Garden tubs

[carl_d_c]

Who's got garden tubs set up?
How are they looking?

 

[chriscoli]

Mine are wonderful, some of the lilys just started blooming! I'll post pics tomorrow.


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[b considine]

I'm mostly satisfied with mine right now. Got to stop the dogs from drinking out of it though....

Blaise

 

[mchambers]

I just set one up two weeks ago. It's doing fine, although last Sunday's rain made it a little fuller than I wanted!

I put some small fish in it, so they're very hard to see. I assume they're doing fine, feeding off insect larvae and the like.

 

[skanda]

Matt,

What type of easy to breed small fish apart from livebearers can you keep in a 30-40 gallon tubs without filtration?

 

[mchambers]

I've got limited experience, but I remember Rachel O'Leary's wonderful presentation a year ago. Lots of egg scatterers do well, like danios. You might check out Rachel's YouTube video channel.

I kept Diamond tetras in a tub last summer, with a circulation pump. The population went from about 6 to 20 or so.

 

[skanda]

Great I will check it out

 

[mchambers]

Look here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfwHVhEoP8roUAUkqgtTuHhbNOYh3y3i6

Rachel's got a lot of neat videos up. Very informative. Not just show. And she always has an organized, succinct presentation, unlike some videos.

 

[Leffler817]

I tried yellow labs and a group of Vics in 30 gallon tubs. They were doing fine until this Thursday's heat. Everyone was either floating or stuck to the water pump. Fortunately, they were just growouts so I'm not out a great deal of costs.

 

[mchambers]

Oops. Somehow posted erroneously. Some animal, probably a neighborhood raccoon, has been messing with my tub, even pulling the cover off and pulling the pump out entirely!

I emptied most of the water out and verified that at least some of the fish had survived. I put the pump back in, replaced the cover and added more fasteners to hold the cover in place, and put a big rock over the power cord to the pump. Refilled the tub.

This morning, all seemed intact.

 

[zendog]

My water plants have been suffering from my neglect during a busy summer. I haven't fertilized the lilies and lotus at all and the are showing pretty anemic growth. They are pretty heavy feeders, so I'm hoping they start busting out more leaves and blooms now that I've fertilized them. I don't have anything too exciting for fish in these - just endlers, white clouds and rosy red minnows. I'd really like to try some larger tubs and so I could have larger fish. Maybe next year...

The lotus is doing the best, but should have many more aerial leaves and more buds coming on. There are several flowers open now, but not a lot of buds coming, so the fertilizer should help. Under the hornwort there are some rosy red minnows.


Here are two dwarf/pygmy tropical lilies. It is hard to see from the angle, but unlike the hardy lilies, the tropicals hold their flowers well above the water. The one on the right is Dauben (light blue, almost white) with some rosy reds and the one on the left is Tina with some endlers. I expect with the fertilizing they'll be a lot more leaves coming on the usual 3 or so flowers in bloom most days. They both had a late start.

And here are three tubs with some very dwarf hardy lilies. The pink one on the left is Laydekeri Lilacea which is bouncing back from being divided. There are white cloud minnows in that tub. The one on the right has a Joanne Pring (pink) and Helvolva (yellow), both of which will have more flowers with the fertilizing. That tub has rosy reds. And the tub in back has 2 pigmy lilies that have never bloomed for me, probably because they aren't getting enough light. The lilies are Graziella and Robertsonia, both with very nice mottled leaves and happy rosy reds eating any mosquito larva that come along. I think I'll drain it down and move it into a fuller sun position and see if I can get some blooms.

As you can tell, I really like the tiny lilies and find them to be great in small tubs. The key is more fertilizing so that I have more leaves to cover and keep the fish cooler in this high heat. I hope they do okay over the next few days.

 

[chriscoli]

These are the two larger tubs:

 

[chriscoli]

And the smaller ones:

 

[chriscoli]

Zendog, I'm loving the lotus I got from you! They just started blooming this week!!!!

 

[chriscoli]

First lotus flower!

 

[jonclark96]

Any fish in the tubs, chriscoli ?

 

[chriscoli]

Any fish in the tubs, chriscoli ?

I've got some cichlid grow outs in one of the big tubs, some tetras spawning and Pleco grow outs in the other. I put a paradise fish in three of the small tubs to help control mosquitos. I put some ember tetras in a small tub too but I think those didn't make it. All tubs except the one with the cichlids have tons of tadpoles in them.

 

[carl_d_c]

Great Lookin' tubs!
Mine is getting a major water change right now ... thunderstorm...

 

[b considine]

I've got melon barb fry in mine. Spotted some while lowering the water level before Saturday's deluge.

Blaise

 

[chriscoli]

I'll have plenty of water mint to share if people want cuttings at the BBQ. I might have a few other trimmings from various plants as well.