Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So come tomorrow afternoon I might have a decent supply of free gold fish on my hands. I stumbled across a craigslist post today for free pond fish because someone is culling their pond. Was unfamiliar with the term until a looked it up. Pretty harsh definition so Im not sure what these people plan to do. What I do know is that I will be able to arrive with my 55 gal blue barrel, fill it with water, and somehow they will be able to give me all the gold fish I want. I mean if theyre larger than fingerlings from the store I think its a pretty good deal. Not ideal from the edible point of view but I have been looking to get my system back on track. Since my last ammonia spike and killing off all of my goldies Ive only had 5 Bluegills around 5/6 inches in my IBC tote which feeds 4 half barrels and drains into a split IBC sump.

Knowing that bluegills are aggressive Im wondering about issues that may arise from the introduction of another species. Ive found that if theyre around the same size I might not have any issues. Anyone gone through this? Being I dont know what to expect tomorrow Im trying to weigh everything out. I mean if Im able to get some decent size goldfish then I might just "cull" my tank and be rid of the bluegills that I caught from a lake and go back to just goldfish. Been in limbo since i had a nutrient spike and crash. Been using maxicrop the past two weeks since I have been dealing with feed training these picky bluegills

Hi Dab,

No expert here but I would suggest to have a separte tank for the goldies for a week or 2, the reason being is the water that they come from may not be as prestine as the current water that you have that can risk fish health.

Ick, fish lice are some of the few, protozoans may also be present on the fish itself. the 2 week period should allow you to see how the fish eats, moves,behaves. I am basing this on my experience with keeping tropical/aquarium fish which goldies qualify to be.

I have lost so many goldfish since I was in Highschool to Ich, fin rot and lice that came fish from different sellers.

You can try observing if the bluegill goes agro on the goldies by adding a few first, goldfish are pretty nosy so if bluegills are territorial that will cause troubles.

I have a 2 Rosy Barb's mixed with some goldies on an aquarium system and the Barbs annoys the goldies attempting to nibble on their Fins, my goldies are bigger than the barbs and they just shake them off easy.

These are all based on my experience its been right since until date unless corrected .

Kindly consider first point mentioned.

MARK