Goldfish in water troughs?

[Hippie Rancher]

I dont heat tanks and only busted ice a few days last winter. Can they survive cold winters?

as long as it doesn't freeze solid they will be fine, and who knows they might even survive total freezing. unless you spend a lot of money on an animal - inverse likelihood of illness or death.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

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.

chems may kill fish (though see comment about money spent on animals)

 

[kenny thomas]

chems may kill fish (though see comment about money spent on animals)

I have several tanks so i can try each thing and see which i like best.

 

[Logan52]

When I worked for the city water plant, we regularly stocked "Grass Carp" in the two 5 acre reservoirs we managed to help keep down algae.
We drained the lakes about once a decade and usually had pickup truck loads of 2 inch bluegills, a few 4 to 6 pound largemouth bass, and maybe one or two 25 pound grass carp come out the drain.
We once had a 25 pound grass carp come into the treatment plant through the intake pipe in the middle of the night. The racket made as he hit the mixing propellers about scared the solo night workman to death.

 

[TCRanch]

When I worked for the city water plant, we regularly stocked "Grass Carp" in the two 5 acre reservoirs we managed to help keep down algae.
We drained the lakes about once a decade and usually had pickup truck loads of 2 inch bluegills, a few 4 to 6 pound largemouth bass, and maybe one or two 25 pound grass carp come out the drain.
We once had a 25 pound grass carp come into the treatment plant through the intake pipe in the middle of the night. The racket made as he hit the mixing propellers about scared the solo night workman to death.

We have a 60-acre watershed lake that's stocked with primarily bass & crappie, some catfish and the occasional rogue gar. 'Bout 7 years ago the Watershed Board partially drained the lake to work on the spillway and some neighbors came over to score a massive fish fry. If I recall, they ended up with 8 old protein tubs filled with fish.

 

[JJColvin]

For the last seven or eight years I've been using Clorox pool spa chlorine tablets. Throw one in the trough and it last several weeks. I've tested the water and it has less chlorine in it than my community water system. Haven't scrubbed algae out of a trough since. For note, chlorine evaporates quickly.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

For the last seven or eight years I've been using Clorox pool spa chlorine tablets. Throw one in the trough and it last several weeks. I've tested the water and it has less chlorine in it than my community water system. Haven't scrubbed algae out of a trough since. For note, chlorine evaporates quickly.

That's what I've been doing since I dug a well 10 years ago. City water stayed cleaner on its own.