Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Starting an article for submission to Pond Boss

So you would flush it each time right after feeding so it will not sit on the bottom for very long?

Also, maybe someone with water flow knowledge could answer this, but when you open the valve, would the sediment there get stirred upward because of turbid water. I would opt for that short pipe extension before the valve to help keep the stuff down.

Fascinating!!

Some species, when being induced to spawn need a gradual photoperiod increase to tease them into doing their thing. Really cool!

Agreed! Makes perfect sense. From what I understand. In a conical based tank, the water right above the solid waste is also pretty toxic as well, so it would be nice to get the water out of the tank with as little stirring as possible.

Depends on the included angle of the tank bottom. I would think a straight section of pipe at the bottom would be beneficial as sort of sediment trap. We have a 500 gallon cone bottom tank collecting industrial process waste water. The tank never really comes clean when you drain it. IIRC it is a 60 degree bottom. Industrial metal fines and carbon waste, not fish poo.

I just got an email from a patient of mine who used to be involved in aquaculture, and he confirmed that conical tanks are not as widely used as I thought. He did however say that for my particular application it seems like a good idea. (So JKB was right about cone tanks not really being a "standard") My bad.

Bloodworms are like crack cocaine to fish, they seem to be highly addicted to them, not sure why but they are. Even my SMB showed a strong preference for bloodworms over pellets in my tank when they were fed a mix of both. I did have a 2-3 SMB that would scavenge a few pellets of the bottom but majority of the pellets that hit the bottom of the tank went ignored.

Just an idea, I might have to try chumming an ice fishing hole with some thawed bloodworms slowly sinking down the hole past my waxworm.

Bruce, I think for your application the conical tank is the best option.

1) concentrate the sediment to the bottom.

2) quick flush of the sediment.

The only thing that will be proven by testing with the actual tank is whether the sediment will have enough weight to it so it falls all the way to the bottom of the cone, rather than get hung up on the sloped sides. That's why a circular current is so desirable in aquaculture tanks with a center drain. No siphoning of solids - the current does the work.

Maybe with the sloped sides less current would be required to get the sediment to the center of the cone?

I don't think you'll have an issue with stirring up the sediment when the valve is opened. I'd want the cone to dump directly into the valve and not have a short standpipe in the tank - more crevices for the solids to hang up.

That will be the million dollar question is how well the solids flow down the sloped side walls.

Esshup, The short pipe would be under the tank, and not in it.

Time to go.

Just a quick thought.

If you were to use one of those adjustable speed aquarium circulators, you might be able to put just the right spin in the tank that will move the solids more toward the center. help keep the cone clean.

Could you put some large snails (too big for RES to eat) in there to help clean the sides?

How about those crazy little aquarium catfish? Tilapia would work, except they'd figure out the pellets and devour those before the RES got to them.

I think that since RES tend to be a more bottom oriented species the near-bottom activity will help sweep settled solids downward in the cone. Time and experience will add more information to the story. Consider a form of mini-polyculture and adding 1-3 small (3"-5") bottom active koi or common suckers to the tank to help stir and move settled solids downward.

I love the idea.

Do you believe there is a risk involved in bringing in another species, like a pathogen that might be harmful to the RES. I could get catfish from the petstore that have been quarantined, but I don't know if that's enough.

Definitely use fish that you have quarantined and or treated for external parasites. Fish from a pet shop have usually been exposed to many stressors and can be infected with more things than some wild fish. It depends.

At the risk of repeating myself I like to dip my fish from the ponds that come inside to an RAS into a 3 percent saltwater dip. However this year I skipped my basement system (yellow perch) and two high school systems (bluegills) and haven't seen any problems. I skipped this year due to moving them from very cold water and acclimating them rapidly ( a few hours from 39 F. to 75 F) and felt the added stress may not be worth it.

Due to circumstances out of my control the systems were set up late. (Schools had to install water lines, alarm system, and back up power.Which took some time).

Edit: Be aware some catfish are more sensitive to salt than other species!

Just a reminder to all about the appearance of the fish involved.

Bluegill (top)
Bluegill X redear sunfish hybrid (middle)
Redear sunfish (bottom)

Does the redear X Bg hybrid always get bigger than the other varieties as a "normal trait"?

The "top end" of hybrids is typically right in between the parents top end.

In this case, BG and RES being the two largest lepomids, makes for the largest hybrid.

BG top end around 3 lbs.
RES top end around 5 lbs.
I've seen Lake Havasu BG X RES that were in the 4 lb range.

Hmmmmm... That may explain why the CC freaked out. I just thought they did not like white suckers OOPS!

That RES x BG hybrid is an unusual looking fish. I have read studies that claim 90% or more of the F1's are males.... the hybrid pictured in the middle seems to display some female characteristics, to me anyway.

I have one pond that produces a lot of RES x BG hybrids naturally, but they appear different from the one Bruce shows. I'll look for a pic.

Here we go.... perhaps a MBG x FRES cross? Whatever they are, I have observed them readily taking pellets from the surface this past year.

To this untrained eye the RESxBG Hyb in Bruces picture looks female and the RES looks male.

Bruce, I'd stay away from pet store fish and source the bottom fish from the same source as the RES if at all possible.

If that's not an option, I'd look into collecting what I needed myself.

I veiw pet stores just like hospitals. With the sheer volume of visitors and revolving door residents I believe the chance of bringing a pathogen home is much greater.

Sprkplug, I'd say those are BGxRES crosses. I don't see any colored margins on any of those fins like you do with GSF genetics.

I think you're right about the hybrid being a female.

It's also a late age-1 hyper-grower that has spent every moment of his life eating.

No GSF genetics in any BOW here other than the HBG pond.... I wonder if these fish might be a reciprocal cross.... MBG x FRES