Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Raising Brood fish indoors

We are in thoughts about purchasing a aluminum kit building to over winter or summer certain species of fish that would bite the bullet once outside temps exceed their limits. I'm having difficult time finding any useful information on over wintering TFS indoors to use as brood fish when spring breaks for stocking in a grow out pond. Can anyone point me in the right direction or if you have personal or knowledgeable experiences with this. Thanks

Snakebite...look up RAS systems. The pondboss search feature needs 4 characters to search, but if you type RAS site:ponboss.com into a google search, you'll bring up lots of info. RAS=Recirculating Aquaculture System

I do it every winter with five recirculating tanks. Two in my basement and three at three high schools I set up.

Basically you need a way to remove suspended and settleable solids, and a way to oxidize ammonia given off by the fish to less harmful nitrites and then nitrates.

Would suggest a book called Small Scale Aquaculture by Steven VanGorder available on Amazon for under $20.00. However I would go with a moving bed biofilter instead of the RBC in the book. Much easier and cheaper to build. Also takes up less space. I can also provide a link to a source that is half the price of most media out there, and has more surface area than the standard media out there known as Kaldness.

Is the acronym TFS Thread Fin Shad? If so you may be dealing with a sensitive species to keep alive.

Rex would know.

Rex?

There are others here that can help that have experience with RAS: JKB, Highflyer, and others.

To over-winter TFS, it won't be easy to be successful. You'll need a "Green Water" system, which means no filtration. TFS eat plankton and filters will take out their food. You will also have ammonia spikes unless you start the system early. Algae will become a substrate for nitrifying and ammonia digesting bacteria, but TFS are VERY sensitive to temperature and dissolved oxygen changes. TFS also need to be held in round tanks because they will bunch up in corners and kill themselves...moving water is needed in a tank also.

To create a temperature controlled green water system, you will need a LOT of high energy grow lighting to keep enough algae alive and thriving all winter...plus the cost of heat.

Honestly, restocking 3-4 loads would probably be less expensive than the cost of all you'll need to keep only a few alive. (not to mention the stress levels, manual monitoring/labor and disappointment involved if they all die a week before releasing back into your water)

Thanks Cecil for the book information. I know TFS come with all sorts of obstacles to over come.

@ Rainman what would you think of raising brine shrimp to feed the TFS. I know they are filter feeders, but would they take to being fed them. We would like to keep 100-120 over winter.

Rex,

You don't think they would feed on a powder or crumble feed which would preclude the headache and expense of keeping an algae bloom going? It would seem a 50 lb. bag would last all winter.

Just asking as I really don't know.

http://www.nanfa.org/captivecare/herrings_and_shads.shtml

Found this don`t know how reliable the information is, but they do mention brine shrimp and powdered feed.