Any fishkeepers here? Saltwater or freshwater

[htismaqe]

Our koi in the pond spawn 4 or 5 times a summer. It wears them out and pretty much destroys the pond vegetation but then again, some of them weight 20 pounds or so.

Even though these spawns produce hundreds of fry each, generally only a half dozen or so survive to 2 inches and until last year, we never had any survive to 4 inches or larger due to predation and winter.

We have two 4-inch babies that survived this winter and we're keeping them. I sold four 2-inch babies for $5 each last weekend. I also sold one fancy comet for $20 and a 5-pound shubunkin for $25.

And as far as these fish not being cheap, I have two offers for $100 on 16-inch koi and had a guy offer me $800 for one of my large platinums.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Our koi in the pond spawn 4 or 5 times a summer. It wears them out and pretty much destroys the pond vegetation but then again, some of them weight 20 pounds or so.

Even though these spawns produce hundreds of fry each, generally only a half dozen or so survive to 2 inches and until last year, we never had any survive to 4 inches or larger due to predation and winter.

We have two 4-inch babies that survived this winter and we're keeping them. I sold four 2-inch babies for $5 each last weekend. I also sold one fancy comet for $20 and a 5-pound shubunkin for $25.

And as far as these fish not being cheap, I have two offers for $100 on 16-inch koi and had a guy offer me $800 for one of my large platinums.

Nice! I am hoping to sell the yearlings next season for a few dollars each. Our basement is unfinished so we are prepared to expand and would probably just utilize large tubs if we have enough reach a few inches in the next month.

Outdoors, we typically will see 10-12 survive the first winter, and once they do, they have typically made it for good. The top level of our pond is raised about 18 inches so we don't have to worry about predators. If a crane happened to fly over it would see the fish, but with the pond being raised it wouldn't be able to slowly approach it to hunt.

And that is one big shubunkin. I imagine your pond is at least 3,000 gallons or so? Makes for a lot of room for those comets and shubunkins to grow large and grow fast.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Nice! I am hoping to sell the yearlings next season for a few dollars each. Our basement is unfinished so we are prepared to expand and would probably just utilize large tubs if we have enough reach a few inches in the next month.

Outdoors, we typically will see 10-12 survive the first winter, and once they do, they have typically made it for good. The top level of our pond is raised about 18 inches so we don't have to worry about predators. If a crane happened to fly over it would see the fish, but with the pond being raised it wouldn't be able to slowly approach it to hunt.

And that is one big shubunkin. I imagine your pond is at least 3,000 gallons or so? Makes for a lot of room for those comets and shubunkins to grow large and grow fast.

When I said "predation" I meant from the larger fish. We don't have an issue with birds or raccoons or anything but some of the largest koi in our pond can swallow a 2 or 3-inch baby fish whole. So when we have babies, they have to survive not only the winter, they have to survive it as the only source of food in the pond since we don't feed at all from November to March or so.

Our pond also had a raised edge. We actually have steep inclines (almost vertical all the way around) so it's nearly impossible for birds or other animals to snatch fish because there's no shallow water. Our pond is only about 1500 gallons but it's almost 4 feet deep as well.

If you have exclusively comets, they don't have big sucker mouths so once the fry grow even a little bit, they're safe from being cannibalized. Be careful because if you don't have external predators, you're going to end up overcrowded very quickly.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

When I said "predation" I meant from the larger fish. We don't have an issue with birds or raccoons or anything but some of the largest koi in our pond can swallow a 2 or 3-inch baby fish whole. So when we have babies, they have to survive not only the winter, they have to survive it as the only source of food in the pond since we don't feed at all from November to March or so.

Our pond also had a raised edge. We actually have steep inclines (almost vertical all the way around) so it's nearly impossible for birds or other animals to snatch fish because there's no shallow water. Our pond is only about 1500 gallons but it's almost 4 feet deep as well.

If you have exclusively comets, they don't have big sucker mouths so once the fry grow even a little bit, they're safe from being cannibalized. Be careful because if you don't have external predators, you're going to end up overcrowded very quickly.

That is good that you have a raised edge and no shallow water. I would be very upset if a raccoon was hunting some $100 fish. I could have built the pond larger to house koi, but they are so much more destructive than the goldfish, and my wife loves all of the varieties of plants we can have so we kept it smaller with the intent of only having goldfish.

I have no issues or worries with overcrowding because with just a few fish naturally surviving we can give the extras away. We only actually keep 15 fish or so. From this batch if we get some unique colors we may keep one or two more but that is it. The rest we intend to see if selling them will be something we can do.

Right now the pond has probably a hundred fry that are at a half inch to an inch in length. The majority of those won't survive the summer and through winter unless we bring them inside, which we may do depending on the success of the ones that actually hatched inside.

[Silock]

I have two synodontis multi punctuates cats, 7" each. Anyone want them? They're too big for my tank.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Silock

I have two synodontis multi punctuates cats, 7" each. Anyone want them? They're too big for my tank.

I have a synodontis nigriventis that outgrew my tank too. I just can't part with him, he's too freaking cool.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Silock

I have two synodontis multi punctuates cats, 7" each. Anyone want them? They're too big for my tank.

My 5 year old nephew has a plecostomus in his 10 gallon tank. It does a great job but it is growing so fast. He wants me to put him in the pond eventually, but I just hope he doesn't ask about him next season. Now that I think about it I could put him in the 55 gallon fry tank I just set up once they get larger.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

My 5 year old nephew has a plecostomus in his 10 gallon tank. It does a great job but it is growing so fast. He wants me to put him in the pond eventually, but I just hope he doesn't ask about him next season. Now that I think about it I could put him in the 55 gallon fry tank I just set up once they get larger.

A common pleco will start growing again if you put him in a bigger tank.

[OldSchool]

Fresh water here. I mainly keep New World cichlids and a few oddball bichirs. Don't want to bother with salt water, too much of a hassle mixing RO water with salt mix and trying to get the right levels or else all of your fish/reef will die.

[Rain Man]

Well, we went to an aquarium shop to check out the fish and potentially buy our stuff to get going, but the woman who owned the shop was really, really mean to us, so we left. We then started pondering if the fish need to be fed every day, and what that means if they're office fish, and we got all intimidated. I think we'll just buy a painting of a fish.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Well, we went to an aquarium shop to check out the fish and potentially buy our stuff to get going, but the woman who owned the shop was really, really mean to us, so we left. We then started pondering if the fish need to be fed every day, and what that means if they're office fish, and we got all intimidated. I think we'll just buy a painting of a fish.

The fish basically need to be fed everyday. But there are a number of different things you can do for the weekends or off days. Automatic feeders, weekend feeding blocks, or throw in some zucchini or cucumber. Any one of those things or a combination will more than suffice. What kind of fish were you thinking about getting?

[OldSchool]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Well, we went to an aquarium shop to check out the fish and potentially buy our stuff to get going, but the woman who owned the shop was really, really mean to us, so we left. We then started pondering if the fish need to be fed every day, and what that means if they're office fish, and we got all intimidated. I think we'll just buy a painting of a fish.

Fish do not need to be fed every day. You can feed them every other day or every 3-4 days when they are adults.

The only time that you would want to feed fish every day is if you were dealing with really young fish, fry that are around or under 1", and you want them to grow fast. Then you would have to feed them 2 times a day. However, it sounds like you are looking to get adults, they can go weeks and sometimes months without eating but it's preferable to feed them about 3-4 times a week instead.

They actually need fasting days because fish tend to get overfed and obese when fed every day.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

Fish do not need to be fed every day. You can feed them every other day or every 3-4 days when they are adults.

The only time that you would want to feed fish every day is if you were dealing with really young fish, fry that are around or under 1", and you want them to grow fast. Then you would have to feed them 2 times a day. However, it sounds like you are looking to get adults, they can go weeks and sometimes months without eating but it's preferable to feed them about 3-4 times a week instead.

They actually need fasting days because fish tend to get overfed and obese when fed every day.

Underfeeding is better than overfeeding, strictly from a water quality standpoint. Not that you should deprive them of food in order to reduce nitrogenation...

They just don't need to be fed all the time. In an office setting like Rain Man has, you feed them once a day during the week and don't feed them during the weekends. Pretty simple and they'll do fine.

[htismaqe]

Unless fish are aggressive, you don't need to feed them every day.

I've left livebearer tanks without food while on 4 and 5-day vacations.

Fish can go a long time without food.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

The fish basically need to be fed everyday. But there are a number of different things you can do for the weekends or off days. Automatic feeders, weekend feeding blocks, or throw in some zucchini or cucumber. Any one of those things or a combination will more than suffice. What kind of fish were you thinking about getting?

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Unless fish are aggressive, you don't need to feed them every day.

I've left livebearer tanks without food while on 4 and 5-day vacations.

Fish can go a long time without food.

Hmm, information like this is useful.

As far as the type of fish, we had settled on "pretty and entertaining to watch". The woman at the aquarium shop did not wish to help us get more specific within this category, and told us "it wasn't her job to teach us", among other things.