Fish in your butt

[Jenny Green]

Richard how many childhoods have you had?

[richard p]

thought most of us were in our second

[nickyk]

Hi,
How did the goldfish cope last summer - I see the mossies looking lovingly at our water butt already so would love an update. Tried the oil and it killed the larvae but it did leave a mucky residue on the sides.
Thanks

[Malk]

Oh I love the idea of getting goldfish at the plot. Wish I had see-through water butts though for Nugget to watch them.

I would think deep butts would be better if they're prone to frost.

Need to go out to the pet shop/ garden centre. Hurrah! As if I needed a reason.

[Mike Vogel]

Sounds interesting all this, but I assume that none of you goldfish users keep a lid on the water-butt. Otherwise the fish will be starved of light even if they get a feast of larvae. My own water butts are all covered up.

I have heard of another way of keeping the water fresh and odourless - put a few pieces of charcoal in the butt. I've no idea if that works or not, because I clean forgot to do this last autumn. The water doesn't smell too bad though; perhaps it only starts to pong once it gets warmed up.

Yes, centipedes are among the good guys, unlike earwigs, which I used to confuse them with when I was a child - sorry, I mean in the early stages of my perpetual childhood. I think it's Joy Larkcom who gives the rule of thumb that if they move fast they are OK.

mike

[Trevor Holloway]

Mine all died

[Deb P]

My lone goldfish is still ok, he's in a large water tank and has kept the water midge free all last year. :D

[Weed]

Wow ..this is an interesting thread.

It would be lovely to have fish in the water tubs but I would need reassurance that they won't cook in the summer temperatures if the tubs are left in too much sunlight or freeze to death in winter if exposed to heavy frosts...thats if we get any frosts with the climate change promises

[lynne]

my butts are getting low already - and no rain forecasted in the foreseeable future.
I've been suggesting to the Asst.Est.Mgr that he taps into the waste pipe from the shower/bath and runs it into the butt. the suggesting turns into harassing tomorrow

[Malk]

Still haven't picked any up as I don't have any cash, but we rarely have to worry about running low on rain up here. I figured if it got hot and my water butts were getting low, I'd take it out and bring it home for a while. We have water on the plots, but it would take a bit of settling before I could put the fish in it, I would think.