rain barrell &goldfish

[cassie]

I didn't feed mine. In addition to the mosquito larva and other bugs that hit the water, goldfish eat the algae that grows on the side of the tank. Here in Missouri I have some fish in the bathtub I have in the big dogs' pen. I got some goldfish food but they weren't interested. I am not sure what they are eating, but they are growing. It wouldn't hurt to occasionally offer your fish small amounts of feed. If they need it, you will find out soon enough.

 

[zombielyn]

My mind is blown that people use fish to keep water troughs and rain barrels clean/mosquito-free! I have a 275 gallon tote that collects rain water for my chickens; it's gravity-fed to a pipe with nipples. I've been curious how to clean the water...or if I should even worry about it? If I use mosquitofish, for example, what happens to the ammonia from the fish poop? Is it just a non-issue for watering chickens? Do the fish keep the algae from growing? If there is algae, is it really a big deal since chickens drink out of the stock tank (that has algae)? If I didn't add fish, I am wanting to add Bragg's ACV. Would there be any drawback to adding it directly to the tote (1 gallon ACV to 275 gallons water, that's about 1 TB/1gallon water)? ...I mean, does ACV go bad being diluted in the water over time like that?

 

[cassie]

I kept goldfish in my stock tanks. I didn't feed them and ammonia was never an issue. I did take a one gallon plastic pail, fill it with dirt, put pea gravel on the top of the dirt so it wouldn't wash out when the bucket was submerged and I planted anacharis in the bucket. This gave the fish a place to hide. Other people I know didn't even do that. The goldfish kept my tanks free of algae and mosquitoes.