Those Clorox, detergent, paint thinner, and orange juice jugs are starting to spoil the view. Six cages now in the big pond. Two cages of YOY Bardello bluegills, one cage of yearling Bardello bluegills, one cage for large Condello bluegills that were in the holding pond and will have to be sexed again in the spring(I'm pretty sure I could sex them now but don't want to take a chance), one cage with large male yellow perch and some big females that were in the holding pond and can be sexed in the spring, and one cage with 1 + year old perch that will have to be sexed in the spring and females released into the pond.

I may have to invest in some professional looking floats.

For those of you that wonder why I have so many cages it's because I'm crazy.

Seriously the pond is supposed to be an all male bluegill and all female yellow perch pond, as it's the male bluegills that allegedly get the largest as do the female yellow perch. I have other ponds where I produce the fish, so this keeps the pond open for trophy fish production only, via pellet feeding and the tens of thousands of fatheads that reproduce prolifically in the pond. In the mean time the fish that have not been sexed or of the sex that are not to be in the pond due to unwanted reproduction are in cages.

Either that, or take them there fishies with you to the Walmart.

I hope you guys aren't making fun of my neighbors!

Hey where do you think I get all those jugs? I've also been known to go dumpster diving at the local recycling center for more jugs.

Nope nothing wrong with living in a trailer. Been there done that once. And the new ones are quite nice inside! But you've got to admit my pond is starting to look like one of those run down trailer parks.

Or Jughead Jones

Cecil, could you bracket the pens to the side of the dock?? Or maybe, just use a couple jugs and hook them under water to your fish pens? Adjust them to where you want the height of the pens.

O.K.

Bracketing might work. But I'd have to be awful careful when I clean the cages or they could go straight to the bottom.

Not sure how I could hook the jugs under water though.

If you fill them with water, they ought to be easy to push down.

Get some of those swim noodles. Cut them to size and secure them to the inside top edge.

I see I got caught going fishing again.

The swim noodles work out pretty well but they do deteriorate and those colors are gaudy.
Maybe some black corrugated pipe and put the noodles inside, this would protect the foam and be less visible.

Cecil, the horse business generates so many empty 1/2 gallon to 5 gallon jugs (and buckets), it never occurs to me that anyone would have to go anywhere to get jugs.

Cecil, you are one funny guy.



This sounds like a great idea. Of course given that I've just endorsed it, it will probably kill the deal.

Damn AP! Not only do you have disease free brook trout you are a genius! I could see running it around the inside of the cage (the black corrugated pipe) and it would not only keep the cage afloat but keep the feed from flowing out of the cage.

I'm not so sure the pipe would need the swim noodles inside it though. Just the air should be enough as long as one could connect the pipe and keep it water tight.

Cecil:

You'll need the swim noodles or some other closed cell foam. It's a bear to keep the corregated pipe air-tight AND go around the inside corners. You might be able to make an inside rectangular or square "ring" of large diameter PVC, gluing the pipe together for an airtight fit.

My wife got a good laugh out of that.

I have absolutely zero experience with fish cages, but it seems that you could make the cage itself out of a larger diameter PVC that is totally sealed up, thus providing an airtight and positively bouyant container/frame, then just run your netting around that structure. There should be enough air volume inside to give the cage plenty of float. Heck, maybe even just make the top out of large diameter PVC, then use smaller diameter for the rest of it. With all the different PVC joints and fittings that are avaialable, you ought to be able to find something that allows you to make a square or rectangle out of big stuff on top that is necked down for the rest of the cage. If you really wanted to ensure buoyancy, just fill the top section of the frame with some of those swim noodles. I would guess you wouldn't need too much lift as there wouldn't be much weight to counter the positive bouyancy. Again, just a thought as I read through these other good ideas.

The biggest problem is getting the cages with the proper boyancy so that they float 8" or so out of the water. The easiest way is with the jugs, once the cages start to have algae grow on them, they will sit lower in the water, which you want to avoid.

The Trailer Trash Fish Pond is contagious:

Your right esshup, when I built my cage I filled the top of the frame with foam and drilled holes in the rest of the frame so that it would float correctly.
It floated fine but it was too low in the water so I put some noodles in it, but to lift it higher you would need more flotation like jugs or 4inch corrugated pvc.

The book Small Scall Aquaculture has a cage with larger PVC on the top and even set up for something to grab a hold of. However one disadvantage to going with bigger PVC is the weight when you want to pull up the cage. I already use 1 1/2 inch PVC.

I went the cheap route with 1" PVC. I drilled holes in the bottom PVC, and about 1' up from the bottom on the uprights.

1 inch is fine. I used to build massive 10 feet by 10 feet cages so that's why I got stuck on the 1 1/2 inch PVC. I've since downsized and canibalized the PVC from the larger cages.

I just learned something new. I build a cage that was much deeper than it was square. When I pulled it up to the shore to put fish in, it worked great to tip back with most of it under water.

All good points and exactly why I should have stayed out of this conversation until had some cage experience! I'm gonna go look up green sunfish threads and read those.

You made some good points Todd!

Thanks, Cecil. I think it became apparent, though, pretty quickly, that there's a lot to consider about cage building that I am totally clueless to at this point in my pondmeistering career! I appreciate the encouragement, though!

Ive got a 4 foot square cage,and when the foam fell apart I made a square float out of 4" sewer pvc.Its thin wall and pretty light.It also keeps the feed in the cage.I made it so it goes around the outside of the cage so I didnt have to modify the cage,just drop it inside the pvc.

Somewhere in sunfish heaven, a GSF received it's angel fins.

Hey I'm serious!

Tom,

Yep I'm leaning in that direction. Some form of that anyway. The fish can't stay in the trailer park forever.

I feel like a fish slum lord and my fish feel so low class! This is no place for classy Condello bluegills to live!

It feels good to be a part of something so special!

Cecil, you may be a slum lord, but you provide free running water, room, and board.

Then again, when you collect the rent, it pretty much kills 'em!

GSF, aka the devil's spawn, are not allowed in heaven----rarely even on earth for that matter!

Oh, man, Rex, I suspect JHAP is working up something ugly for you right now! To quote a former "professional" wrestler:

"Can you smellllllllllll . . . what The Rock is cookin'!!!"

I have 3 GSF VooDoo dolls that keep the GSA at bay........

Cecil, use those carribeaners(don't know if thats how you spell it but thats what they're called) that those mountain climbers use. Tie some nylon string to the PVC then tie the other end to the carribeeners and clip them to the jugs.

Good luck getting tour bouyancy correct. If it sets to high, let some water in the jugs.

Thanks Hang_Loose,

Here's a better close up of the six cages in the big pond. Four for bluegills of various sizes and 2 for yellow perch of two different sizes. Also another cage in the trout pond holding about 5000 bluegill fry. I didn't want to chance putting that cage into the big pond as the mesh may be large enough for some of them to get out even though I got the smallest mesh I could get. Sex and bluegill babies area a big no no in the big pond.

Mesh sizes from cage to cage vary from 1/8th inch to 1 1/4 inches.