16 replies to this topic

[fishlvr]

So I went to wally world and picked up a 30 gal clearish tub, added substrate and water, and now I'm waiting on the little micro critters to kick off. There are some snails and at least one Asian clam that I've seen in there (Substrate came from another tank I had set up). Hopefully the local mini crayfish I'll be adding will help with the snail population. Locally collected plants will be going in next week, then crays and heterandria. After their populations get up, I'll either be adding Enneacanthus, Elassoma, or eastern mudminnows. I got a little while to decide, but it'll more than likely be Enneacanthus obesus, since they remind me so much of my old warmouth (not sure why, they just seem similar to me). The picture makes the tub look a lot more blurry than it is. It's actually pretty dang clear.

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[fishlvr]

Also, I'm probably gonna cut out the lid and put a screen on it to keep too many leaves or sweet gum balls from getting in, plus the abundance of dragonflies we have worries me.

[Sean Phillips]

Cool project, hope you can find some obesus for it.

[Michael Wolfe]

hey steve, just a suggestion, but I would think that the tank would stay cooler if it were in contact with actual earth... not on the deck.  I'm afraid that in our southern summers if the air above the tub is 90 degrees and the air under your deck is 100 degrees, there is no gradient or thermocline or whatever...

 

I think that having contact with the ground... which even in the summer might be 60 degree earth... is important to maintaining tub tank health.

 

Likewise I would recommend some plant cover for shade (I am partial to water lilies or water shield, but that is for a deeper, bigger tank).  Even some floating hortwort would offer some shade.

[fishlvr]

Yeah i've got it in a shaded spot, but im on the second floor of an apartment. We got a lot of trees around the deck so it keeps most of the heat out, but we'll see as time goes on. If nothing else I'll set up a wine cooler and have a pump run water in and out since I have outlets out there.as far as plants, I've found bananna lillies, water hyacinth and duckweed locally along with parrot's feather, ludwigia and hydrilla, which will be stocked in a week or so after nutrients build up. I also have a bulb from a lilly I had in a previous tank thats in there. It shot out roots a couple days ago and it's starting a leaf, but I don't remember what kind of lilly it is.

[fishlvr]

Sean - I've found a spot for the obesus so collecting them won't be a problem if I decide to go with those. I'll probably start with YOY so they dont pick off all my adult Heterandria before they get settled in and breeding good. Plus they'll be going in a month or so after the Hets.

[fishlvr]

Plants got put in today. Vals, ludwigia repens, parrot's feather, bannana lily, najas grass, water hyacinth, and some random lily bulb. There's a couple pieces of duckweed in there I'll probably fish out tomorrow so it doesn't take over. I'll get some pics up tomorrow after the water clears up from me stirring everything around.

[lilyea]

Steve - it seems like everybody has an opinion on duckweed and I realize that many don't like it.  I view it as a helpful tool and use it in several tanks for filtration, to add shade, and provide a barrier to keep fish from jumping.  I would be curious to know the comparative results if you added a second tub next to the first, one with duckweed and one without (possibly both with floating najas grass), and then compare water quality after a period of time.

 

Additionally, I agree that water temp may be a concern.  One possibility between your current configuration and going all in for a wine cooler is to add a fan that will move the surface of the water. This won't drop the water temp a lot but it may knock it down a few degrees and may make enough of a difference.

 

Best of luck with your outdoor fish!

[fishlvr]

Thanks for the input lilyea. I may leave the duckweed since it does provide a good amount of shade, but I don't want it to choke out my other plants. I'm not to worried about temp as there isn't really a lot of direct sunlight coming in anyways. Just whatever makes it through the trees. About half of the tubs stays shaded and with the floating plants covering the surface it'll help out a lot. I'm kind of feeling this one out as I go since it's a little different than every other tub I've done before.

[fishlvr]

Here's a pic with the initial plant life. If all goes well I'll be seeing a good amount of growth soon.

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[fishlvr]

Update: I had to add some fish a little earlier than expected since my wife wasn't too happy with the gratuitous amount of mosquito larvae brewing in the tub. So I went and got a few gravid Heterandria and a couple males just to up the genetic variety in the population. Those few turned into at least 50 or so. I'll probably give it a couple more weeks for plants to grow before I add anything else. Pics will come tomorrow.

[fishlvr]

I've added some Utricularia and a couple other plants I have no clue what they are. Everything is showing good growth.

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[loopsnj64]

Your plants, i see, anacharis (aka elodea), thin leaved vallisnera and Ludwigia

[fishlvr]

Those ones I know what they are. As well as banana lillies, Utricularia sp, and water hyacinth. I'll see if I can get some pics up of the unknown plants tomorrow.

Also a question for the guys experienced with smaller fish, my stocking plans are Elassoma evergladei, swampfish, pygmy killies, and possibly swamp darters. with the tub becoming more heavily planted, what are chances of fry survival with those fish listed? I've had success with larger sunfish fry in bigger tubs with Gambusia as the other occupant, but I'm unsure on how many fry would survive in this type of setup. I'm most wprried about the swamp darters eating fry as they'd be the largest fish in the tub. There are Heterandria fry in the tub now (I removed the larger females that were in there to curb the mosquito population) and swampfish. I'll be removing the rest of the Hets more than likely since I know they will eat any fry, but I left them in there for now as food for the swampfish.

[Michael Wolfe]

I agree with your concern.  Etheostoma are very effective micro predators.  They are safe with almost all fish (although I have seen darters take down full sized ghost shrimp) but I would think that they would destroy any fry of any species.

 

I have raised some Elassoma, and Leptolucania, but never together... I can't get any production from any of those smaller fishes with any other fish in the tank (but that is inside and outside is always better).

[fishlvr]

Yeah I'm hoping I can put a trio or two pairs of each in there and come out with at least a few offspring of each. Hopefully the plants will provide sufficient hiding. The only issue I'm having currently is getting the Elassoma to survive. I've brought about 6 of them home and they keep gettig white fuzz while in quaranteen. I've tried adding salt, using cured tap water, collection site water, etc and had no luck.

[fishlvr]

Well I did it. Finally got a group of Elassoma to survive a week without getting the fuzz so they went in the tub. I got them from a location with less acidic water, so I think that helped. Kept them in a salted 10 gallon for a week and they showed no signs of fuzz. Now the tub is starting to shape up how I want and is almost completely stocked. Just gotta find me some pygmy killies. Currently in the tub are 9 E. evergladei, 6 swampfish, 4 Christmas tree crays, a small (<1 inch) lesser siren, and various small snails. The plants are growing pretty nicely with a little added fertilizer to help them out. The crays are burrowers and impossible to get on camera, and the siren definitely makes himself difficult to find. I've seen him once since I've had him.

Duckweed and Azolla

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Entire tub

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Tub side view

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Swampfish

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Elassoma evergladei above white pebble

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