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

Last night I finished the "Cecil Envy" Saga. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end!

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000379#000003

The thread got me thinking about raising trout indoors. Could you raise trout indoors through the summer and then stock them in the fall for a Fall/Spring fishery? Would a 100 gallon tank be big enough for ~25 trout to grow out?

I used the same basic design for many years with my tropcial fish growth tanks! While I have never tried trout I guess it could be done. Perhaps someone out there has raised trout inside and can help here.

Sure you can. It's done all the time in indoor raceways. RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture Systems) are a little more difficult as the cooler temps require more biofilter material, but it can be done and is being done. Do a search on the net and I'll be you'll find something. I found this one right off the bat.

http://www.uwsp.edu/cls/aquaCulture/6047A05.pdf

One of my state trout and salmon hatcheries recirculates water to conserve on well water. The fish are mostly inside

Would multiple trout species work or do they have problems when put together? IE 10 Rainbows, 10 Browns, 5 goldens in a 100 Gallon tub.

Also, would 25 Smallmouth bass of the same size work in the same tub? The Smallmouths I would only have in the tub until summer.

Keep in mind Bender that the general concepts for all fish are the same. Keep 'em wet. Provide oxygen. Don't let them live in their own waste. Pay attention to ideal temperatures. If you haven't found someone who's done it, then go for it, keep good data and be the first one. Then make sure to tell all of us how you did it.

Sounds good! I have already started calling around for the fish. The Smallies are proving hard to find.

I think keeping them the same size is more important then worrying about different species of trout. Size disparity spells problems as fish are like chickens -- there's a pecking order especially in smaller spaces. Typically the smaller fish are lower on the hierarchy and don't get as much feed. Sometimes actually having more fish breaks down the territoriality (sp?). Some species are more agressive or territorial than others. Typically the predator fish are the worst.

Not sure. Never tried it. Sometimes certain species will stress the hell out of another. You have to be careful. Might not even be a problem.

I finally did it. Today I picked up 25 5-6+" rainbows and 100 3-4+"YP. I have 2 110 gallon tanks with the perch in one tank and the rainbows in the other. I have aeration running in rainbow tank only right now.

The Rainbows are NOT doing so good. Most of them are swimming near the surface and seem to be gasping for air. I have lost 1 so far and 2 more are not far behind. Assuming this is DO related I am heading up to Walmart to pick up another pump.

Note: Rainbows were "gasping" before I put them in the tank. I am wondering if the hour car ride was too long for them...

The YP seem to be doing great, although, I did have to put a strainer on the drain because they kept trying to swim into it and get stuck. They seem to be scared of everything right now and are hanging out at the bottom of the tank.

I'm not a rainbow guy, but I do know that YP are scared of their own shadow. After nearly a year in the tank they'd still whack their heads against the side of the tank every time I checked on them. Get used to it. One good thing about YP is that they're extremely tolerant of low DO. I'm very interested on further RT updates. Thanks.

Back from Wal-Mart and I added a new pump and two new air curtains. Aeration appears to be up 3 fold.

I turned off the Well water for now as I was worried about possible rust/gases that maybe causing the problem. I am using a water filter that is supposed to cut rust down, but I am not sure that it is enough. Tomorrow I might put something together to run the water through.

Bad news...Lost 6 more RT. The Smaller ones are hurting right now the bigger guys are cruising at the bottom. Hopefully the aeration will save the rest.

Perch - 100
RT - 18

Bender,

I am just a newbie so excuse this if its dumb. Concerning the RT. The water temp? Possably to high? Maybe add some salt to the water, not iodized. When I moved mine almost 3 hours we added salt and ICE and I use a areator to. I bought the aquarium salt at walmart it reduces stress. G/L

My temps are around 55 degrees, according to my Wal-Mart special aquarium thermometer. I am not sure the temp is accurate, but it is definitely cold enough water for the rainbows.

The aeration seems to have worked. I lost a couple more in the meantime but now the fish have returned to deeper waters and appear to be happy again.

Sounds very neat got any pictures of your set up?

Bender, here is a picture of the Tensleep state fish hatchery in Wyoming, home of the Yellowstone cut throat brood stock. It's kind of hard to see but there there is a 3" pipe with holes in it providing a strong circular current in this large round fiberglass tank full of trout, the trout were stacked in there like cord wood. The tanks are partially buried in the ground. Also note that these tanks are all located in the shade under a metal roof.


Here is another picture of some of these 6-8" trout taking pellets in the tank. Something on a much smaller scale such as Bruce's RAS system should work well.

Thanks for posting that Shorty. I almost bought a kiddie pool on ebay about the diameter of the one in the picture, but I couldn’t talk the wife into it. Instead I told her I was going to get two small tanks to grow out some fish. It took a lot of flowers to get back in her good graces after it was all setup. I guess we have different opinions of what "small" is.

Checked in on the trout and found two more dead that I missed last night. They jumped out of the tank and were out of sight. I am surprised the cat didn’t get it. I fed this morning and the Trout eagerly ate, but the YP didn’t seem interested.

The feed I purchased is AquaMax 300. It is 50% protein and appears to be a sinking pellet for fingerlings.

I will post pics of the rig after I clean up from last night’s sump pump debacle. With all the rain we had yesterday, I now have a 3” 1 acre lake in my backyard and the sump pump couldn’t keep up. The good news is that my pond filled up quite a bit.

Rainbow Trout - 15 of 25 stocked
Perch 100 of 100 stocked

Have you read the Cecil Envy thread? The yellow perch may not go to pellets quickly. Eventually they should. It took me several weeks to get them interested in anything but nightcrawlers IIRC.

I have been throwing some pellets into the perch tank when I feed the trout. They did not seem interested in the pellets, and I hadnt seen them take any until a few hit them today. I think now that they are getting used to their enviroment they will start feeding more.

Ok I finally got around to taking a few pictures of my tanks. The basic design should look familar, aside from the vent I added at the top of pvc drain loop to prevent siphoning out the tank once I close the clean out valve.

Water flow starts at a faucet near the well, then flows into a water filter to reduce rust and sediment. From the water filter water sprays into the trout tank. The water then flows out of the trout tank into the perch tank through the PVC drain. From the perch tank the water flows empties into my sump pump crock.

Aeration is handled by two aquarium pumps with two air curtains a each.

Bender,

Just curious but do you know how much iron you have in your well water, and how much you have on the other side of the filter? The reason I ask is typically your well water has to be vigorously agitated for a few minutes to get the iron to precipitate which allows it to be filtered. Even after aeration it takes about 20 minutes for my water to turn brown in the open well tank pit if I leave it sit.

How about D.O. before and after?

I will have to test the water. The well was dug in March and the initial water test showed 2ppm iron, but I would not be surprised to find out that it is higher now. When I change my house water filter it is rust colored.

Weekend Update:

I went away for the weekend and found 5 dead perch when I came back. I have been battling FA since it was introduced to my system with the fish and had a big flare up. I also put an aquarium heater in the perch tank and set it to 19 degrees Celsius. I am putting in a biological bog filter this week so hopefully that will help.

Trout are doing well and are aggressively feeding.

95 of 100 perch stocked left
15 of 25 Trout stocked left

Another Perch was belly up this morning. This is the 6 one since I put in the heater. The perch seem to really like the heater as they gather around it and they are more active now. I am starting to wonder if they are burning themselves on the heater or if the temperature change between the well water and the heater is stressing them.