Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Fish Inside

Bob Lusk stated in another post - JP's timing couldn't have been better. Today, Chad and I caught more than 1,000 tilapia out of the hatchery pond. The lure? A 100 foot seine, ten feet deep. We enclosed 8 of our concrete fish vats inside an insulated "building." We used 4'x8' sheets of plywood, framed on each side of a 2'x4' with batt insulation. It measures 16'x20' and we have an electric oil heater, with plans to add another. The ceiling is thick clear plastic, used in greenhouses. Pretty cool. Read all about it in the Jan/Feb issue of PB. It works well with Theo's story about his indoor system.

I say- Ah yes, I like the idea of Pond Boss issues with individual themes - 1st- Raising Fish Indoors.

I thought the theme was alternate ways to raise fish --RAS , greenhouse , blocking net , cages. All you need is an article on cage raising.

Any forum members here raised in a cage? Brettski?

I think Dudley was.

I raise feed trained bass in cages just about every year to get them large enough where they won't be forage for the larger bass in the pond. They start out as 5 to 7 inches and end up about 10 to 12 inches by fall when I release them into the pond. Grew out 200 last time I did it. They do really well in cages if you keep the densities down and keep the cages cleaned. Running some water through them by setting a diffuser next to them helps too.

Bill Cody raises fish in cages too.

You guys should get with Bob and do a short article for that issue on raising fish in cages. Just some basics like size of cages , materials used or where to get , type of fish , time in cage , growth seen , type of food, cleaning , aerating near by, major trouble factors if any. I would sure like to see one as would many of us who don't know much about the method.

ewest - My comment of ""I like the idea of Pond Boss issues with individual themes"" is probably just a dream. It would take quite a bit of pre-planning and organization to create mag issues with themes. Depending on the number of articles available for the theme issue, the editor would have to probably solicit articles on specific topics. Note that even now the editor has to create articles to help fill each issue. Bob as a busy editor, needs more articles submitted to him from readers for publication. To do theme issues would take a pretty big author list to chose from which PBoss does not have yet. I think Bob does a great job considering how busy he is with his REAL job, and how short of time that he has been editor. Issues with a theme was just a dream and maybe something for him to "shoot for" as he gets more years as editor under is belt.

I would consider just two or three related articles as a theme issue for the current status of PB Mag.

FYI - I have an article about cage rearing of fish in the planning stages. As typical for my style it will not be short. I am collecting photographs and info. I might be able to get Cecil to be co-author. I need some photos of his cage operation since he uses a slightly different method.

Bill - The Jan/Feb issue will have a theme as I noted. We have been working on it for mths. The entire issue will not have a theme but several articles as noted will. Wish we had a short one on cages. I know how much work it is and am glad to help. If some of us took part of the burden to write short well done articles it would help. I may start another one on internet sources for info on Ponds and fish. Thanks for all your articles.

...you've no doubt seen my work with Samsonite luggage.

Cecil Baird1 aka CB1 and Cody are probably the most active and with the most experience at raising fish in cages.

Hee hee. It weren't a cage, Dave, it were a closet.

Well you guys got me going. I set up a 42 gal rubbermaid container in my house utility room. I had a attwood 500 bilge pump and a batt charger from a old Kiddy electric car. I spliced and set things up, was gonna make a homemade filter and have the water run threw it. The test of the pump was way to much flow... I got other plans for that pump.. I dug threw my aquarium stuff and pulled out a areator pump but I gave away all my filters when I moved (kicking myself) so I set up a cheap corner filter with the airpump. Tomarrow I am gonna make something from wood so the fatheads can spawn on. I added a little aquarium salt to the water, tomarrow after I make something they can spawn on I will put a bunch in there and see what happens. I will sort threw them and get the big ones. Are you able to tell sex on fatheads? Right now I did not put a heater since its in house temp it may be ok if its lower then 65 I will go get a small heater. I think maybe 70 -75 might be good for them to spawn??

During the month or so before they start spawning, the male FHs develop little bumps ("breeding tubercles") on their heads (for preparing the underneath sides of the boards/plant leaves/rocks they spawn at for the eggs, IIRC) and are supposed to develop darker coloration. Spawning occurs throughout the Spring/Summer while temps are above 60 deg F.

FH spawn from 60 degrees to 85 degrees. Don't pick all large ones or you will probably have mostly males. Pick about 6 big ones and 20 smaller ones. Males pick a place to spawn (underside of a board or in small pvc type tubes) and guard it. Several females will deposit eggs and male will stay there and guard. Males have fat heads.

Right now the water in the bin is sitting right at 60. I have a feeling I will be getting a heater to boost the temp to closer to 70. Thanks for the info on the fish and also about the PVC. I am basically gonna cut up a pallet and stack it and now put a few PVC pipe pieces in there. Since I have well water it should be pretty easy to change out some water once a week. If this works maybe I will try BG next. To bad I had all those small CNBG from the truck.

Set up everything and put the fish in. Guess what was mixed in with the fatheads... 5 CNBG yehaaaa. There small but that is exactly what I wanted. I almost dont want to try breeding the fatheads and just grow out the 5 CNBG. I put about 2 doz fatheads and the 5 CNBG, if the Fatheads spawn I will make a new bin and move the CNBG into that one. They ate so they must like there new home. better then the cold pond in a cage I guess. I still have to get the heater but the water is sitting at 61.

First off grats on the setup! I have been involved with home aquatics for over twenty five years and thought I would throw in my two cents. Your setup is very similar to what is used in the pet industry. We would take the rubbermaid tubs and drill a 3/8 hole approx, six inches form the top on the side. Insert a 3/8 pvc pipe and seal with aquarium sealant. The tube would run into a drain. In turn we would would run a small garden hose over the top with a small but steady stream running into the tub. This would provide a constant stream of freshwater to the system and helped to deplete the big enemy ammonia. Additionally it would be wise to use a Magnum canistar filter. Oh and dont be concerned with the chlorine. As long as you dechlorinate the first fill, the chlorine will gas itself from the water since you are not adding to fast. Keep the bubbles rolling for the minnows and good luck.

Thanks for the info. I just made a small order from thatpetplace. I got some AmmoCarb coming, a submersable heater and a few other things. Since I am dealing with well water here it should be very easy to do water changes every few days. Hopefully they will spawn. I never had good luck in my tropical tanks with spawning, hopefully fatheads are breeding machines.

I raised and spawned over 200 different species of tropical fish over the years. The big difference that we deal with is the water makeup ph etc. My guess is that fatheads will spawn just about anywhere given the right temp and food. Not sure if you have any tropical fish societies in your area or not, but if you can find one...get a white worm culture from one of them. They are tiney little worms that basically live in a makeup of baby cereal. Live food is the best and these little worms provide an excellent clean food that the fish go nuts for. If you get your filtration going give it two or three weeks before you change to much water as you basically have no good bacteria in there right now. So remember to feed light until then. After that I would suggest a bi-weekly water change no more than 1/3 of the water. Joey where did you get your fatheads? I was thinking of doing a side project this winter as well. I may even do the larger kiddy pool in the back yard this summer. I used to buy 50 or so platys or swordtails and throw them in the kiddy pool over the summer with a ton of floating plastic plants. The mosquito larvae and occasional feeding s gave me a surplus of fish at the end of the summer which I sold back to the fish store.

Oh one more thing that will make water changes easier on you. Not sure if your rubbermaid container has a screw in plug or not. You can fit that hole with a spicket that you can hook a hose to for water removal. Every time a read a thread I catch more of what people are trying to tell me..LOL! Lots of knowledge on this site with alot of good people...glad I found Pond Boss! I had to jump in on your thread since you are dealing with something that I actually know about. Now all I have to do is get my pond knowledge up to par!

I did use about 1/3 pond water so its not all new well water. I added a little aquarium salt also. I got the fatheads a few weeks ago off 2 differnt trucks, I had a bunch in a cage in the pond for a few weeks. To my surprise there was a few coppernose in there. The tub does not have a spicket but it is set up a few feet from the back door so draining water from the bottom is no problem. If nothing else, I know the BG will grow over the winter. I think I saw live red worms someplace.

Pet shops will not tell you this...but you can use salt from the grocery store. Get the deiodized! THE DIFFERENCE IS MAKE SURE THE SALT SAYS "THIS SALT DOES NOT CONTAIN IODIDE A NECCESSARY NUTRIENT". I use to use one teaspoon for every 10-20 gallon. The salt helps to build up their slime coat and helps prevent disease. Alot of people in the fish trade use it to treat diseased fish as well. I have only seen pics of the coppernose they look awesome. From what I have heared they will not survive our Illinois winters. Seems like you got a great setup going. Keep us informed how the spawning goes! Oh and one more thing on the white worms....some people call them micro worms. Refer to it as a white or micro worm culture when asking. They are a tiny white worm that would be ideal for your setup. The other thing is once you get your culture which is usally in a small butter tub...you can make new cultures on your own by moving some of the worm culture to a new tub of baby cereal. It will basically be a one time purchase!

Joey - To get fatheads to spawn it takes the proper photoperiod (light dark cycle) for them to develop and lay eggs. Begin by gradually increasing day length from 10-12hr to 15 to 16 hour days. Increase or maintain water temps at 70-74F. Regular feedings of some live food will help to get them into spawning condition but they should also do fine on some good quality high protein fish food.

Thanks Bill,

I was wondering if the legnth of the day mattered. I kinda wish I had 25 baby CNBG to grow out instead of trying to get these fathead to spawn. I think a regular aquarium with lighting that can be altered relitivly easy would be a better way to get them spawning. I still got baby BG around my dock I will try to trap someand maybe drob the fathead deal.

Actually Joey.... Bill is right about this. It is actually harder to control light in an aquarium unless it is in a dark room. I think that you will still have alot of fun with the minnows. I had a type of rainbow fish that I had to slowly adjust the lighting to get them to spawn. I have never spawned native fish...you are getting my curiosity up. Perhaps I will give it a go!