Keeping Fish

[LeafBlade12345]

Enola, yes I realize that water quality is extremely important, which is why I clean my fish tanks and ponds constantly. People do in fact keep Oscars in brackish water, they, by some accounts, do better than in freshwater. I didn't say they were community fish or that they or pipefish were for beginners. I have kept most of these fish for a long time now, in many different tanks, ponds, aquariums, etc. does anyone raise Koi?

 

[Mutt Farm]

Well HI Leaf, Old Hen and Enola!

I love fish. I have Koi and shebunkens. Just put in a bigger pond and am having a heck of a time with filtration and nitrite cycle. Started working in a pet and aquarium when I was 15. No tanks for me anymore, but I sure enjoyed them. Heater malfunction cooked an 80 gal tank of beautiful Discus. A year later, a roof leak in the sun room poisoned the Angelfish tanks. That was it for me. I had a huge salt water tank back in Fla. Such beautiful fish to choose from. I enjoyed raising discus and angelfish the most.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think we all kill a lot of fish in our fish keeping careers, I was told that Angel fish are hard to keep, but they are quite hardy for me, Bettas and live bearers don't last, goldfish for me the whole way, I've never tried koi, my pond is only 250 gallons. Did you seed your pond with bacteria, I used to have such trouble with algae every spring when I fired mine up, now I put some of my aquarium rock in my pond to get it started. How big of a pond. Here's mine after the fish were removed.

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hen, your pond is fancier than mine. My angels were quite hardy till the drywall and paint poisoned them.

I did season the pond water. I had 2 very healthy established above ground ponds (130 gal). The filters were a real pain to clean and the temp would fluctuate a lot. We put in a 600 gal in ground, I transferred gravel and water from the old one and used a cycle starter. I'm having a heck of a time clearing it. It's had fish for 3 mos.
Every spring! Terrible algae bloom! We don't freeze here, but the plants die back. This spring, I'm going to order those big snails early and get some plants back in. I didn't find out about the snails till everyone was sold out. How do you winter yours?

 

[Mutt Farm]

3 months in, not healthy yet.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

A few posts up, I put them in a 125 gallon tank and do 80-90% water changes each week, the oldest are 13 years plus. That's a 4 inch mag float.



They are pretty big and I get soaked catching them and even feeding them, I have a 55, 29, and a 20 gallon, with fancy ones, though the 29 is for those who have problems staying upright because of defective swim bladders, or heads too heavy.

 

[Mutt Farm]

They're huge! So you winter them inside? How long does it take you to get the pond clear each spring?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I don't have the bloom since adding used aquarium gravel, it almost instantly cycles and a bring them out a couple at a time over two weeks, so it's pretty clear after the first week. I top it off every week and let it run over a bit, and I have a small box filter. I basically treat it like an aquarium.

 

[LeafBlade12345]

I use high-finned Sharks, an algae control rod, which is a zinc and copper rod that water flows over to keep algae in check. The rod releases ions, which keep the algae in check without harming fish, turtles, or pond animals. Mutt farm, welcome to the thread! Be very careful introducing snails, one will multiply to thousands in no time. Do your research and find a good kind that meets your needs and eats mostly algae and not plants, which you may want to add later on. Some species of apple snails are very good at algae control, they are beautiful, and they have many good benefits. But they can be pests and very hard to get rid of without injecting dangerous pest killers into your ponds. Good luck with your algae problem!

 

[dheltzel]

Did I miss something? I don't see any posts about oscars or pipe fish or even brackish water???

I was referring to the original post, under the brackish section.