Simple 'Skeeter Control?

"Daniel Phillips" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito
population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks
just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Would two of those goldfish need a pump? Would I need to suppliment
their insect food with other food?


If you only put 2 small fish, like guppies, mosquito fish, minnows, rosies,
the plants will be the filter just fine. Maybe you'll want a pump to
circulate the water to aerate it. But 2 guppy sized fish in a 20 gallon
barrel most likely won't have o2 level problems.

Just get a sprig or two of anacharis to aerate the pond, they do a good job.

As for a filter to remove the muck, just make a siphon out of a section of
1/2 tubing and you can vac out the stuff on the bottom periodically.

Sameer

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Would two of those goldfish need a pump? Would I need to suppliment
their insect food with other food?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

I would hope what they're doing (hiding so to speak!) is just normal.
Not sure what I should look out for.

Finally, to suppliment the food they won't get from bugs, how often do
I need to feed them and do I need to feed right away? And will the
barrel flooding be a problem?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 19:20:53 GMT, Daniel Phillips
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

hmm....And now I can't find neither. There is a large over turned
plastic pot in the water that's serving as leverage for one of the
plants, where they could be hiding. Will they hunt/scavenge around
the barrel, or do I have to put food in the container within a
container to make sure they get it?

To tell you what I did....

1) let the bag with fish in it stay put in the water for 15 minutes.
I covered the bag with two pots levered just out of the water so it
wouldn't get direct sunlight and fried fish.
2) Cut the bag open, then slowly level the bag horizontally on the
water, letting container water garden water and bag water mix a little
bit, allowing the fish to swim out instead of dumping them out.
3) Removed the shade pots (of course)

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-)

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-) Daniel Phillips

Well, if you want really good results, you match the pH of your barrel to
what they were in at the store.... or if they were in the bag longer than
one hour, you lower the pH in your barrel to about 7.0. Fish suffer not
only from temperature shock, but pH changes. Something fish stores rarely
clue their customers in about.

So right now they're suffering from a little transfer shock, if they
haven't died right away they'll come out of it. Don't feed for 1 week or
until you see them swimming freely. Feed them sparingly. I keep baby
goldfish in tubs that I have plant divides in and they live off the
mosquito eggs/larvae and whatever else falls in there. Do a test bucket of
water with no fish and you'll be surprised how many bugs drown themselves
in a day. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-) Daniel Phillips

Well, if you want really good results, you match the pH of your barrel to
what they were in at the store.... or if they were in the bag longer than
one hour, you lower the pH in your barrel to about 7.0. Fish suffer not
only from temperature shock, but pH changes. Something fish stores rarely
clue their customers in about.

So right now they're suffering from a little transfer shock, if they
haven't died right away they'll come out of it. Don't feed for 1 week or
until you see them swimming freely. Feed them sparingly. I keep baby
goldfish in tubs that I have plant divides in and they live off the
mosquito eggs/larvae and whatever else falls in there. Do a test bucket of
water with no fish and you'll be surprised how many bugs drown themselves
in a day. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 19:20:53 GMT, Daniel Phillips
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

hmm....And now I can't find neither. There is a large over turned
plastic pot in the water that's serving as leverage for one of the
plants, where they could be hiding. Will they hunt/scavenge around
the barrel, or do I have to put food in the container within a
container to make sure they get it?

To tell you what I did....

1) let the bag with fish in it stay put in the water for 15 minutes.
I covered the bag with two pots levered just out of the water so it
wouldn't get direct sunlight and fried fish.
2) Cut the bag open, then slowly level the bag horizontally on the
water, letting container water garden water and bag water mix a little
bit, allowing the fish to swim out instead of dumping them out.
3) Removed the shade pots (of course)

Let me know what steps I should add or remove in the future, please.
:-)

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:31:37 GMT, "Snooze"
wrote:

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer

Ok, I put two of those inexpensive goldfish (28c) in there. Although,
I put the water that was in the bag into the whiskey barrel pond, even
though the bag said not to...oops. Newbie blunder maybe. One
goldfish swam around awhile before swimming to the bottom (he's not
moving much now), and I don't know where the other went. Did I do
something wrong, and what would be the cause of fish death in this
case? Chlorine from the bag?

I would hope what they're doing (hiding so to speak!) is just normal.
Not sure what I should look out for.

Finally, to suppliment the food they won't get from bugs, how often do
I need to feed them and do I need to feed right away? And will the
barrel flooding be a problem?

Daniel Phillips

[+]bandito[-]spam = [-]toppler.[+]zworg.com
Be warned, may mistakingly bounce back as spam.

In such a small pond, a gold fish or two would keep the mosquito population
down. Just get the cheap 25c feeder goldfish. You could also use mosquito
fish (Gambusia affinis).

You could also break a mosquito dunk into quarters and every few weeks just
toss in a new dunk fragment.

Sameer