Outdoor tubbin with CPD?
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Sorry, I have been away!
All the CPDs are inside now. The adult pair, especially the male looks amazing! I’ve tried to get good pictures to no avail- they are hard fish to photograph to say the least.
I didn’t feed them anything outside, they ate organisms in the water and probably lots of mosquito larvae.
When I brought them inside (it gets too cold to leave them out) I had the original pair, and at least 15 or so juvie/fry. Hard to count them, I just drained most of the water out of the tub and then dumped the rest.. moss, shrimp, snails and fish into a 20 gallon tank. The moss basically fills the 20 gallon tank.
I bought 6 new fish from the LFS, hoping to introduce new genes- I bought them out last time and this is the first shipment of CPD they’ve gotten since.
Now I still can’t count the fish, but it seems like even more. It could be that they are now comfortable in the tank and come to the front like piranhas to eat!
Now I’m feeding them flakes (beefheart, earthworm, spirulina) and they eat some tetramin tablets meant for the shrimp/snails. I’ve been meaning to get some live blackworms for a while now. I feed them once a day.I’ll post the pictures I did manage to get in the photo forum
Any update? Where are the pics of CPD???
I’ve had some guppy’s in the tub this summer and they were doing great but water was very green so I couldn’t see the fish…
Thanks to my reading this thread a while back, I set up a couple of outdoor tubs last summer — I live in Los Angeles, CA. I didn’t actually put adult CPDs in them, but I did rescue a couple of fry from my main tank and put them in the tubs. Both fry did very well with no feeding at all and are now healthy adults living back in the main tank. I put shrimp in my CPD tank at one point and unfortunately do not get fry any longer.
It is now too cold to keep fish in my outdoor tubs, but next year I will start early in the season and try to breed some adult CPDs. These little CPDs are amazingly tough — they are a good fit for outdoor tubbing.
The main plants in my tubs were hyacinths and water lettuce and anacharis (loose) — nothing fancy, but the water stayed very clear and healthy. I also had some of those little floating plants, whatever they are called.
great reading thanks! i was just thinking about doing this down here in new zealand over summer. one question is we should ask is is the yield higher spawning them outside than inside? inside you can use an egg trap, breed a pair, then remove the parents… this could be done outside too though. anyway hopefully i will find out
I was wondering the same thing, Luke. I’ll probably try both. However, no matter where the fry are born, I am taking them out to the outdoor tubs to grow up, just like last year. It is very convenient to not have to feed those little guys all the time. I’m sure it is also very healthy for them to be living completely off of live food and to be in the sun.
I raised 3 types of fry in the outdoor tubs last year (CPDs, long-finned danios, and one betta). When there was a high concentration of fry in one tub, I started feeding them at about 1/2″, since I wasn’t sure there was enough live food available in the tub.
@Luke* wrote:
great reading thanks! i was just thinking about doing this down here in new zealand over summer. one question is we should ask is is the yield higher spawning them outside than inside? inside you can use an egg trap, breed a pair, then remove the parents… this could be done outside too though. anyway hopefully i will find out
Well, in my case I got NO fry from the fish I kept inside. They never seemed to thrive and didn’t color up like the ones outside. They didn’t eat well either, even frozen foods and live were a lot of trouble.
I had tons of java moss in their tub though for the fry to hide in, it grew so much it almost completely filled the 20 gallon I moved them to in the fall.
Upon returning them inside they continued to have fry and ate prepared foods well.It’s on, I’ve just been into work to collect 2 massive 200l blue drums used for ARDROX car detergent.
I’ll clean them out tommorow & cut the tops off then they can stay on the patio to fill up naturally until spring time then I’ll give the White Cloud Minnows a go to test the water & see how it goes.
Is it worth getting a 300w heater just on the off chance that the water temp gets low for when the CPD’s go in. I live in Poole, Dorset and its the only place that is still waiting for snow this year & it was 18+ during the day right up until Oct last year but occasionally the weather can turn.CPD’s come from a mountainous region in Myanmar where winter time temperatures drop to near freezing. These little guys are as tough as nails!
Dennis
interesting stuff Dennis, I knew it got cold but didn’t think that they could survive in those temps. Do you reckon some could survive outside in a UK spring-Autumn? Might try a breeding project this summer outdoors if you think they could?
Ferreter, I wouldn’t risk many of your fish in those drums as they could well leach trace chemicals back into the water. Not 100% but I wouldn’t put many fish in them until your sure.
I’ve already thought of that, just spent three hours solid using this method:-
1/ Hot water (wear gloves) and lots of elbow grease with a soft cloth, continued until no soap or bubbles could be seen then dried it out.
2/ Bleach solution with warm water and again a soft cloth and elbow grease.
3/ Empty & dry out with a load of rag
4/ Just for good measure, vinegar, pour in a bottle swilled around then removed the majority with rag then dried completely with the wifes expensive kitchen roll… oops :oops:
5/ Rinsed out with boiling water and dried again
They’re now sat on the patio filling up with rain water, I’m gonna wait a few weeks then I’ll put my shubunkin in there just to make sure its not toxic, he’s way too big for his tank now anyway so he can wait there until my friends pond settles in.
@Tom2006 wrote:
interesting stuff Dennis, I knew it got cold but didn’t think that they could survive in those temps. Do you reckon some could survive outside in a UK spring-Autumn?
Hey Tom, I think if they were acclimated to the temperatures they would be fine.
In the spring, maybe move them from their tank into the unheated tub indoors at first. After a bit, move them to a cooler part of the house. Simply cooler & cooler until you were close to outdoor temps. They would need time to adjust to the move outdoors if there was a big temperature difference.
As temperatures dropped in the fall they would just normally acclimate if they were outside. You’ll just have to be a “trail blazer” see what works in the UK. Would make for a great article on the site.
Dennis
They sound like clean drums!!!! :lol:
I might just give a group of five a go outside during May-August (normally our warmest months) and see how they go. Obviously I’ll report back here if I go for it
@ferreter wrote:
It’s on, I’ve just been into work to collect 2 massive 200l blue drums…
I would love to have access to some drums like this. I tried to get hold of some for a rain water collection system, but shipping charges always killed it for me.
Best of luck with your “tubbin” project!
Dennis
what do you feed your fish on and how often?
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