# Anyone try using goldfish in the stock water tanks?



## Farmer Kitty (May 13, 2009)

I've heard using goldfish in livestock watering tanks is a good way to control algey. I was going to get some today as we have three tanks with floats and it's always a battle with the two outside ones and forgot. 

Has anyone tried this?


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## Thewife (May 13, 2009)

I use them to control Skeeters!
I don't know if they help with the green slime?

The cow trough barely gets any green slime, but I don't know if it's because it's mostly in the shade, or because I rarely feed those fish?

My pond and lily tubs, get a lot of sun, even with fish in each of them, I battle green slime all sumer long!


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## Farmer Kitty (May 13, 2009)

What do you do with them come winter? I know your winters are more mild then ours here. I've heard you can freeze them and then thaw them out come spring and they are alive? I thought maybe using a small tub we use in the summer for water tubs for small group of calves or a sick cow, etc and putting them in it with water and letting them freeze and then thaw naturally come spring?


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## Thewife (May 13, 2009)

Farmer Kitty said:
			
		

> What do you do with them come winter? I know your winters are more mild then ours here. I've heard you can freeze them and then thaw them out come spring and they are alive? I thought maybe using a small tub we use in the summer for water tubs for small group of calves or a sick cow, etc and putting them in it with water and letting them freeze and then thaw naturally come spring?


I just let them freeze.
The ones on the back deck are in Iodine dip or acid wash barrels, cut in half. Last winter was colder than normal, they lived!

The one problem I have had, is when the lines freeze and the cows drink all the water down! The fish usually survive, but I am pretty sure a cow sucked down my neice's gold fish, the winter before last! We told her it swam away in the flooding.


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## laughingllama75 (May 13, 2009)

Farmer Kitty said:
			
		

> I've heard you can freeze them and then thaw them out come spring and they are alive?


Um, I know this was a serious question, but I can't help but 
I think spiders are the only living creature that can "freeze" and come back to life.
Goldfish and koi can live in outdoor pnds in the winter, as long as they DON'T freeze. with the floats, does the water freeze? Also, if you use a tank heater, that would work too.

other than that, a lot of people just put them in a tank in the house for the winter.

My big thing with keeping goldfish in drinking water is the ammonia they produce. Goldfish are notoriously dirty fish. I know horse people and cow people use them, but I do not (kept them for years inside, know how gross they can be. dont want my animals drinking that).


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## Farmer Kitty (May 13, 2009)

That's okay Laughingllama. I know people who swear they freeze theirs when they go on long vacations or get tired of them and then thaw them out later. It isn't as though you can't get them cheap enough to try.


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## Thewife (May 13, 2009)

I have found mine on their sides, in less than an inch of slime, stuck to ice!
They survived!


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## WildRoseBeef (May 13, 2009)

laughingllama75 said:
			
		

> Farmer Kitty said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have to interject here.  Up here in the Great White North we have frogs, turtles, fish and snakes.  If they couldn't hibernate during the winter months by "freezing" they wouldn't exist up here.  Of course they don't exist up past the Boreal forest, but they still survive.  So, with that, frogs, turtles, and snakes are able to hibernate like that and still be able to make it to spring time.

Gold fish though, that might be something different.  I'm no fish expert but with gold fish, unlike the native fish up here, probably are not as likely to survive through the winter and so need to be netted and kept indoors for the winter.  I could be wrong though.


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## laughingllama75 (May 14, 2009)

well, in MY OPINION....hibernating is different than freezing. I have a background in zoology, I was a vet tech for many years and I have been raising tropical and (used to) goldfish for many years. I had never heard of such a thing. That is all.......
Yes, I did say, goldfish can stand cold water as long as it doesn't freeze (thousands of people keep them out in the winter but the water HAS TO go below the frost line) 
That said, I will remove myself from this subject. I feel an argument is not cool, and I love this board way to much to argue with any of you


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## Farmer Kitty (May 14, 2009)

Yes, let's not turn this into an arguement.

I do believe laughingllama75 is correct in saying that "hibernating is different than freezing". Last I knew, frogs and turtles dug down in the bottom of ponds, lakes, etc. to hibernate. Snakes find crevices, etc. to get below the frost line. Fish in lake, etc. go below frost line where the water doesn't freeze--That's why there is ice fishing.  

All of which is quite different from actually freezing a fish solid and then thawing it out.

We do not run the floats in the winter as these are poly water tubs filled with a waterhose, all of which would freeze solid in our winters. Instead it's a heater in the tank. I get to drag hoses in and out all winter and if I don't get the hoses drained I get to deal with frozen water hoses.  The one tank does end up empty sometimes in between fills. It can be full in the morning when I'm out doing chores and then empty by mid afternoon. Depending on the grouping for the little pasture and the pen in the barn that share the other water tub, I may be able to keep them in there for the winter and feed them. If there ends up to be a big group drinking out of that tub then I can have the same problem as the one outside. :/


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## m.holloway (May 14, 2009)

Yup, I have a freind that uses gold fish in there water tanks. They say it helps keeping it clean. With only 2 cows I just wash my tanks out every couple of days.


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## WildRoseBeef (May 14, 2009)

laughingllama75 said:
			
		

> well, in MY OPINION....hibernating is different than freezing. I have a background in zoology, I was a vet tech for many years and I have been raising tropical and (used to) goldfish for many years. I had never heard of such a thing. That is all.......
> Yes, I did say, goldfish can stand cold water as long as it doesn't freeze (thousands of people keep them out in the winter but the water HAS TO go below the frost line)
> That said, I will remove myself from this subject. I feel an argument is not cool, and I love this board way to much to argue with any of you


Whoa whoa whoa!!! Hang on here just a second!  I did not, I repeat DID NOT post that reply just to get you all riled up and offended here!  No, I was just stating what I knew (or lack there of) about other creatures hibernating or freezing in winter.  I wasn't going about to correct you or say you were wrong, it was, I repeat, just something that I thought I knew about hibernatin' or freezing or whatever.  And I did say I was not a fish expert, nor am I an amphibian or reptile expert.  So what if I am wrong?  Then you can just kindly point out where I went wrong instead of getting all huffed up about it.  Alright?

Now I apologize if my post got you all offended.  I did not mean that to do you any harm.  Okay?

And by golly I didn't, nor I hope I didn't intend to start an arguement in any way.  Alright?


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## Thewife (May 14, 2009)

My back deck fish tubs are plastic, 18 inch across, and 15 inches deep. They are set on a wooden deck, about 4 feet off the ground. 
I don't know if they froze solid last winter, but it sure seems like everything else did!


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## jhm47 (May 14, 2009)

I've put goldfish in our water tanks for 20 years.  They do eat all the mosquito larvae, and they also eat any flies that fall off the cows when they drink.  As to them eating the moss and algae, I don't know.  When our whole herd comes up to drink, they drain the tank completely, and the water is changed several times each day.  And---If I don't remove the fish from the tank in the fall, they will freeze and die.  -30 kills most everything in this country.


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## Farmer Kitty (May 15, 2009)

If the tanks are drained several times a day, why do you have mesquito larve problems? 

Which btw, we don't have a problem with in our tanks. I don't know why not but, we don't.


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## amysflock (Jun 15, 2009)

Ooo, I'm glad I saw this thread! I just pulled the plug on a 150 gallon Rubbermaid water trough in our front pasture...we moved the cows off that pasture a week ago and I was shocked how quickly the water turned green, and all the water bugs and mosquito larvae showed up! I wanted to get the fish and let them clean the tank, but realized that was probably not going to work all that well...so the tank is empty and dry (to hopefully kill any larvae that "stuck" to the sides when it emptied, and I'll start over with clean water.

As for the algae...has anyone ever put snails in a trough? I don't think the goldfish really work on plant materials, just bugs and things, so was wondering if a couple of snails might be a good option...but then again, I don't want 5 million snails invading my trough, either!

Where do those crazy water bugs come from, anyway?? Maybe they were dormant in the dry trough, or fell from the sky?


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## Farmer Kitty (Jun 15, 2009)

I have no clue as to where they come from either. We have 4 stock tanks running plus one barrel tank and have no mosquito larvae in any of them. Three of the 4 stock tanks have floats in them too, so it's not like they get empty. And we have mosquitoes too. I just have the green issue.


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## MReit (Jun 15, 2009)

man o man, I'm sooooooooooo glad I have a stream..lol Snails multiply super fast, that could be a problem, BUT they would take care of algea.


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## Thewife (Jun 15, 2009)

From what I understand our cows get liver flukes from the snails, crawling on the grass when the fields flood, I don't know if putting them in trough would do the same thing?


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## KareyABohr (Jun 15, 2009)

Gosh it is time like this that I wish my Grandmother was still here.

I remember a "blind scaleless" fish that grandma talked about putting in the rain water sistern when that was the main source of water on the farm before the well was dug.

I have a koi pond, but I have to keep the fish in the basement to keep them from dying.

I might look into that because I know they ate the alge and the mosquito larve and that is why the old timers put them in the tanks. Also they could live with out much oxygen in the water and very VERY little light.


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## Chirpy (Jun 15, 2009)

I'm having a red algae issue this year (for the first time ever .... why's that???  :/)    Does anyone know if snails or goldfish eat that?


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## KareyABohr (Jun 15, 2009)

The red alge was what those fish ate, because that alge grows with little sunlight.

UUGGH! I have to finish choreing and look this up. Maybe my Great Aunt Peg would remember. (Grandma's sister)


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## Farmer Kitty (Jun 15, 2009)

I'm beginning to wonder if minnows from the bait shop would be better. I know of someone who would keep fish in their tanks. Maybe that's why?


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## oxdrover14 (Apr 23, 2010)

we use to go catch hornpout in the ponds and put them in the orses and cows and they kept the bug out and the alge


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## PacsMan (Jun 4, 2010)

I'm interested in getting some land and cows, and was reading through the threads. I did a google search on fish, mosquito, stock tanks, etc. and came up with a few links. Hope this helps.
Marty

=-=-
..."Common goldfish, killifish, and guppies are three types of fish that are known to eat mosquito larvae and will get along well with other fish."...
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/ongoldfishpond

Stock Tank Cleaner
http://www.rlasales.com/stocktank.htm

Goldfish in stock tank thread
http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0059Xp

Homesteading today thread
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/archive/index.php/t-73783.html

Shubunkins fish and pebbles of copper sulfate?
http://forums.ablackhorse.com/lofiversion/index.php?t11672.html

This from the University of Missouri Extension Service:
Stock Watering Tanks

Chlorine Bleach
Add 2-3 ounces of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (unscented laundry bleach) per 100 gallons of tank capacity every week. The chlorine will dissipate more rapidly in hot weather or if organic material is present in the tank. Do not use pipeline sanitizer or swimming pool chlorine. To determine gallonage of a square or rectangular tank, multiply in feet: (length x width x depth x 7.5). To estimate gallonage of a round tank, multiply in feet: (diameter x diameter x depth x 6). 

Copper Sulfate
Add copper sulphate (Bluestone or Blue Vitrol) at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per 100 gallons of water to kill existing algae. It should then be mechanically removed. Cover or shade the tanks to help slow algae growth.

Zinc Sulfate
Dissolve one cup of zinc sulfate in one gallon of warm water and put 1/2 cup of this solution per 100 gallons of water in tanks as often as necessary (it will depend on number of animals drinking, amount of organic material in trough, and weather). Or if bird manure on the roof is not a factor, direct runoff from galvanized roofs into waterers.
http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/gardening-plants/stock-tank-algae-154897.html


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## ThreeBoysChicks (Jun 4, 2010)

I love this post.  I am heading to WalMart to purchase some feeder goldfish.  Love it.

Thanks!


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## MsPony (Jul 15, 2010)

I swear by the Microbe Lift products, its a bacteria specifically formulated for whatever cause is needed and is NOT harmful to anything else. You can drink it straight, and be just fine.

Microbe Lift TAC is good for troughs, it takes away the organic material that is feeding the algae, as well as Microbe Lift PL. I use Microbe Lift TAC along with their Mosquito control formula. 

It CAN be expensive, however you only need the smallest bottle and the smallest amount


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## LavacaW (Jul 28, 2010)

The blind scaleless fish was probably a plecostomus...they are used in aquariums to keep the algae off the sides.  Most good aquarium/fish dealers should have them.  Ask about ability to survive the cold.  I tried tilapia in my tank one year - they couldn't keep up with the algae.  I put feeder goldfish in my rain barrel and have not ever had a mosquito problem from it.  They live for several years with no added feed necessary.


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## DoubleSSRanch (Aug 4, 2010)

I caught a trout when I was ice fishing once..and it was FROZEN SOLID (couldve pounded nails with it)..I geuss I snagged it..not 'caught' it with the line. But anyhow..brought it into the house and put it into the sink of water....3 hours later is was swimming laps in the sinK!


Ive used feeder goldfish in my stock tanks..cant say I reccomend it. They POOP ALOT...the water doesnt get airated enough so some of them seemed to die off from lack of oxygen, plus the metal tanks, as well as the black plastic one get VERY HOT in the hot sun (the water gets hot) and a few of them get cooked


I wont do it again


OH and to get rid of the algea....put a 1 foot peice of copper pipe in your stock tank..in the bottom..just throw it in. Algea doesnt like copper at all..it wont grow if theres copper pipe in the tank


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## aladatrot (Mar 3, 2011)

I think you have to be careful with what type of fish you put in stock tanks. Goldfish can breathe air from the surface, but guppies and other types of tropicals can't. They have to have aerated water. Stock tanks don't have the surface area for the wind to naturally aerate through ripples. I am pretty sure the tropicals would die in the heat of the summer when oxygen levels get depleted. 

Sorry, I'm responding to older threads in an effort to hit ten so I can post up pics of my project cow.

Cheers
M


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