out in May and let the water go green.
Sometimes I seed the tubs with daphnia so the fish have a ton of live food when they go in.
It is a good idea to get a tub of daphnia going too.. gives you lots of live food. I put the fish in on June, and usaually pull them out in the beginning of September, because I want to be safe.

One word of caution, you do not want to be in a panic situation where you come home from work, it is dark and you need to empty out all the tubs lol.. Plan ahead, better to bring them in a week or two too early than too late.

When you bring the fish back inside.. I put the fish in a bucket and let the temperature acclimate.. It will probably be colder outside than inside. I will slowly add a little warm water from the tank (A cup or two at a time) to speed up the acclimation.

Lastly , be very careful with pond plants. If you use them, they need to be fishless for about a month so any lice on the plants die.. One year, all my fish got infected from some water lilies..
Last year, I had the plants in buckets for the month of May (bringing in when it was cold) to avoid that.. I am not sure it is worth it though.. I like using cloth mesh as fake plants for livebearers..

I will try to remember to do a thread on my tubs this summer.. good luck.
 
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I keep a sterilite container on my deck with water in it to grow mosquito larvae to feed my tetras
 
I have bred many fish outside spring thru fall in WI, and find fish that are able to withstand large temp swings do the best. If in a sunlit area, water temps can get extremely high, but at night fall in the same manner fall if the tubs are too small. The most persistent predators in my area raccoons, they would eat the heads off fish, and leave the headless bodie on the patio. I had to make water depth at least 2 ft deep to stop the carnage.
Non-natives that have worked for me are paradise fish (Macropodus), Tilapines, southern Brasilian and Uruguayan species such as Australoheros, Gymnogeophgus, Geo braziliensus and Cichlasome dimmers, and some of the high altitude Mexican live bearers such a Xenatoca which tolerate extreme day night swings.
Fish from stable temp regions have not worked well.
I have found using a pond as a sump helps to keep temps stable (pump in pond, circulating water to tubs or tanks and draining by gravity to the pond)
Below is a 55 gal tank I kept in the back yard, with Australoheros sp Red CEibal, using a 1000 gallons as sump.

Sunlight induced algae was a great fry food source
For cichlids the 300 gallon rubbermaid stock tanks worked well

for larger cichlids like Coptodon zillii 1000 gal kiddy pools were
 
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Thanks everyone.

I think I'm going to try it this year for sure. Do you guys think a 25g would be enough water to keep the temp from swinging too far? I do have three more 55g barrels I could cut the top off for more water or cut in half to give me six 25g tubs.

If I can pull this off I will invest in some of the large 100 tubs.

For plants I think I will stick with aquarium plants I can pick up or cut offs from my tanks.
 
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