Goldfish in water troughs?

[farmerjan]

Also, they never get taken out for the winter or anything... the troughs never freeze all the way down...no heaters in any of these troughs... big concrete water troughs.... way too far from any electric anyway..... we also break the ice in the winter if it gets too thick for the cows... I use some of the "salt water" in gallon jugs floating in there so the cows will move them around some too.... and what little salt water is in there... if it does break... as one did a few years back... it is not enough to hurt the cows or the goldfish either...

 

[CowboyRam]

You mean barley straw, right? I've heard a pillowcase sized bag of then that controls algae.= but have not tried it.

I've had several common golfish in each of my cow tanks for years to eat the mosquitos larvae. There are zero mosquitos around here since I did that. I buy little 25 cent feeder goldfish at the pet store. People feed them to carnivorous Oscar fish. In a year they are 6 or 8 inches long with a bright orange color living on their natural food. What I do is separate the slender males from the fatter females in the tanks. Otherwise they will reproduce like mad mostly brown fish and a population explosion. If you have too many fish the fish poop makes the cattle not want to drink it. Several times a year I dump out my tanks and save the goldfish in a bucket to put them back. The goldfishfish survive the winter with thin ice sheets just fine. I also have some in my little ornimental fish pond.

Yes barley straw.

 

[Travlr]

Yes barley straw.

Never heard of that... Learn something new every day.

 

[kenny thomas]

Fish Wagon from Arkansas stops near here tomorrow. Im gonna buy a few and try.
I like the copper sulfate or bleach idea and will try it next spring. Might try all 3 and see which i like best.

 

[farmerjan]

@kenny thomas .... I would start out with 10 for the 300-400 gallon troughs double that for bigger ones... There are going to be some casualties/losses... the more algae/weeds, the more fish... seriously... I keep at least 4-10 in each trough... some years I have to catch some out of one and move to a different trough if some have gotten eaten by a heron or something. They do reproduce some years... other years don't seem to have any small fry survive...

 

[Hpacres440p]

We have a batch in one trough that are doing great. Killed off the few in another trough by letting the cows in right after fly pour on applied. They don't like that apparently.

 

[farmerjan]

Because all our troughs have overflows/outlets... several are on springs that the water flows in and out constantly..2 have no floats... just gravity feed into and constant outflow......runs into little streams/creeks.... I will NOT use anything like copper sulfate or anything that can poison the water supply... a little chlorine bleach is not going to do much damage... we drink chlorine in city water supplies....( I don't drink city water... but it won't kill you in small amounts). Used to dump a gallon of chlorine bleach into our old hand dug well once or twice a year... it was about 15 ft around and 25-30 ft deep... drank that water for years... All woods and such around it for miles... undeveloped land.. gravity flow to the house...

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I recently had a problem (a fish problem) with bloat. There was a big mayfly hatch down at the river. Billions and billions of mayflys in the air. There was a spinner fall (that is when the mayflies come back to water, die and float on the water). My trough fish gourged on mayflies and bloated. These were big orange fish I had for years. When fish bloat it's because of constipation and it messes up their swim bladders. They struggle upside down and ultimately perish. So I scooped them all up and put them in buckets with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 of epsom salt per gallon for 3 hours. The salt dehydrates them so they can pass the mayfly fish poop and all my fish recoverd.

 

[Travlr]

I recently had a problem (a fish problem) with bloat. There was a big mayfly hatch down at the river. Billions and billions of mayflys in the air. There was a spinner fall (that is when the mayflies come back to water, die and float on the water). My trough fish gourged on mayflies and bloated. These were big orange fish I had for years. When fish bloat it's because of constipation and it messes up their swim bladders. They struggle upside down and ultimately perish. So I scooped them all up and put them in buckets with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 of epsom salt per gallon for 3 hours. The salt dehydrates them so they can pass the mayfly fish poop and all my fish recoverd.

Well I'm not really into bloating fish... but I gotta say that I would have liked to see that and how it works. Kinda fascinating.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

I've had producers put goldfish in troughs in the past to control algae. It can be effective, as long as the water doesn't heat up too much or freeze. Goldfish are very hardy. Do realize that you are giving wildlife an opportunity to "shoot fish in a barrel" (pun intended) if you do this. The herons, egrets and coons will thank you for the opportunity. Copper sulfate works well and is pretty much instant. Old copper pipe, wiring, pennies, etc, also work well. The sulfate dissipates over time. The solid metal does not, but takes longer to be effective. Once effective, it's permanent if left in place. A word of caution. Don't use copper/copper sulfate with sheep! It's toxic to the point of even death. Cattle aren't fazed. Barley straw is highly effective and is organic, and the wildlife won't 'fish' it out.

Personally, I'd use some old copper pipe (don't like the idea of wire with a possibility of hardware disease) that I've rubbed with some sandpaper (remove oxidation, more effective) or the buckwheat straw, if you can get some. A bundle 4-6" in diameter and 10-20" long should treat a tank for a long time.

 

[mayesfarm]

Are goldfish the only species that will live in a tank? I have wondered about using a tire tank as sort of a live well for perch or redeye...

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Are goldfish the only species that will live in a tank? I have wondered about using a tire tank as sort of a live well for perch or redeye...

Depends on what you mean by 'live'. Use of a tank as a live well will work given the right weather conditions. I'm not a native fish expert, but I think perch and red(ear?) would be ok for a time in a tank. I have heard of catfish being kept in livestock tanks at times, but it's usually goldfish.

 

[Travlr]

Depends on what you mean by 'live'. Use of a tank as a live well will work given the right weather conditions. I'm not a native fish expert, but I think perch and red(ear?) would be ok for a time in a tank. I have heard of catfish being kept in livestock tanks at times, but it's usually goldfish.

I tried guppies once, thinking they would multiply and I could use them to stock other tanks, but they were too fragile. They'd breed in the summer but die quick when it got cold. And they were hard to catch because they were hard to see.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

I tried guppies once, thinking they would multiply and I could use them to stock other tanks, but they were too fragile. They'd breed in the summer but die quick when it got cold. And they were hard to catch because they were hard to see.

Yep. Guppies are known for being the "rabbits" of the tropical fish world. The key there is tropical. Arkansas and SD don't quite fit that bill. Not in the winter anyway.

 

[Katpau]

We have had goldfish in stock-tanks for years. We have 16 tanks spread out over the ranch. Some tanks reproduce rapidly, while others never do and eventually die off. Predators, like birds or raccoons, can empty a tank and occasionally I will find an entire tank of fish floating dead from an unknown cause. The young fish are always brown when I first see them, but eventually turn to whatever color genetics dictated. I have throw the little brown fish in my aquarium, and every one was eventually red or red and white like the fish in the stock tank. They do leave a lot of poop on the bottom.

 

[Ouachita]

They do leave a lot of poop on the bottom.

You'll get consistent floaters if you add some fiber to the diet

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

This is my first year using goldfish in the tanks. So far I am very pleased. Have always used the bleach tablets in the past. They are keeping them clean. I don't feed them anything. Haven't noticed any more respiratory issues than normal. I have 500 gallon and 1000 gallon troughs. I got them at petsmart, think they were about a quarter a piece.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I've never lost any water trough gold fish to predators except I think a bullfrog ate some out of my litttle fish pond. Must have caught them under water. I captured the frog with a net aftet bailing out the fish pond. Let him go in the river JugORum

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

When I had fish in my tank the black birds by the dozens would sit on the rim of the tank. Then all at once a bunch would lunge and come out with fish. Wasn't uncommon to find a goldfish 40 feet from the tank after it was dropped.

 

[sme.misfit.farms]

They do leave a lot of sediment at the bottom. I have two large koi, a chubby ranchu cross, "poor man's koi," and goldfish my mother swear are koi. I haven't noticed any respiratory issues with the cows and we're going on year 3. It's a large tank with a cinder block so they can hide and I added two lilies just for fun. I enjoy watching them and seeing the calves spook when the fish boop them. Goal was to use them for the algae which they do help a lot on, and sell baby koi for a silly side hustle. The goldfish, if they reproduce, will be used for duck food . I do dump and pressure wash 2/3x per year but it's more for myself. The cows don't seem to mind either way