Snow

[gnipper 6,509]

5 hours ago, BEARINATOR said:

Sick of taking ice off the pond might bring the fish in for the cold weather to keep them growing on 

Mine had nearly emptied itself yesterday morning with the filter outlet frozen up so it overflowed instead. Fish sat in about 5 inch of water at the bottom and a frozen hose so couldn't top it up. 

[mel b 2,624]

1 minute ago, gnipper said:

Mine had nearly emptied itself yesterday morning with the filter outlet frozen up so it overflowed instead. Fish sat in about 5 inch of water at the bottom and a frozen hose so couldn't top it up. 

Depending on how big your pond is , you can get pond heaters . The one I used to use , was like a fish tank heater , only inside a stainless steel tube , and with a polystyrene collar , so that it floated on the surface of the pond , and keeps the water just above freezing  .  

My pond isn't that big ,10' x 10' , so a bigger pond might be much harder to stop freezing. 

[gnipper 6,509]

Mine is only a converted ibc tank so not worth the expense of heating.

[mel b 2,624]

1 hour ago, gnipper said:

Mine is only a converted ibc tank so not worth the expense of heating.

That just made me think about one of the farms that I shoot on . All of the cattle drinkers around the fields had goldfish in them.

[gnipper 6,509]

Mine started as a water butt for the shed but had mozzy larvae in so put a couple of goldfish in it to sort them out and from there progressed to the ibc with a home made filter. The fish are happy enough and they get fresh water from the gutters every time it rains.

[keepdiggin 9,561]

Just now, gnipper said:

Mine started as a water butt for the shed but had mozzy larvae in so put a couple of goldfish in it to sort them out and from there progressed to the ibc with a home made filter. The fish are happy enough and they get fresh water from the gutters every time it rains.

Any pictures mate like the sound of that 

[mel b 2,624]

5 minutes ago, gnipper said:

Mine started as a water butt for the shed but had mozzy larvae in so put a couple of goldfish in it to sort them out and from there progressed to the ibc with a home made filter. The fish are happy enough and they get fresh water from the gutters every time it rains.

I like the sound of that as well . I wonder if trout could be grown on in a set up like that . 

[gnipper 6,509]

They probably could, I think I've seen videos on YouTube of people growing trout in an ibc hydroponics system along with tilapia.

[BEARINATOR 2,871]

40 minutes ago, mel b said:

That just made me think about one of the farms that I shoot on . All of the cattle drinkers around the fields had goldfish in them.

Eat the bloodworm that turn in to midge’s and the other stuff in the water mate

[gnipper 6,509]

12 minutes ago, keepdiggin said:

Any pictures mate like the sound of that 

It's nowt fancy but does the job

The water butt to the left is full of filter media and I have a little fountain pump going into it from the pond and overflows back into the pond.

Edited December 3, 2023 by gnipper

[mel b 2,624]

2 minutes ago, gnipper said:

They probably could, I think I've seen videos on YouTube of people growing trout in an ibc hydroponics system along with tilapia.

I could set up something like that in my woodland,  with water running in from the shed roof. I'd always have fresh trout for the bbq  

[mackem 27,029]

4 minutes ago, gnipper said:

They probably could, I think I've seen videos on YouTube of people growing trout in an ibc hydroponics system along with tilapia.

Used to be known as guppy-phonics.

[mel b 2,624]

2 minutes ago, gnipper said:

It's nowt fancy but does the job

You've made a tidy job of that mate

[gnipper 6,509]

1 minute ago, mel b said:

I could set up something like that in my woodland,  with water running in from the shed roof. I'd always have fresh trout for the bbq  

If you could find a good way of joining them together I would imagine the fish would grow faster with more space.

[king 11,980]

My mates father has built an above ground carp pond about 15ft long and 8ft wide he leaves a cheap thin plastic football ontop in winter that blows around and prevents ice building on the surface quite a clever idea I thought..