# Kiddy pool to fish...pool



## Sylverclaws

So, someone gave me this bright idea on here the other day, about turning a kiddy pool into a place to raise fish. Their's was a temporary outdoor type thing...mine will be indoor. Colorado's weather is too out there to do any outdoor tropicals. lol Plus we have kids, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and possums, occasional fox, along with many types of birds of prey and cats, snakes...I don't think outdoor ones would work, anyone with ponds here usually ends up with eaten critter left-overs next to their ponds eventually. 

So here's what we're going to do, and I need some help on the set up because it's obviously a first for me, but is a cheaper alternative to an extremely large, and extremely expensive new tank. So advice is welcome! 

I'm going to have it indoors, it'll be in the basement. Hoping for something that's 1-2 feet deep and large, something at least 300-400 gallons, biggest I can find that'll fit in the basement, I think. 

I'm thinking sponge filter. I assume I'll need two or three. What kind would go well? I may just get to guessing. 

The heaters...it actually stays pretty warm down there all year round, so I don't know if I'll need more than one or any too powerful. I'll be testing that out. It stays 75 or so in the winter down there, maybe a bit warmer, and gets right hot in the summer though, however the A/C should keep it around 80 or lower. Basically it's always between 70 and 80 degrees down there, so the heater will just need to be the stability for that and keep it around 76-78. Because it doesn't get too cold or hot, that should be enough, or so I hope...

There will be floating plants like my crystalwort that grows like nothing else. No substrate, it needs to be easier to clean. Plants are always a plus. lol

Obviously I'll be testing and making sure it's cycled before putting any fish in there. =)

So this will be my project, I'm hoping against hope it'll be a quick and easy set up. Fat chance, eh? But since I have established media, it shouldn't take long, provided I get the right filters...I'm hoping to have it done quick though. I have some new babies in great need of more room. :3 
Currently have like...I don't even know 50+ two week old swordtails. Bunch of mollies, always have mollies in, some guppies...see now why I need the space? My 55 gal with the adults is no longer ideal for the amount of kids I get in. Usually I give fry away for free because I haven't the space and want them to live and not stunt or die in over-full tanks, but I'm hoping to make this into a small business and one day have giant tanks instead. lol Seems like a good idea to me, a lot more space for a fraction of the cost a tank will be...should I find a proper pool that will last.

My 55 gal, and two ten gallons are past full capacity(the 20 gal is not usable for fry since it's housing a lovely blue crayfish...), and ma refuses to let me get a tank that's a few hundred gallons, especially since we don't have thousands of dollars to spend on one. LOL So this is my alternative. 
Wish me luck, I shall update. Be nice if my...very wild idea I stole from someone else and modified a little actually goes well, eh? Otherwise it'll likely be years before I get enough tanks to get my business running. I knew someone who started out with a couple small tanks and storage tubs in their garage, a large pool in a basement sounds better to me...

So, am I nuts? Biting off more than I can chew? Very likely. In fact probable. =P Think I can pull it off? Guess we'll find out.


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## Sylverclaws

Well, I got my heater, two sponge filters, two airstones, thermometer that sinks in not those silly stickers, some prime, extra sponges to get established with my already established ones and a good sized pool. Checked it all over before I got it. Got home, took off the sticker and it had a hole. My day went from WOO HOO to many curses. LOL 

Well, got everything else for it, I'll be getting another tomorrow and removing the stickers first...they ask I'll tell them why. Haha. So, only put a bit of a setback in my plans, but there was another pool I liked, bit deeper, thicker and well made, but ma wanted the flimsy blue pool. o-o; I knew better, eh! I can't wait to get it set up, the mat of crystalwort alone should look good. :3


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## Tolak

I run a couple 150 gallon tubs in my basement fishroom. First thing is depth; once you hit the 24" mark you'll need a snorkel to reach the bottom, I'm 6', and can just hit it without having to hold my breath. Another thing to consider is a bit of insulation between the pool & concrete floor. While the air temperature may be warmer the concrete may well be cooler, mine gets just plain cold. I've got a wood pallet top under each tub, throwaways from work.

I filter them with 3 sponge & 3 box filters each. I run a 3rd outside once the weather breaks, summer platy tub. That one has a 5 gallon bucket of gravel & a pond pump for a filter, along with a 1000w bucket heater with a controller. I can keep that one at 90F when it's freezing out if I ignore the electric bill. 

You know we'll need pics of this setup!


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## Sylverclaws

Niiice! 

Insulation: Well, my floor has old carpet with cement under it. Will I still need something? I'm not sure if we have wood sheets anymore. Since my grandpa got sick we've kinda...moved things out and he no longer has much of a workshop left down there. We used to have a bunch of wooden sheets among other things. 

Oh, I'll get you guys photos. Just don't expect it to be pretty. LOL No matter how I try, I can't seem to make things nearly as pretty as some of you guys can. My planted tanks aren't bad, but they're certainly no designer job! Kinda hoping once my mat of crystalwort gets big enough, and hoping to order in some other floating plants like water lettuce maybe, that it'll cover up any...well, stuff not so pretty. lol If it doesn't work out for fish as I am hoping, I can put it outside and grow my plants in the summer. :3

I was thinking about putting the left-over sand substrate I have upstairs that I couldn't fit in my tank. It's not much, but there's some. I was going to put it on one side of the tank and add in some peaceful critters to help keep algae down. I don't use fish to do my job for me, but it's nice to have just a little help on the scrubbing. :3 I have some kuhli loaches, and I think they'd go alright in there, the pool is nice and smooth, thick plastic. Think that's alright? I like to keep cories or kuhli loaches in my nursery tanks because sometimes I drop in a bit of food too big for the babies and they get it right up. =) I think they'd like the space. lol


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## Sylverclaws

Alright, it's up! Not as big as I had planned, but it's not small either. 
It took forever to fill up, it's about five feet around and maybe a foot, give or take a few inches, deep(any guesses as to how many gallons that might be? Our best guess is 75 or so). Added plants and established media to the filters, which are cool, so it'll hopefully cycle a bit faster. No fishies until then though. I couldn't get the screen out of the window so I had to fill it by hand with a gallon pitcher. My back and hips are absolutely killing me and I'm not done yet(though I'll probably only add another inch of water, currently debating on it...I may need a screen JUST in case of jumpers...). 

Got my airstones, plants, filters, heater(I may need another, but it stays pretty stable down there so I was hoping one would be enough to keep it there, we'll see), sinking thermometer and no stickers, and a broken back. LOL For just being put up, it's not bad, eh? It'll be perfect, and is indoor so easier to care for. I will turn down the fountains on the filters a bit later, for now it'll keep the water moving and even everything out, but later it'll be lower for the crystalwort I have in there(I also have a small anubias nana that sunk thanks to roots growing in gravel...and that stem plant was an accident lol), I hope it'll make a nice mat, I'd also like some water lettuce and maybe some water sprite too. Be my little pond in the basement. If it doesn't work out I could always get a pair of fancy goldfish. xD

The light I'm using is temporary, well..I may use those but more than one and I need to find some plant lights and find something else to hang them on. =)

So aside from my wanting more plants up top that'll look good, and the later addition of black sand in one area(probably not much, I wont do the whole tank, it'll be a real you know what to clean if I do!), what do you think? Any suggestions for further doings? It's to be handy, not pretty according to my grandma...but who says I can't have both?!


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## Flear

250-300 gallons is my guess
i'd go to an aquarium size calculator to find exactly

Edit:
150 gallons it is


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## bob reed

Hey! That looks great! Might want to think about a dehumidifier! Just a thought...


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## Flear

i'm thinking about things now ...

get rid of the carpet, empty the pool, ... either move it or get the carpet out from under it, ... seal the floor to prevent water damage.

you're not going to spill any water right ? (we all know you won't right 
water will never creep over the edge to drip down right ? (we know that won't happen 

don't mean to sound like a jerk, ... i just had a sudden realization, ... your back is going to hate you, ... but your floor will love you for it, ... get rid of the carpet so you don't have to worry about water damage rotting everything out , that would be very bad, every very bad


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## Tolak

While the concrete under it will take an incredible amount of time to rot the carpeting will get a funky smell if it gets wet several times.


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## Sylverclaws

@Flear: According to a pool volume calculator, it's only 73 gallons. ^^; I WISH I had one as big as your guess, I had one a tad larger before but we took it back because it was flimsy like I thought(ma argues it), but thankfully a hole happened before we filled it up because it was so cruddy. I went back and got the one I wanted. Although I'd prefer there not be any designs on there, I'll be watching them very closely since I know they eventually melt. My original pool was almost 200 gallons. T_T I wish it had worked out. 

A dehumidifier sounds interesting, keep the outside areas dry-er? Where would one get that?

Hahaha, Ah yeah, that carpet is so old, in fact it's years and years older than me and I'm 27(I believe it's closer to 35, not sure though, we've been wanting it out forever, but every time someone moved out, someone moved back in! LOL My little cousin had it a little while ago, it's not clear she fears the basement and sleeps up next to my room on the top floor). So the place is mine and I chose to keep the old stuff. There is cement under it. But I KNEW there may be issues with it should it get wet...so I have a green machine(It's kinda like a mini carpet cleaner...well actually it is a mini carpet cleaner), that will suck water out of the carpet, much as any of those things can anyways, small fans that I hope I wont need to use because it might mess with the temp, and bags to go around it when I change water.

We were going to remove it first, but then I had this thought...they want it to stay as the cement under it, and we argued insulation for the fish pool, so I said to forget it because I didn't want to use bags or plastic painter sheets over the cement...so I figure I'll do what I can to just take care of it and keep anything gross from happening. lol


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## Sylverclaws

So, have a little confusion today...

I tested my fish pool, twice, a little bit ago to make sure I didn't mess something up and see how it was going. I have a low amount of ammonia, between the yellow and green coloring so I assume it's below the lowest amount(which is 0.25 ..it's hard to read the yellows but I don't think it's zero...which is yellow, it was more yellow than green, but lighter than the lowest amount), NO nitrite, but I have 10ppm nitrate(our tap water has 5ppm so it's grown...but where is the nitrite? Already converted and ammonia be new?). I use the API Master Freshwater Test Kit. I'm used to these readings around the "I'm almost done cycling!" point, but there is just no way, it's a huge pool I just set up(although I did use mature media from two other tanks in both filters...but even still, took four days or so for my ten gallon to complete with the same thing done). o-o

Having ammonia and nitrates but no nitrites has me confused since I haven't had it go like that before. o-o Is it going ok, or do I need to do something aside from changing a bit of water which I did(used Prime as my conditioner)? 


I need a second heater, seems the one I got is good, but not quite powerful enough, I need one of those 300 watt ones I think, mine isn't that high. Or just a second one like this one, keep in mind I used water that was like 48 degrees to start... It's got it to 68 degrees or so, but it's staying there and the heater still going, I'm going to get it a friend to take a load off so I don't wear it out, though I'm sure it'd heat up to about 70-72 on it's own...it'd probably take several days and I want a bit of extra insurance...I can always take it out later if it ends up being too much for the pool. lol :3 I'm also going to snag a third just in case filter. Well, actually I have two filters in my 55 gallon, and since I'm about to take a load off of it, I'm thinking I'll take that filter and set it up with its already mature media and give that one a slightly smaller new filter.


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## henningc

I've been watching the thread and figured now is as good of a time as any to jump in. First, carpet could be an issue, I was not aware the concrete was covered. Carpet is a game changer in my opinion.

If you are for sure going to do this inside then I have a couple of suggestions. If you can't get off the carpet, you need to go up. Lines of cinder blocks with sturdy wood sheeting on top will work. On carpet, I guess you could build a 2x4 frame a with a wood sheet bottom and line it with industrial plastic sheeting. You could also add a thin layer of sand to keep things tidy. Keep in mind, you can save your back by going up and save the carpet by covering it with sheet plastic and putting the above frame on top of it. 

The pool. Don't know the demensions, but if you look it up on the manufacturer website they will tell you capacity. You could go with an Intex pool that is 500 plus gallons in a 10' x 10' area. I would suggest you look at the local, or not so local, farm store seeking a 300gal round stock tank. They are heavey duty and don't cost too much. They give you more floor space and enough depth. The stock tank will out last the pool and will not leak unless you drill a hole in it. I have 125gal and 175gal stock tanks and they are very durable. I've used them inside and out and outside they over winter just fine.

Just to address the issue of inside or outside, I live in the sticks. We have raccons, deer, turkeys and everything else you listed and have not lost a fish to the critters. If you want security, use some metal garden stakes, fishing line and tightline fishing bells. When what ever comes calling the bells ring. You can also get a portable motion activated light for the pool area. These lights can be obtained at the hardware store and are not too expensive unless you're going for looks. I don't use any of those things on the pools, I do on the garden. My pools are less than 100ft from the woods line and the woods are deep. The tree frogs visit and breed in the pools, that is how I know cichlids love to eat tadpoles. People locally who have goldfish or koi ponds have a lot of issues I don't have. I have no clue why, but the influx of mosquito larva and the impact on the livebearers reproduction is worth the risk. Try it with a kiddie pool full of Endlers and you will find out. Heck, P.M. me and I'll send you the Endlers for shipping if you do it.

Keep the thread going and good luck.


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## Sylverclaws

I'm going to see about a wood sheet platform under it. Easier than a whole move. I initially figured it'd be better insulation. lol I WAS going to do it on a wooden sheet in the area without carpet, but I was kicked at the last minute and told I could have the room. I figured there'd be issues somewhere. Hopefully we can get the carpet up eventually and slide it out and around and put something under it over the cement next year or later this year. 


As for now: Got another filter and heater this morning, the temp is now staying stable, thus far, at 76 degrees. I like the filter, the others are smaller, this one evens it to about 80 gallons. With it the plants stay more stable in the middle areas and one side has a calmer part with an airstone(I have filters on three sides) so the fish wont be jammed around, tested that out. 

The tank is 70-75 gallons, used a pool volume thing to figure it out(this one: http://www.swimmingpool.com/maintenance/testing-your-water/pool-volume-calculator ), and it said 73 gallons but I had to round it off. It's not as big as I had hoped and choices were few, but I want it cycled, and perhaps at a later date I will set up a different one to make up for that. lol I'm tempted to steal the pool we'll have this year, depends on it's make(I'm gonna see if I can trick ma into one of the pools you suggested LOL Once the kids are done with it, if it's still in good shape, I'll need to know how to properly clean and sanitize it though! Wont have chlorine added, but it'll obviously have kid in it). 

Though it's not nearly as large as I wanted(I wanted one like 150-200 gallons), it is more than enough to help with what I have now for a time. I have a couple dozen swordtails I want to put in there to raise until they're an inch or so long. Wont put all of mine in there since I have like 50+ babies, but some will go in and I wont be cramped in my big tank! :3 The babies are currently split between my planted ten gallon, large homemade nets in my 55 gallon, and a net in my twenty gallon, see why I kinda rushed to get it going? :3 They wont be in until it's cycled and stable, but it's at least on the way!


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## Sylverclaws

So, I made a post to see if I'm having a cycling issue or not. I did use mature media in all three filters(have two fifteen gallon filters and a fifty gallon filter), and about twenty gallons of pre-cycled water. 
Making sure things actually went well or blipped...my nitrates are gone, as is my ammonia, and nitrites are also zero. It's stayed that way for several days now. .-. I have my plants, the accidental ramshorn snails(I've been feeding them, but if the tank isn't cycled it's not showing up because it's probably too little...), and see nothing I normally would. I did previously have ammonia and nitrates though. I'm hoping my plants just ate it all up and it's nice and stable. lol I still find it kinda odd since it took three or four days for my ten gallon to cycle, but I filled it up more than half way with pre-cycled water and used mature media for the filter too. This is so big though, it's got me stumped, I figured it'd take a couple weeks or maybe even a month or more. x.x

Get a bit more info and see how this goes, I may pop kids in there soon if I get enough ok's...

Otherwise the pool looks pretty good. I can't wait to add babies. =) I moved a big net down there to put the larger filter in so it wont eat any kids, it has netting around the holes so the water still gets through, I'll be pulling that out to wash when I do my cleanings. 

Today was cleaning day. I did about 20 gallons or so in the pool tank this morning, tested it maybe an hour ago to find it's still the same. I am BUSHED! Aside from the pool tank I have two ten gallons, a twenty, a fifty five gallon and a five gallon betta tank. I'm gonna have to move some days around here for cleaning. lol It feels good though, but it was just so hot today! I almost melted. It feels better because I have a molly, my favorite, about to pop again, and possible a few others about to pop(my white swordtail looks about ready too, and possibly my dalmatian lyretail who rarely does so), they're huge. My little orange molly who is a gold dust mix(she's all orange with a big black spot on her tail and belly) goes about every 28-32 days and I now have less space worries, provided this pool cycles properly and stays there. :3 I haven't seen her this big before and she usually gives me 20-30 babies a month and has for the last year and a half-two years or so. Her mama was a gold dust, daddy is unknown(I had no male gold dusts, had a dalmtation sailfin, black sailfin with a gold stripe on his sail and a silver sailfin at the time). 


Yay for space! Send me some luck. 

Oh yeah, ma said you guys are nuts if you think we have to worry about humidity in Colorado, ours is in the single digits...rarely gets high anyways. I told her she's wrong, but eh. I have a window-well down there so no wind gets in but air can come in and out gently, and a fan, I'm hoping that'll be enough to keep humidity down. I rather think I'll have a problem if she doesn't let go there and let me get something to help, like a dehumidifier like someone suggested, perhaps some fans? I worry fans may mess with the water temp...which will probably be fine in the summer but not the winter.


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## henningc

Keep the post running as I'll be interested to see how it turns out over the next several months. 

I'm going to update my kiddie pool project thread. Things in the great outdoors are moving fast here in Missouri home to weather that is crazy unpredictable.


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## Sylverclaws

Colorado is just as wacky. We went from snow to eighty degrees. x.x And it's been HOT lately, I'm hoping for some rain soon, which is in the forecast. Our humidity levels are typically pretty low here, but we hit single digits earlier. We've had some nasty fire seasons, and it looks like we may get another. I think we made national news a few times in the last couple years, let's hope we break the cycle. All that smoke and haze, plus fires nearby, just absolutely sucks! We're not in a big fire area, really, but we get all the smoke from the areas that are. I have some nice photos of the sun looking red with yucky fire clouds. I admit it looks cool, but I can live without ever getting that again. So many homes and lives lost. =(


I tested my waters today...by testing I mean I added some kids in the tank since it's been stable for several days. It's earlier than I'd like, but I just got in a batch of newborns today, I suppose I'm testing my luck but I'll be watching the water in the pool tank and testing at least twice a day, maybe three. I don't want any slips. But it's been all zeros since my ammonia and nitrates went down, and because of mature media in all three filters and 20 gallons of pre-cycled water I'm hoping it stays that way. Though the Nitrates being gone do have me a little puzzled...Hopefully it wont bite me in the butt. Got my newborns in the nursery until they're a bit bigger so the older babies don't kill them. It happens. lol Cute kids I got too, little calicos, some black, black and gold, black and white...likely get several like I have on my livebearer photo thread. :3 I always do. Got more than usual though, this mom just gets bigger every brood. For a molly she has pretty small broods, usually 10-20 babies, I am pretty sure I got upwards of thirty this time(still small for a molly, but she is a gold dust and not huge either). 

Debating on getting a new male soon, I have no adults, and don't want them all to be from the same father, so I'll be needing that room if I do. :3 Just need to figure out which kind would go with my lyretails and short-fins without making a mess of them...Perhaps a sailfin of sorts, been years since I bred sailfin mollies, but I'm not sure how mixing them with short-fins will work out...


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## Sylverclaws

Water parameters are still staying the same. The kids I added in are very happy so far. Active, bright, checking out everything and eating. I take that as a good sign, but it's only day one.

Just got a big cave to put in there. Yeah...I can't just have plain things, I gotta dress up my tanks, even if one tank is a pool supposed to be just for raising fish. lol May as well look good and have hiding and interesting things in it while they grow. I'm about to put a little sand in there left over from my ten gallon when I set it up. It's not much though, but it'll be a little something. I want to put my kuhli loaches in there to help clean up extra food. Plenty of space for them to zoom around, everything is smooth, and they can get the extra scraps the kids don't eat. I've never had any sail out of my tanks before, so hopefully they wont. Water is about two inches below the top. Let's hope that doesn't bite me, can't think of anything tp put in there with a low bioload and lower chance of eating babies the size I add in. I debated on my pleco, but I think that's a bit much. LOL Plus, the kuhli's will be happy out of the ten gallon I'm sure. But first, sand. And I need to get you guys new photos. Made a few tweaks here and there to everything. Got some light bulbs that are better for my plants now too, they were looking a bit stressed. I also gave a small dose of liquid fertilizer. I don't like using them anymore since i have shrimp, but there are no shrimp in the pool. lol Just wanted to perk them up a bit during their time of stress with improper lighting. 

Anywho, that's the update for the day. I know it's just the first night, but no spikes in several days, about two dozen kids in the pool, they all look very active and happy. Let's see if I can keep it that way. I'll be adding the other kids at another time, maybe in a week or so if things continue to go well. I don't want to push my luck, the tank seems cycled and stable, but is not established. Though large, I'm not gonna go there. :3


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## Sylverclaws

Here's my update, got a video. Sorry, one of the lights went out so the lighting is off and on. Right now I'm having youtube fix it a bit, which may take a bit. =)

And yes, sorry, I talk a lot. lol 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqmwnQqCgSI

And a couple photos. I want more sand than I have, but only enough for almost half, I don't want it all with sand. =)


That tan-ish log looking thing is a cave. lol Why not? The moment I popped it in -everyone- went to check it out and hang around. They can sleep in there if they want, that's in the calm end of the pool, though I do have an airstone there...it's relatively calm except on top.


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## Sylverclaws

Well, everything has stayed stable. Still all zeros on ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, really not used to that. I've had a few dozen kids in there for bit more than a week isn't it now? I think I have maybe 30 in there...They're all doing well. No deaths, nobody acting off, they all bounce over to eat and are nice and active little fishies. 

I'm considering adding in my molly babies, they're smaller than I'd like, but two of my swordtails(initially thought one) gave birth to...oh geez, I don't know, more babies than I can count. A lot. I need the nursery for them, they're currently mushed into a very large homemade net(like that yellow one I have the pool filter in in a photo), and it's just not gonna cut it, I'll split them up there and probably keep a few up stairs since the pool tank wont even be able to house that many. xD I swear, I make room and I get in more babies in the last two weeks than I ever have before...and once I had around two hundred mollies and swordtails after five moms gave birth. I had 96 mollies from one female, the rest were red calico swordtails. Thankfully someone came and bought something like 85 of them from me. ^^; Expecting from one of my silver lyretails, a real silver, and a short-fin-creamsicle mix, they look pretty big. :3 looking forward to some third generations. I gotta get another pool, or a larger one instead. xD Wonder if I can talk ma into that...be a difficult transfer since there isn't THAT much room in there and it'd be off kilter since I wont be able to move it after. >>; Maybe I can store the water in tubs and just move that out. I'm trying to get ma to let me snag that bigger snap pool henningc suggested.


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## henningc

Looks like the project is coming along. Liked the video, but yep you need more sand. Keep the thread going as I want to see just how sucessful your project is. It sounds like you are seeing a change in the fish's behavior now that they have a true habitat. Mine always react completely different after 2-3 weeks in the pool. Just a suggestion, use something to establish a feeding area. That way the fish will sworm come dinner time.

My pools are up and running and this should be the last clod snap of the year. I have a lot of brooders and can't wait to turn them loose in the pool. We had so much tree pollen the water looks yellow / green. It shouldn't hurt anything, just looks a fright.


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## Sylverclaws

It is coming along nicely. =) No deaths or weirdness, everything has remained stable.

The fish are no longer acting like wild minnows. Sometimes, yeah. When I put them in they'd flee and hide from whatever area I'm in, but they have discovered I only feed them in the calm area. So if I sit there for a minute and wait, they all eventually go over there and beg for food.

I'm getting ready to move some of the larger babies out, only have 5-6 mollies that are big enough to be with adults by now, so I can put a bunch more newborns on. I probably could anyways, they don't mess with the babies anymore. They did the first day, but have not chased them since, even the new baby mollies who are just about able to fit in their mouths. ^^; But then, there's a lot of fleeing room too. lol 

I had moved oscar(my baby pleco) in there, and my four kuhli loaches to help keep algae from building and eating extra food. Oscar is a dear and doesn't bother the babies. He comes out to eat, then goes right back into his cave. The kuhli's though, I never see them, I'm not sure they like it. .-. I may remove them...after three days of not seeing them I got worried and moved things, they're in there...they just do nothing but hide. They usually come for food. So I'll probably pop them in my sand-bottom nursery tank later on when I go to move the older babies....IF I can find the boogers. There are only three places to hide: Behind the filter net or under it, under the cave...and unfortunately IN the cave, I should have blocked that off, how dumb is that?! It's got a hole on either side where you stand it on the ground that things can get into, with some trouble, but have issues getting out of, so I stacked it on a piece of wood so they wouldn't get stuck. c.c I figured while it was down it wouldn't be a problem, guess I was wrong. lol


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## Sylverclaws

I got another video update for you guys. Look at those babies growing! :3 And Oscar the Pleco too. He's gotten visibly bigger as well. Everyone is doing well, no deaths, that I noticed anyways, not much gunk build up so the filters are doing a good job, temp has been stable at 77-78 since I added the larger heater, water parameters have been stable since...few days after set up, hasn't been any change. o-o Huh, works for me! It's obviously working for them. This is the fastest I've ever seen swordtails grow. Any of them for that matter. Been raising babies for a few years in my ten, twenty and fifty five gallon, but pop them in a 73 gallon pool by themselves and they show how fast they really grow. Nice chubby bellies, they are all active and come to eat whenever they see me...even if I just fed them. lol Plants are looking ok, I need to find a way to corral the crystalwort because a lot of it falls off and it gets everywhere...not hurting anything though, I am just tired of pulling it out of the filter 3-4 times per day and I don't want it to clog! xD 

I'll be getting more sand soon...I hope. ^^; And some kuhli loaches, I have four in there that I rarely see, occasionally when I give the last feeding for the night they will pop out. lol I think they're insecure being only four in a huuuge space. I love those little guys, they don't mess with the babies and they eat whatever is too big for the babies. I think I may block the holes on the cave, I'm worried they may actually get stuck one of these times. It's a big hole, and wholly unnecessary in my opinion. A tab on the top would fix air problems, this just creates them, plus the fish can get stuck. =/ Not sure how to do that though, not without trapping air, although it's heavy so I doubt that'll make much of an issue. I can probably tie some wood there on both sides to still release air, but not trap kiddies. 

It may be processing for a while on the lighting, it's a little dark but should fix soon enough. :3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeQqLNlZ8YA


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## dancelady

*I bought a small pool, will follow your directions*

I found a small pool, and will set it up to keep my Molly babies in. If one uses a previous filter with an already cycled setup, how long appx. will it take before I can add the babies? I can use the water the babies are in now to start it as well. It is about 5 feet around, so I can put all of the babies in there. Have no idea how many gallons it holds. Will call the company and see what they say. Have a heater & bubbler, will add a food location area, how will live plants do in there, will the plastic hurt them? It will be inside, and I can care for them better that way.


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## Sylverclaws

dancelady said:


> If one uses a previous filter with an already cycled setup, how long appx. will it take before I can add the babies? I can use the water the babies are in now to start it as well. It is about 5 feet around, so I can put all of the babies in there. Have no idea how many gallons it holds. Will call the company and see what they say. Have a heater & bubbler, will add a food location area, how will live plants do in there, will the plastic hurt them? It will be inside, and I can care for them better that way.



I used the filter media from three other filters in my new filters. It only took a few days to cycle, which shocked me)I expected quick, but not THAT quick). It depends on your media I think. You'll need to test it to make sure. I also suggest a few gallons of water from a tank, and start treating a large amount of water before you get them. I know you have some trouble with those things, so if you can, use a large bin or new trashcan, fill it up with the hose maybe, treat that and let it sit to dechlorinate and aerate it by leaving a bubbler in. Makes some nice oxygenated water. 

As for plants...mine are doing fine. I have floating plants like crystalwort though...however I do have an anubias that is absolutely flourishing, and a little stem plant doing well. They were doing well before I added sand, you can let some kinds of plants free-float, others will need substrate to be planted in(which you can do). It also depends on them getting enough light. Same with the babies, or they'll be pretty dull.


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## henningc

Great work Sylverclaws, seems the pool idea has caught fire. You and Dacelady need to keep everyone updated


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## Sylverclaws

henningc said:


> Great work Sylverclaws, seems the pool idea has caught fire. You and Dacelady need to keep everyone updated


It was thanks to you. I was really stumped. I've been breeding and raising fish for a few years now, but lately I've been slammed and just didn't have the space for them all. I was about to make some very hard decisions, but this not only saved me doing that, but I have made a lot of money recently and am back int he green(well, yellow more like...but going up is better than going down)! After all the vet bills and my own doctor bills, that was a godsend of an idea. =) So thank YOU for it. It was a lot of work to set up and watch for a while, but it's actually been easier to care for than my tanks. lol The babies are growing very fast in there too, and soon I will be adding to their numbers with a few more babies...

...And maybe up my kuhli loach population. I've seen them a lot more lately, they come out to eat and swim around. They're fat and seem happy. Actually I'm worried they're over-eating, I had a good look at them to make sure they weren't ill...they're active and bright, just a bit chubby. lol They're greedy little things, they love their food and will eat just about anything(brine shrimp, mysis, emerald entree, fresh veggies of all kinds). 
They're peaceful and I'm hoping to find the small banded ones, Pangio Kuhli's I believe is the name, and breed them(not with my Black kuhli's obviously, I'll be moving those out if I can find some orange and black ones). They're -extremely- hard to find around here and are in very high demand(in fact I've only seen them once here in the last five years, with much looking too). That's my next project and having a pool will sure help. But first I need more sand.


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## henningc

Thanks for the kind words. Hope it continues to go well for you.


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## Sylverclaws

I haven't updated this in a while. Everything is going well. Added a couple plants. Since I started it, many of the fish grew fast and more than a hundred have new homes. I think I'm down to about fifty or so in there, several about to have new homes as well. =) My swordtails were oddly popular...In two weeks I sold about 70 of them compared to my mollies going about ten a week or so. 

I have another pond I have set up in my backyard, all plants and mosquitofish. I also put my gold gourami in there...she's loving it. She likes the bugs and eats some of the plants too. lol The mosquitofish are already breeding and a couple have had fry. Some are doing well, I imagine they have been eating some, the rest hide in the floating plants and eat small bugs. So far I'm loving it, the fish and the plants are doing well. At first the plants didn't do good, most wilted, many died...the ones that survived are healing and aren't wilty anymore, the frogbit has already started multiplying. I have that, duckweed, water lettuce(that had the most problems but is doing ok now), a few stem plants and bits of java moss from my tanks seem to be doing ok, and some crystalwort which is growing like a weed. lol My gourami likes to spit at bugs and me when I go over. I'm supplementing them with food a couple times per week to be sure they're getting enough. Honestly I don't think they need the help, but I want to make sure anyways. =)


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## henningc

Congrats on the sales. I'm figuring that was on Ebay right?

I'm glad to hear you did take some fish outdoors. If you take a small group of molly fry and put a week or so on them then transfer half to the outdoor pool I bet the outdoor fish will grow almost twice as fast. My young Endler females that went out at the beginning of May are huge. I have a few Orchard females close if not 3". With that said, my fry counts are off the charts.

What type of mosquito fish do you have and where did you get them? Swampriveracquatics.com has the dalmation black and whites for sale.


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## Sylverclaws

The mosquitos I have are those mean ones you mentioned. lol The Gambusia/Gambezi ones. They are aggressive, or were when I QT'd them in my 20 gal...they just wanted more space, but that was the biggest open tank I had. x.x They aren't mean in the pool. Nice and active, staying mostly in a school and eating bugs, haven't had any nips that I can see since I popped them in there. The different colored ones sound cool. But I didn't really want cool, just useful. They keep the pool mostly bug free, get rid of mosquitos that'd bother us even without the pool, and they are neat. They're not gorgeous or anything, a few do have some slight blue coloring on the tail though nothing to brag about(I'm now wondering if they're a different kind than the rest, some seem more gold than the silver ones), but they're doing the job. They take care of me, and of course I'll take care of them regardless. =) I'll likely be selling them by summers end, I do not have a place for them indoors and they are FAR too aggressive in a tank with other fish. Seem fine outside, but in the tank they were little devils and chewed each other up as well as whatever else they could get their...teeth? on.

Did I mention something got in there? I can't recall if I did. Something got in there when I had added three overnight...ate two of them, got mud in there and sloshed my plants all over the place. Week later something got in there again, no plant sloshing, lost one fish, more darn mud. The fish don't mind it, but I do. x.x Looks bad, plus I'm always afraid something nasty will get in, which from over there I doubt...and do a big change. I almost caught it once a few days ago. My dog heard it when we were out, he ran over to see what it was and it freaked, I heard it hit the pool, a splash, and then hit the fence. My guess is a raccoon. LOL Well, considering it's been up a while now, and I've only had trouble on three occasions, I'm not too worried.


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## dancelady

*I would guess a raccoon in your pool*

Knowing their habits and their taking care of babies, I would guess you had a momma raccoon in your pool, adding the mud and trying to catch some fish. They have these neat hands which can grab and slosh your plants around, too. Wish I had been there to take some pictures, they are so cute, but still they are predators to your fish. Possibly put a dish with ferret or cat food, or tidbits from dinner, way away from the pool area, so she will fill herself up and will head back to her babies. That way she is happy and so are you...


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## Sylverclaws

Absolutely not. Through the ignorance of many in our neighborhood many of our natural predators were hunted down and murdered because people thought they were helping by feeding them. Feeding the animals makes them dependent on it and a danger to humans and pets, not to mention to themselves. If an animal becomes a problem like that here, they get put down. Even knowing I may lose a few fish, possibly all, I wont endanger the wildlife doing what it does naturally by itself. It doesn't realize that's a man-made pool, for all it knows it's just a little pool some fish got caught in. =)

And yeah, it's possible. We don't see them often. There is one very large one around you see glimpses of sometimes, they stay away from people and I want to keep it that way. Our neighbors used to leave table scraps out for the foxes, and when they moved away the animals nearly starved and became dangerous to people in the area. Unafraid and would threaten which is very unfox-like. They were all hunted down and killed for it. The coyotes also became a problem and were hunted down after they attacked a man and his dog, and killed our neighbors two Papillons in front of him, even attacked a woman with a Labrador. People kept leaving food for them or out-right feeding them and they got used to the human element in it all. One should respect wildlife, it was born and raised there and knows how to care for itself. Interfering, even with the best intentions, makes them a danger and often gets them killed. So no, never leave food out. Also could draw in rats(we had a rat problem when we used to have bird feeders. We were worried they'd all die so our neighbor set up some not caring since she has ratters anyways and never has a problem). 


Raccoons are neat animals, but I prefer them not coming around. Especially females and kits, they are dangerous to my dog and carry rabies. 

With all that said, my pool is doing ok, I've only lost three or four in a few weeks, no other problems after my dog ran off whatever was there a few nights ago. =) If anymore issues happen, I'll probably set up some sort of netting overnight.


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## dancelady

*I thoroughly agree about wildlife*

Because I am affiliated with a wildlife center in VA, I agree with not feeding any wildlife or making them used to being fed or catered to by people. I should have thought about that when I was trying to avoid your raccoon problems and her raiding your pool. I think you should construct a cover over the pool at night to thwart her. a simple piece of mesh held by a bungie cord. Use an old piece of screen if you have it. Use two bungie cords so you can undo the shorter one to feed them. Or set it up after the last feeding. Then take it down the next morning... A few extra minutes to protect your pool. I had many raccoon families where I used to live, so I had to distract them if necessary. I never fed them and wouldn't do anything to have them see me. Want to keep them wild and wooley! But they do come back once they have found food, so you need to do something so that they won't disrupt the whole pool and all the fish. If one came, then the next time, there will be more.


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## Sylverclaws

I was considering the mesh and bungie cords actually. But I haven't gone about it yet because I am afraid they'll get in there, but wont be able to get out and will drown...or be there and VERY unhappy in the morning. LOL 

I once had to rescue a raccoon hanging from a bag in a tree. Wish people wouldn't litter, but then wind sometimes kills the best intentions not to...anyways, she, or he, was hanging by her throat in the middle of the night so I didn't have much choice. Got some elbow long leather gloves, a knife, and went to help her. Scruffed her and cut her down then dropped her on the other side of the fence where she could run off and NOT get me. The NOISE they make, and they are heavy things. Eesh. I don't want to mess with one again. LOL Ah, speaking of daring rescues, I had to get a skunk out of a...container of some kind once(it was some kind of metal can). That went well. >_____>;;;


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## dancelady

*Rescuing a skunk...*

HaHaHa, bet you smelled outstanding to other skunks...

At this center, a skunk came in with a bottle over its head which had to be removed. It was really on there and had been on her for a while. It took 2 people -- a vet and a technician -- to hold the skunk, aim it towards the vet, who then carefully, slowly took it off. Of course, the skunk totally sprayed everything in sight, and the poor technician got most of it right in her stomach (was holding the back end of the skunk). They had to throw away their clothes, take many baths, and the whole place smelled awful for a week. Even with the stuff available for skunk odor. You have no idea how STRONG that odor is, when the skunk isn't happy with what you are doing. But she was rescued, the bottle removed, and everyone was happy -- after a few days of wearing stopgap masks... oh, they taped it so we could all watch from a distance and exclaim about how much liquid those skunks store inside, just for such an occasion.


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## Sylverclaws

They typically have about ten squirts saved up. I'm surprised she had much left, usually when stuck and blind they shoot off a lot. 

Yeah, it was bad. I got used to it. Thankfully I'm always wearing a hat and glasses, and in this case had a thick coat on. It wasn't TO bad on me. Well, ok, everyone else said it was. I got one blast in the face, one missed and hit the wall, and one on the coat. The one that hit me square in the face was so bad I almost passed out, and then it....really didn't smell to me. Perhaps it over-powered my sense of smell and it shut down. LOL 

I had another instance where my dog tried to play with one. I only got sprayed once...the dog though, he got all the ones that didn't get aimed at me and miss. Now that was bad. My brother came up from the basement gagging. I laughed so hard. I'm pretty much used to the smell after that last time. It still reeks to me, but rarely gets me bad enough to make me gag. Dog wasn't even trying to hurt the skunk, he just ran to sniff it, it sprayed, he got mad and barked and yiped, but he kept trying like a moron. He's a smart dog, I swear....I'm not sure what he was thinking. 


Speaking of skunks, I know we have one in the area. I smelled it the other night, it was on our porch eating ma's flowers(or just ripping them up) and sprayed the door when I opened it. LOL I said WHAT?! I know that squirt sound. Went back in. Don't need a third time of fun. Do they fish? I know a good bit on skunks, but I haven't heard that one before.


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## henningc

I don't think skunks fish. We have them here and I have never had one bother my pools. You may want to get a cheap motion sensor light, that will keep stuff away.


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## Sylverclaws

We got one. The majority of people do have motion sensors around here, have for years...the animals pretty much ignore them. lol


Anywho, I got a little update. I'm going to try and breed bristlenose plecos and want them to have the pool, or at least use it with the fry since they're usually so sweet with other fish. I ordered in six youngsters that got here yesterday. They were in really good shape considering they were all 2-3+ inch babies that traveled in a box for two days. Plecos usually take stress to extremes when they GET stressed(they're not exactly sensitive, but once done it's done). Two or three are long-fins, the others are the normal brown color. The parents were quite stunning compared to the poor bred BN's we get at shops here. 

I also got a blue marbled self-cloning crayfish, she wont be in the pool though. They're -usually- the less aggressive crayfish, but a crayfish is a crayfish and she can't have my fry or plecos. LOL However, I may use the pool for youngsters....it just might be the OTHER pool, which by the way is doing alright, haven't had any further issues with critters robbing me.


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## Sylverclaws

So my pools are doing great. The indoor one no longer has any of the floating plants...seems they got eaten(the frogbit and water lettuce, bits are left). The babies are all growing great...in fact many are adult sized now when they'd be about half that size even in my large tank. Wow. x.x I have a couple of my painted swordtails left, one or two I'm not sure if there is more than one though...gorgeous, birght, lovely markings. And some weird one I don't know if it's a platy or swordtail at this point. I THINK it's a swordtail, my white and orange female had a multi-color batch of orange, white, orange and white...this one is half white and half pink with black spots. Which is why I think it may be one of my platies since I only have orange white and red swordtails(the red calico has black but this fish is dart frog bright colors). I have a white calico platy who did give birth and I can't remember where I put her babies, she had three batches and one is in my 55 gal nets, I THINK the others are in the planted ten gal. I dunno. It's a gorgeous fish though. I only have the one young female of that color, the rest of my platies are blue, and the only male is in a different tank than my swords, so I doubt any are hybrids. :3 Anywho, yeah it's going great. New BN plecos are doing well in there too. The nearest creek is three blocks away, haven't seen any minnows but I know they live in the same creek but further away. Perhaps a bird somehow, coincidentally out of all the space around here, dropped it in on accident. lol 

As for my outdoor pool, it's really doing good. It looks like heck though. I told you guys my uncle ran the lawnmower over there, ya? Well he did it on purpose, there's NOTHING but dirt over there, I was so mad. I can't get the water cleared, not that the fish mind at all. The mosquitofish are breeding like mosquitos. lol I only feed them once a week, not that I need to at all...you should see them, they're FAT. Lot's of larger half eaten bugs, no little bugs. They're doing great at keeping the mosquito population down. I have only seen one this year...though we also have a lot of bats this year, so that helps too. Some were young when I got them and have already doubled in size. Only a handful of babies survive the other fish though, seems I have at least six extra ones that weren't there before already big enough to hang with the rather rambunctious pack, and some new fry hiding in the plants right now. The plants are doing terrific, by the way. Huuuuge roots on those water lettuce, frogbit is only doing ok, really, and the duckweed is taking over about half the pond, which I want. Also getting big roots. Plenty of hiding for babies, and sitting spots for bugs. I love standing ten feet away and watching them jump up to catch bugs. :3

Oh yeah, something weird appeared in my pool. I can't get a good look at it, it's fast...about an inch and a half long or so, chubby, pitch black fish. My mosquitofish are all silver or pale gold, some have a tad of pale smokey blue markings on the tails, but are otherwise colorless. One female gold gourami...she's doing good, she doesn't seem to appreciate the shallowness of it though, but she's been spitting at bugs and snagging them off the sides. But this fish was pitch black...I haven't had my mosquitos with any other fish, guppy or otherwise aside from the gold gourami, and nobody is black. o-0 Think I somehow got a random minnow? Are there any black minnows? It looks the same shape-wise to the rest of them. I tried to snag him, but he is FAST and hide in the plants and caves. I didn't want to freak everyone out so I let it be, but I see him from a distance when I go away.


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## Sylverclaws

Been a while since I updated this and I promised I would. So, got a nice long video, a lot of me talking...and footage of it all, though mostly around the feeding spot. At the moment of this post, the lighting is still being fixed and may take a while, so sit tight if it's too dark, it should fix soon. If not, I'ma complain to youtube again, sometimes when I enhance a video it takes several days to finish processing. Once it took like two or three weeks and I flamed them a bit. >_>; Hasn't taken so long since then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S070lj999Xw


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## Sylverclaws

Been too long since I updated this. Whoops!

Right now I have all my endlers and babies in the 55 gal, I'm still doing mollies but not as much as I was last year, and I found homes for all my other livebearers(swordtails and platies). I'm currently using the kiddie pool for my marbled crayfish, who are flourishing. There's also a female mosquitofish I can't catch in there to give her to our shop who wants them since they never find them and want to breed them for Spring when people start stocking ponds, and a female red zebra cichlid who I intend to find a mate for and a few more females later on this year. Maybe anyways. Cichlids may be out of my league, I'm used to livebearers. I'm doing good with her, but she did kill her mate and then ate her eggs. lol 

So yeah, it's still going. I may move the crayfish tot he 55 gallon later on once I sell some of my crayfish. My endlers are flourishing as well. I've recently mixed my N-Class black bars with my Japan Blues because I only had the one female and two males. And some babies came out male too...so instead of killing my gorgeous girl, I moved them all in with the black-bars, of which I had dozens of females. Completely different types will open up the gene pool, but unfortunately will kill their purity. They're very pretty though. I do have some black bars I intend to move out and keep their strains pure though, one male in particular is gorgeous and I'll scoot him over and hopefully find some new girls for him with good genes later this year. =)


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## Embouck7

So do you sell these online or to a local shop? I am just wondering about how you get your fish out there


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## Sylverclaws

Embouck7 said:


> So do you sell these online or to a local shop? I am just wondering about how you get your fish out there


I do both. A local Neptunes occasionally will take some and pay me a bit for them. Petco and Petsmart(I dunno about them anymore, they claim they no longer do) will sometimes take them, but they don't pay you for them. I had to do this over the winter because shipping them when you don't have heating packs is a bad idea...and my crayfish absolutely swamped me. I think thirty females had kids at least twice. I did manage to sell some online during our temporary warm spells though. =) I currently have some crayfish for sale too, on here somewhere, but I need people to send weather updates. It's darn cold here, so sending is out. Basically I hold them for people over winter and mark down orders. lol


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## Embouck7

Haha yeah its super cold this winter -14 right now......


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