Has anyone tried using 3 liter bottles as habitat? I was looking around the house and saw a recycling bin full of them, started me thinking. Would they be good for fathead minnows? I thought if the mouth was two small I could just cut it off, or maybe the mouth would be about the right size for them. Any ides on this?

Never heard of it...give it a shot and see. Be sure to let us know! Maybe set som in shallower water and add some holes so water can circulate and not become hypoxic.

And...welcome aboard neighbor!!!

Welcome! Good idea. What about cutting the bottoms off? IDK if the mouths would be large enough. Even if they were, I don't think there would be a large enough water exchange in the bottle to keep Oxygen levels high enough for a high percentage of eggs hatching.

Thank you. There is so much good info on this board.

That's a good idea about cutting the bottoms off, hadn't thought of the oxygen problem, but that makes sense. I'll give the bottles a try and see it works at all.

Rockfish,

Welcome aboard.

I have used something similar just recently. I used a 3" PVC pipe about 5' long, put it inside a 5 gallon bucket, poured cement, after a week or so, I took gallon jugs & cut off the top 1/4 portion, took 2 wood screws and screwed the bootom of the jug onto the PVC pipe. After that I cut hole with a pair snips all over the jug to allow for water movement. I went to the pond and dropped it in 6' of water.

If you do this, make sure to drop it in the water slow or maybe drill 2 holes in the top so you can attach a rope and lower it into the water. If not, the force of dropping it may remove a jug or 2, or 3.......speaking from experience.

Coupe

I expect it might bruise a predators mouth up trying to get to the groceries.

Rock, here is something I am going to use. Old cat food cans with a couple of holes in the bottom and connected by wire. Either stretch out or lay in a pile. Add weights and sink.

Rockfish-- I have been getting a lot of stuff together to soon deposit into my pond. I was looking and found peepaw's post about "self feeding fish feeder" and on his website fishiding.com they sell this. it's a big net full of recylced plastics. They are $50, ouch! To simulate i have been melting 2 liters and milk jugs and attaching them to cut up milk crates. The crate panels are a foot or so square then 3 or 4 are ziptied together. I'm trying to make sort of an artificial reef of sorts that will be attached vertically to a fence that is in the pond. It allows for access from either side, holes big and small going through it. The heat gun puts a nice surface on the plastic that I think will support life. It also melts it down putting various holes in it. Seems to also make the plastic more durable. I have also melted some down and used zipties to put them all together by either melting or drilling a hole near that top opening of the bottle. I think it kind of resembles a riprap or rocks.

If I were you i would take all those bottles that you have available and make it happen!! If you have a harbor freight nearby you can get the heat gun for less than 10 bucks and the zip ties for a buck.

Those are some good ideas. I just hate spending money on something to throw in a pond lol.

I've been playing around with a way to use gallon milk jugs. They don't seem to sink very well, but I'm thinking if you could put something, maybe a stick, through the handle, you could line up several of them in a row. I guess you could even sink them vertical and have some sort of funky milk jug tree.I would think it would be pretty easy to do.