Water Garden Tubs

[Halfbeaks1]

Water garden tubs are a great side project if you have some room in your backyard.
I picked up two large plastic planters from The Christmas Tree store last year for about 10.00 each. The planters had no holes in the bottom and were watertight. I added some gravel, small Water Lilies and Java Moss into each planter. In one planter I put 3- pairs of Black Bar Endlers and the other I put 4- Female Bettas. I ended up in the beginning of September with about 100 Endlers of all sizes and 3 of the nicest fattest female bettas. 1 did disappear but I still consider this a success. This year I set up the planters the same way but the choices of fish were 5- Cherry Barbs in one of the planters and 5- Fundulus chrysotus in the other. The planters have been set up about 3-weeks now and I now see a bunch of Cherry Barb fry swimming around with the adults. I am just waiting on the Fundulus fry since I have been watching them spawning in the plants every day. These are great fun to set up and almost no work other than topping off or changing some water when I remember. :crayfish:

[xoomer]

is there any filtration or airation involved?

What is the water temperature in the planter. Are they siting in the shade or are they partially exposed to direct sun at some poing during the day

[Halfbeaks1]

The tubs are in the shady areas. I still get good plant growth and the water does not turn green. There is no filtration or airation and the fish population are low. I think the planters hold around 20 gallons of water and the fish seem to handle the temp. changes well. I feed flake twice a week

[Qckwzrd]

did you setup the tubs this year? and what fish did you try?

[Halfbeaks1]

Set up 3 tubs this year. I just took them down today. This year I tried: Lucania goodei The Blue Fin Killie, Gambusia holbrooki and Fundulus chrysotus. I also started with 6 Water Hyacinth and ended up with about 30.

The Lucania goode a native killifish did the best. I started with a trio and pulled about 10 fry along with the adults. I still have the water hyacinth in a tub to see if there are any more eggs hatch.

The Gambusia holbrooki had the biggest surprise; I only pulled one baby ( the Gambusia are one of the worst fry eaters). The biggest surprise was I found a newt in the tub which probably came in on one of the plants!


The Fundulus chrysotus are another fry eater. No fry so I pulled the plants to see if any eggs hatch in the next few days.

Next year I am going with paradise fish in one of the tubs.

[Qckwzrd]

Not bad! If I had the space I would try some Epiplatys annulatus, and maybe aphyosemion australe. I've bred the aphyosemions before but never had any long term luck with the clown killies. I may try my hand at them again in the near future. Do you bring your fry to the BAS auctions?