Backyard Catfish

[Catfishin@home]

Hey;
I'm brand new to blogging and forums...so please be patient.
I'm not sure if I'm in the right forum!
I noticed a post by Over run with chickens that they were going to start raising catfish.
I've got 400 catfish in two 350 Gallon tanks(old molasses tanks)
Things are going OK so far. 6 weeks in.
Biggest problem is with long hair algae.
Any suggestions.

If there is another site that is specificcally catfish let me know.

 

[gritsar]

I don't know a thing about catfish, other than we have one in our pond that is alledgedly over 20 years old. And they taste good with cole slaw.

Just wanted to say

 

[Camelot Farms]

We used to have backyard catfish, but a total fishkill due to a pond turn over cost us all 40+ of our enormous cats.

They kept the pond algae under control, so now our pond is unbalanced. Just sent in the paperwork for a carp permit to bring it back to balance. I miss my cats!

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Awesome! I really want backyard cats myself, but for an aquaponics system. I'll be sealing an old jet tub shell I bought, cause I hear having solid sides helps keep the algae down (without having sunlight filtering through). With glass, I hear it is hard to control. I know they make algae-b-gone type liquids, but I've never tried them myself. Maybe invest in some pleco and snails? Try backyardaquaponics.com. Bet they'd have suggestions for you.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Oops! I mean diyaquaponics.com/forum/ .

 

[Catfishin@home]

Thanks for your input!
I've been reading up on Barley Straw.
Seems like this will keep Algae out but not kill it if you got it already.
Any info on barley straw will be greatly appreciated.
We'll keep you posted.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

What are you using as a filter? Can you bump up your filtration to get rid of the excess nutrients in the water that the algae are feeding on? If you kill all the algae, those toxic nutrients will just be sitting in the water. Sometimes algae is a safety valve for a pond's water quality issues.

 

[cbohn80]

i have a filter for my koi pond with a uv light built in, it kills algae in the water as it passes through but allows algae to grow on the rocks and liner. might be a good option for you.

 

[carolinagirl58]

A UV light will not kill string algae.