igalysh

How cold does it get in South California? I live in Virginia and keep gold fish and minnows year round in a 600+ gallon above ground tank. I get days below freezing but not long enough to create more than a 1/4 inch thick ice on top. As long as the water doesn't freeze solid and I keep a hole open when the top ices over, the fish are good. You just need to pick fish that can handle the yearly temperature range. Gold fish handle a wide temperature range. Ivan

I live in Northern Virginia. I have a 800 gallon open stock tank that is all above ground. Even with all the really cold days with early mornings less than 20F and several days not getting above freezing, my tank hasn't frozen solid. I still see my goldfish in there. This is my second winter with the tank. I have a 1200 watt floating deicer and I have had up to a half inch of ice on half the tank. I also have an air powered filter running. Last winter the tank froze over the deicer making the only opening. Being 8 feet wide, I think the ground underneath doesn't get cold enough to freeze the water from underneath. If I get a chance, for next winter, I'll try to build up a wall around the tank to provide some insulation and make it look nicer.

I have a tank with Platties and they swim around my fingers looking for food when feed. I even made a loop with my fingers and they would swim through. They are looking for food when you put your hands inside. Mine will swarm around my hands and siphon when I do water changes. I have a few generations of platties. They know what brings food. Ivan

From the same website, https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/17-aquarium-fish-selection/ If you scroll down a ways, there is discussion on neon tetras. The website states they don't do well in water with a lot of free floating bacteria. I didn't know they were blackwater fish. Ivan

Is your water cloudy? The picture seems to show cloudy water. You may need to improve your filtration. I have a tank with a sponge filter and improved my water by connecting the power head to the sponge filter. It improves the efficiency of the sponge filter. I also tried out the fluidized bed filter and that also improved the clarity of the water. You may want to read this: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/4-3-free-floating-bacteria/ I found the website quite useful and added more filtration capacity which cleared up the water in all my tanks. You may have a high amounts of bacteria free floating in the water which stresses the fish's immune system. Ivan

I'm going to experiment. I have two of the large sponge filters stacked with a CO-OP power head pulling water through the sponges and the K1 media tumbling in a 2 liter bottle. I'll remove the all-in-one pond filter with the UV light and see what happens. One of the sponge filters has been in the tank all year so it is well established. The K1 media started tumbling after a day in the tank. I looked at pond canister filters. They use sponges and a little bit of bio-media, some kind of bio-balls. I figure the sponge filters with a power head will work similarly. The 5 gold fish were bought from the Petsmart as feeder fish. They have grown nicely and are quite active. I have been reading this site about filtration. https://aquariumscience.org/

I have a question about filtering a 800 gallon stock tank. I have 5 goldfish and some minnows. I've researched filtration for ponds and all seem too large but those ponds have a lot of fish. I don't plan on adding more fish but do want to add more plants in the future. I bought an in pond filter that includes a UV light and that has kept the water clear but hasn't stopped the string algae and needs constant maintenance. I also had the largest CO-OP sponge filter with an airline. I was thinking with my low count of fish, I don't need such large filtration. With such a small number of fish for 800 gallons, would the largest CO-OP sponge filter and power head combo be enough? I think an air pump sponge filter wasn't circulating the water enough to get good filtration. I am also experimenting with the K1 media in the 2 liter soda bottle but am concerned that it won't circulate the water enough to filter well enough. I have two other tanks with sponge filters and upgraded them with power heads and the water in both tanks got very clear . Both tanks are planted with a few small fish. I was thinking of replicating the same with the stock tank. And this year with the 5 goldfish, my water lettuce stayed small. Do goldfish like to nibble on the roots? Any suggestions?