# any ideas for outside fish?



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

okay like it says im looking for some great fish to put outdoors that will breed like crazy and i can put maybe two or three types in the same bin. 
i will be using rubbermade containers and maybe lack linning inside to darkin it and be able to see the fish. i will be putting nets over the tops to keep local '*****, cats, and dogs and maybe birds if i can to keep them all alive. i will be also putting some plants out there to get bigger and healthier.
i have the idea to put some otto cats, corydoras, swords, kribs,if i can maybe rams,bristlenose plecos, and idk maybe some guppies...i want some other ideas or maybe some no's to the list i have or some fish that you have in particular of the list like certain type.

thanks everyone!:mrgreen:


----------



## macclellan (Feb 28, 2007)

For starters, you don't want to use tropical fish like all those you mentioned, especially not rams.

Use local fish. Grab a throw net and hit the Cuyahoga or a tributary. There are some beautiful fish in the area, darters, minnows, etc. Or buy some from http://www.btdarters.com/

I'm from Akron, btw...

Don't expect plastic netting to stop the *****...


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

i have a local member from the greter akron aquarium society that does this every year with livebearers and i have read in aquarium fish magazine about this and those were recommended, rainbows, and kribs and some of the other central american cichlids...im only keeping them out there for the summer then i will bring them in. i dont want to kill them lol. i live in ravenna just outside of kent. i have some local ponds but i want to do this to sell them to the local pet store out here. make some extra cash and they really like local bred fish so i figured i would help them out and myself. 
:bathbaby:


----------



## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

If the tanks are large enough to keep the temperature stable I would try just about all the fish outside, in planted stock tanks. I would not try the more delicate fish in a small volume of water, though. 
Ditto the plastic mesh vs. raccoons. They collapsed the net trying to get into the pond and the net captured some fish :-(


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

okay well here is the low down on my lovley weather around here...in the summer its about 75-89 depending on the days but every summer it gets hotter and hotter. during the nights it drops about 5 degrees on average. the tubs i want to say are about 20 gallons each. im still wondering what i want to do because i have a ground hog in my yard now, stray cats that pop up once in a while(we dont feed them) and i have not seena **** yet nor opposum. so i want to figure out some fish that wont sleep at the top. im either thinking about the tubs out in our yard or doing this out on our un used balcony. i dont think anything goes up there really. any other fish ideas though?


----------



## macclellan (Feb 28, 2007)

Ah, if it's summer only than disregard my advice above.

Balcony should help keep the ***** at bay.

If you're doing it for the money, I'd go for fancy guppy breeds and/or some rarer plecos. There's no point in ottos, they're only $1.50 each retail.


----------



## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Endlers


----------



## overboard (Mar 11, 2008)

I just set up a tub this weekend. Half wine barrel with a liner, lots of insulation, on dirt, mostly shade, lots of plants. Put juvenile swordtails in, turned my back, they jumped out. Put female bettas in, so far so good. Saturday afternoon we hit 102 degrees, Sunday at sunrise it was 60. The water below the surface ranged from 78 to 70. You have less temperature variation... you could probably raise gouramis, bettas, barbs... and any livebearer. Oh how fun! Just cover the swordtail bin.


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

what kind of plecos? im interested in that one now. i was thinking of guppies but im kinda over them really. I think i might do rainbows. i have a few and i might start breeding them like crazy in green stained water...people have had good luck with that so maybe it will work for me too! oh and im def going to the extra layers of liner to insulate it a bit more!!! thanks! 

do you think maybe tetras would be okay...just wondering?


----------



## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

gibmaker said:


> Endlers


I'll second this suggestion. They are super hardy little suckers.


----------



## Tedb (Apr 3, 2008)

I've had luck raising most things outside. With rainbows I usually keep the spawners indoors and move mops full of eggs outside for hatching. The young will get plenty to eat from the plants although since they grow slow they will need to be brought in and finish growing out in the fall. I use 34 gallon vats that livestock minerals come in, they are rigid and work well. For something I really want to raise I also add a heater to keep the temp stable, just set it at 74 degrees and forget it. I've lost whole batches of rainbows before from slight cold snaps. 

Barbs work well, I've bred cherries and tigers outside in tubs, if you are looking for resale value Celestial Pearl Danios would be a good fish to breed in tubs. I'm actually curious about trying these and may invest in a trio for one of my tubs. I'd say at least some fry would live to semi adulthood by October. 

I raise tons of paradise fish outside, have two pairs I just put outside here in Kentucky. Their colors are fantastic by the end of summer but you are still only going to get a dollar-$1.50 for each from petshops and you can flood the market pretty darn quick. I keep them mostly for their mosquito eating ability in my plant grow out vats. I've also raised bettas outside during the summer. 

Killies work well as well, australes or any of the other plant spawners, if you put them in now by the end of summer the tub should be full if you have enough plant cover. 

I don't know about plecos, bristlenose may breed outdoors, any of the others are going to require current, soft water and high temps in order to breed. I keep a few bristlenose fry in each of my containers and they grow fast outside. 

I always work with single species in each vat as their is usually less chance of predation if kept alone. Fill a tub up with plants, add 6-8 of one kind of fish and see if you have anything by the end of summer.


----------



## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

I've done summertime whiskey barrel gardens outside for three years now. 

I've kept Golden WCMMs...they look great from above.
Longfin gold Zebras..." ....".
Regular Zebras...these breed for me and I got a batch of fry.
Endlers...did great and breed well.

The biggest problem was the egglayers were eating their fry. You would need to separate the parents shortly after spawning.

I also lost two barrels of fish to heavy thunderstorms. (The zebra fry from season one...lost during season two!) I think one of my barrels was not level and the fish were washed over the edge. (So sorry guys!) Just something else to think about.


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

tedb ~your advie and experience was greatly taken...to be honest i completly forgot about the celestrial rasboras!!! now thats one fish im going to put in for sure!!!

do you think some of the micro rasboras would do good out there?
what about badis badis?

Mud Pie Mama~you made me scared for a minute with your story...im kinda nervous to now where im going to put the bins. when it rains here it rains and when it thunderstorms its a sissy storm lol but hmmm...maybe i can find a way to control all the rain.


----------



## Tedb (Apr 3, 2008)

I drilled 1" holes in the sides of my tubs and glued screen over the holes. A couple on each side will do it. That way the water drains out the holes instead a huge wave skimming off the top where most of your fry are going to be. You will still lose some fry but not as many. We have had storms bad enough where I've run out and covered them with plywood just in case. 

I went to a client's a few days ago and remembered that I had stocked a trio of CPD in one of their tanks months ago and forgotten about them (you never saw the things). They are now at home waiting for Memorial day. I have some captive bred fry that I got from Brilliant, they are completely different acting fish. As soon as I put the trio of wilds in my 10 gallon moss tank they dove in a pile of moss and have barely come out. The captive breds that I got are always out. 

I'm not sure about the micro rasboras since I'm fairly unfamiliar with them. Do some research on them, riverine, stream and small pond fish seem to do better in tubs than big "lake" fish as over the years they are more used to shifts in conditions. Not sure about the badis either, I bred them a few times years ago and remember the fry being very small. They might be a good one to "grow out" in tubs. They are also kind of specialist fish that most pet shops have a limit on how many they will take on at one time. It would probably be easier to get rid of 100 CPD's than 100 badis. 

I have found that you are better off transfering fry or eggs to the tubs with most things and allowing them to grow out than actually breeding them in the tub itself. You can raise fry from several different fish in one tub and sort them out in the fall. 

I start my tubs in Feb. by throwing a little dry manure and dead leaves in the bottom. I add plants after the threat of frost and then fish in early June. In my tubs I get as many plants as possible, alot of which are collected from the wild (just give it a once over for damsel fly and dragon fly larva). Give the plants a couple of weeks to populate with wild food and then start adding fry. I rarely feed my tubs and what you grow out under natural light with live food will be much more colorful than anything you buy in the stores.


----------



## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

wow so much info to retain for such a short season!!! lol well im off to make a list ans get some fish going i guess. im pumped for the CPD going to get a trio maybe 5 if i can. hell i might try the glo-light fish too!!! that would be fun to bring the price down on them too near me


----------



## cassiusclay (Feb 19, 2007)

i do live bearers in large 50+ gallon bins every year platies, mollies, guppies and that sort just be prepared to take them in quickly.make sure NIGHT TIME temp stays above 70 and watch the weather in the fall.in you live in a mosquito infested area like i do you wont even have to feed them. if you pick the right plants you wont need any other gear either.if you can find a copy of April's TFH there is a whole article in there on it.if not some of the plants they suggest are water hyacinth,cattails amoung all things and floering pickerel.ive used water hyacinth before and it rocks for fry and youll have many trust me.
EDIT: and as far as raccoons go a few moth balls sprinkled about does wonders VS those guys!!!!


----------



## OperJeff (Apr 14, 2007)

I always wanted to do an outside tank with Bluespotted Sunfish.

also your containers will have to be resistant to UV or they will eventually crack. I use 30 gallon Heavy Duty storage bins for grow out tanks (bettas) indoors. They are already black and they dont break or deform from the weight of the water


----------

