Fish keeping

Due to mosquito wrigglers becoming a problem have invested in 10 Rosy Barbs. These are great trouble free little fish requiring no heat and will hibernate in the winter and survive down to about -4c. I used to breed them in one of my past lives selecting breeding males with the most amount of red.
In summer they are very active and swim in schools which is a trait of all barbs. They are fed live wrigglers and bait prawns dried and reduced to fine flakes with vitamins and minerals added.

I used to keep barbs and I used a heater as I had other types as well. It's interesting to know that they don't require one. I may have to stop reading this otherwise I will be bringing my tank out of storage. It is addictive!

My neighbour has a huge pond outside and has offered an endless supply of goldfish, just another pet to look after and clean, no thanks

Happy Roses, they are the only one of the barb family that don't need heating so they fall into the no care required catagory. Another little cold water fish very worthwhile are Mountain Clouds.
Sword Tails and Platey's will survive very cool water also but not as easy care as the others.

The Estate, forget the goldfish and Koi as these do require a lot of care in smaller glass tanks. Only way to keep these is large outside ponds with running water through a very big filter. I did breed Black Moors, Commets, Calicos, Oranda's in 12'x6'x2'6" above ground lined brick ponds years ago. These were fan and veiltail types except for the commets. My favourites were the Telescopic Veiltail Calicos which I had really good. High backed deep bodied with veiltails twice the length of their body. When I purchased this property in 1980 my intention was to install an acre of the ponds and breed fancy goldfish but due to pestercide spray drift had to give the idea away. That's all changed so hope the Rosey Barbs survive, could be my future back into fancy goldfish.

Yes there are some beauties out there Maybe when I am a bit older and crankier and no fur friends left lol

I had to look up Mountain Clouds as I had never heard of them. I used to keep my large volume of just about every tropical fish book handy once apon a time, now I would have to relearn again, which were compatible with what etc.
I did like barbs, but not the tigers so much.

Happy Roses, most Barbs can be fin nippers so I gave away keeping the slow moveing fish like Angels etc. Suppose I like fast moving fish that swim in schools. Pleased I introduced you to Mountain Clouds.
These varieties are all egg layers and easy to breed in outside ponds.
Just requires 10 or a dozen floating Water Hyath (Spelling) floating around to catch the spawn and then to shelter the young fry from being eaten. Two or 3 times per week place a fine mesh net below the
floating WH weed, lift up and scoop out the fry for releasing in another tank.
Better get back to roses or we could upset the pureists.

Thanks Ozeboy, perhaps we could start a fishlovers forum hehe.
In a large tank the Angels weren't bothered to much, but the idea of an outside pond sounds intriguing. Something to ponder.

Happy, you are in the ideal climate for breeding fish in outdoor ponds.
Since Silicone became available it's no trouble to have a glass panel or two in the sides. My ponds for breeding the barbs were smaller than the goldfish being 6'x4'x2'. Ponds have to be at least 2' deep as they heat up too much in summer if shallower.

Hmmm I don't know so much as breeding but it would be nice to keep a few fish in a pond. Do goldfish tend to be more messy and breed like crazy? Would Rosy barbs be better to try to see how it goes? And is there other fish that can be kept with them in a pond.

Goldfish are masters at disturbing plants and generally making a mess because they are larger. I didn't put plants in the goldfish ponds except for hyacinth and fed them in large earthern ware saucers with a layer of cooked baby peas. The dried Prawn flakes were fed vary sparingly so not to contaminate the water.

Rosy Barbs grow to about 4" in tanks with running water but in the wild can grow to around 6". I used to keep them in the 6'x4' ponds and didn't have any trouble with fouling the water. I would try the RB's and to add interest breed for most red colour in the maled. When the females are going to spawn and the males are driving them they are at their most colourful. Both RB's and Goldfish spawn in spring when the water has warmed. They are great little fish swimming very actively in schools.
Hope this helps you make a decision.

Thanks that is very helpful, though it would be awhile before I would begin such a project it gives something for me to think about.

A pond is on The List for outside projects... hehehe Rosy Barbs and White Clouds are possibly the fish of choice.

And while we're on ponds.... a reminder that Water Hyacynth is a declared Noxious Weed... (Illegal to sell, trade, have etc?)

This is one of my tanks I have just started up.... no fish yet as it is still cycling.
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I'm planning some Otos, Pygmy Cory and maybe some Ember Tetra

OH Awesome aquascaping! I love it!

I put my long finned rosies in a big terracotta water pot so any floods wouldn't harm them, and they bred beautifully, eating lots of mozzie larvae, and leaping for treats
Sadly this "record flood" roared right over the four ft tall pot, and swept them all away, along with the lotus..

I keep any hyacinth "caged", didn't buy/trade etc, it washed down in a flood a couple of years ago. I still had pigs then, and just turned them loose in that spot.... om nom nom... no more water hyacinth. Yes I checked that it's not toxic first..

I carted my little betta fish out when we evacuated, and today Shadow is tending his first few hatchlings, so I guess I didn't upset them too much!

hi all, nice to see a few Rosey Barbs being kept, long or normal fin.
I've never had long fin types, they are a more recent addittion. Don't know if they were bred in captivety or caught in the wild. Perhaps someone knows the full story.

Just after aquiring these fish I inquired about Water Hyacinth at a water lilly place and was read the riot act about how bad it was and illegal as you have pointed out. Had to wait for the recent floods to get nearly 100 that ended up caught in an estery. The locals dredged
and placed a big boom across the river, pulled it to shore and stacked up tons of it to dry and die. It may be a problem but wonderful for spawning fish in and protecting fry.

AD your indoor pond looks great ut a lot more work than the outside ponds.

my fish
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Might have to change my name to Happy rosey barbs hehe.
Love the tank Autumn, great set up and the cichlids look amazing, Jordan, how big are they?

Happy roses wrote:Might have to change my name to Happy rosey barbs hehe.
Love the tank Autumn, great set up and the cichlids look amazing, Jordan, how big are they?

that pic was taken a year ago, they are now pretty large , male about 25 cm . females around 15cm

That's 10" and 6", they are doing very well, almost big enough for the fry pan. I thought they needed a larger tank to get that big. Biggest ones I have seen were about 5" long.

Ozeboy wrote:That's 10" and 6", they are doing very well, almost big enough for the fry pan. I thought they needed a larger tank to get that big. Biggest ones I have seen were about 5" long.

lol fry pan . hmmmmmm

they are in a 6x2x2 foot tank

I'm with you Ozeboy, might be naughty weed but sooo good for baby fishies! Like I said, easy to keep caged and well away from floods... see they're good for something! My baby bettas love to hide in the floating roots, and pounce out at daphnia and tiny water bugs...

lildeb, I have been cleaning and lice powdering my chooks, getting ready for the show season. I do this every year and end up going nowhere though it does impact on the rose projects. Sorry, back to fish.
Last week I placed some Hydroponic Solution in the water containing the Water Hyacinth and just in 7 days they have really started to grow and have gone a darker shade of green. One can imagine what a problem it can be when growing in water that gets fertiliser through farm water run off. Anyway mine are well under control and I will keep it that way.
Last night I prepared some more prawn flakes by drying about 8 prawns.
Think I may have done a post on the method I use but if anyone is interested can go over it in detail.