Fish in 55 gallon barrels

[FarmerChick]

this is a good link for a quick view of how you can raise fish in 55 gallon barrel and what it takes to raise them to eating stage.

just posting for anyone who might be interested. It is not as involved as I would have thought actually.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4880724_raise-fish-food.html

 

[BarredBuff]

I have pondered this before, seems fairly easy.

 

[Denim Deb]

Wish they had pics. I do better when there's pics along w/instructions, but it does sound easy enough. I'm guessing that if you have well water, you probably wouldn't have to worry about chlorine in your water, though.

 

[Dawn419]

Now that is too cool!

Between fish in 55 g barrels and freshwater shrimp in this set-up, one would have some good eatin'!

We're going to have to stop and visit with the "cheap chicken wire" man (37" x 150' roll for $37.00) the next time we go up to MO. He has loads of 55 g barrels.

 

[Theo]

Funny thing, whenever I look for fish-in-a-barrel success stories--with pictures--by people who've actually done it and harvested fish from their barrel, I can't find any. I did find a blog by a guy who almost did it, but lost all his fish when the electricity went off. If any of you can find a well documented site with pictures, I'd really like to see it. And if you are thinking of doing this yourself, for heaven's sake document it. I 'd really appreciate seeing some pictures, and I'd like to know what your process was.

I am a novice beekeeper, and one thing I know about bees, is it is a lot easier to kill them than it is to keep them alive. But people do have success with bees, and you can find a lot of reliable documentation on how to keep bees on the internet. Or you can find bee keepers in your own town and see their operations with your own eyes. Fish keepers, not so much. I have a feeling that most of the sites I see on the internet are by people who do not keep fish in barrels; they just compile the information they find on the internet and put it on their websites.

I would like to try this someday. Judging from the one website I found where somebody actually tried this, I would get a large aquarium filter and aerator. I might also use a large stock tank or something with a large surface area, to make the oxygen transfer easier--a 55 gallon drum has a very small water surface compared to the volume of water.

 

[rebecca100]

My experience was similar to the guy whose lost electricity only my pump I had circulating the water got stopped up while I was visiting family for a couple of days. I had someone supposed to take care of them but I guess he forgot. Lol I just ended up with a LOT of dead fish.

 

[Dawn419]

Hi Rebecca!

Good to see you back here!

 

[pinkfox]

and unfortunatly that is the problem with al closed water fish systems from little beta bowls to huge ponds...if theres no natural filtration your relying on mechanical filtration...no mechanical filtration = amonia build up and potentially total loss.

theres only a few ways i can think of for making the system a little "safer" 1: back up power for filtration...back up batteries on a LARGE solar charger, the filtration this kind of system needs can be quite power heavy, your going to need a back up grid thatll keep you going even if you loos power for days.
2: natural filtration...this means a planted system and some kind of bacterially frinedly substrate...just like in a fishtank you need some place for the bacteria that will consume and process the amonia for you to live, gavel, sand, dirt...
the plants take care of excess coz, oxegenate the water for you, help control algeal growth and assist the good bacteria in the conversion process
adding barley staw pads is another area for this good bacteria to live and helps with none mechanical filtration
3: keep your stocking rates LOW...

ive seen plenty of filterless ponds (mostly in the uk) that do very well, they are tpically lightly stocked and healty planted with a peat substrate bottom and barely straw mats or in bags.
im hoping to recreate one myself for a couple of ryunkins since i dont have an electrical outlet anywhere neer where i want my pond and dont want the added expense of running a filter either...

Id imagine a good way of doing it in a barrel type set up would be kind of cool would be to take troughs instead and suspend a slotted "planter" that covers the back half of the trough. and growing crosp so that the roots go through the slotted trays into the water..the roots of the plants could theoretically do the same as waterlilly and ofther surface plants in terms of filtration via the root system... (i hope that makes sense...i can visualize it but im not sure its comming across right lol)

 

[Beekissed]

These folks report success:

http://survivalplus.com/foods/RAISING-CATFISH-IN-A-BARREL.htm

 

[rebecca100]

You have to have aeration it is the lack of air that kills quicker than the ammonia. With that many fish in a small area in a dark barrel they die quickly. Within a day. In order to keep the ammonia from building up you do regular water changes and the nasty fish poo water goes in the garden. Or you can do like pinkfox suggested and grow plants directly in it but you would still have to have an aerator.