Well, I finally did it. I bought another Rubbermaid container and set it up at home. I can't do flow through, so I set it up primarily for the enjoyment of watching a few of the yellow perch while eating and interacting. I took 32 fish out of the primary tank at the farm. Three of these were put into the holding tank for NEDOC and the other 29 made the trip into town. The tank has a standard aquarium aerator, albeit a powerful one, and I will be replacing 10-20 per day. I will also do a little siphoning of solid waste.
Now here's the interesting part. These fish were moved to another tank which would look identical to the interior of the tank from which they came. After three days these fish are still spooky as all get out! They ate a broken up night crawler during the day yesterday when I was gone, but if I enter the room they scatter, even whacking their little heads on the side of the tank. Curious, I thought, that they would need to be retrained to my presence. The water temp is about ten degrees warmer, and the ceiling would look different to them, but I'm assuming I look about the same. I'll try to document how soon they become acclimated to the new surrounding.
Another curiosity is that when I got the fish from the farm this weekend the outside temps had moderated into the 40's, the inside of the building had warmed to 40 on the floor, but the water in the tank measured at 56 F.!! I'm not sure how the water could be warmer than what's coming out of the pump. I thought my thermometer was extremely accurate. Could the metabolism of all those fish and food and waste be increasing the water temp a smidge?
Now my total numbers in the original Po'boy stands at 198 fish. I'll try to get a pic up soon.
