# Do you put fish in your troughs?



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

I want to put fish in my trough to help control algae and mosquitos. Will golf fish suffice for mosquito larvae? or would you suggest another type...

Do I have to feed the fish, or will they just feed on the algae? 

How many fish for a 50-gallon trough would you suggest? 

Thanks in advance


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Yepper!

I buy several of the cheap feeder goldfish and it helps a lot withe mosquito larvae. 
They really do not help much with the algae, or not that I have noticed. Scared to think what it would be like with out them if they are helping.


----------



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

Interesting.... I wonder if maybe I should throw a sucker fish in there, too, then. Do you feed them fish food as well, or just let them thrive on their own?


Alwaysbehind said:


> Yepper!
> 
> I buy several of the cheap feeder goldfish and it helps a lot withe mosquito larvae.
> They really do not help much with the algae, or not that I have noticed. Scared to think what it would be like with out them if they are helping.


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Goldfish actually help PRODUCE algae, because they're nasty, dirty fish.

They'll help with the mosquito larvae but won't do a thing to get rid of algae growth.

I dump and scrub my trough every other week anyway, so I've never seen a need to use goldfish for mosquito larvae.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

BackInTheSaddleAgain said:


> Interesting.... I wonder if maybe I should throw a sucker fish in there, too, then. Do you feed them fish food as well, or just let them thrive on their own?


The sucker fish you buy at the store are a tropical fish and require a much more controlled temperature environment. Feeder fish are just carp in pretty colors, they adapt well when the temperature of the tank changes from freaking ice cold to way hot in the sun of the day.


We do feed our fish, yes. But I feed my feral cats canned cat food (along with always having dry) too, so.... I have feeding issues.


----------



## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

A water trough is not a suitable environment for fish keeping. Goldfish are the most likely to survive, but as SR pointed out they will contribute to algae growth rather than hinder it. Fish geared towards algae control are going to be tropical in nature and not suited to living in a trough. 
Really, fish are not a great addition to the tank. The problems they will bring with them will lead to more upkeep of your tank rather than less - it will be easier just to perform regular routine care of the trough by draining, scrubbing and filling more frequently in the summer months -which may mean using multiple smaller water containers if the larger single unit is going to be too much hassle to do so.


----------



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

Oh, that's right! My brain isn't working today apparently. I remember having a heater and thermometer in my tropical fish tank as a kid.


Alwaysbehind said:


> The sucker fish you buy at the store are a tropical fish and require a much more controlled temperature environment. Feeder fish are just carp in pretty colors, they adapt well when the temperature of the tank changes from freaking ice cold to way hot in the sun of the day.
> 
> 
> We do feed our fish, yes. But I feed my feral cats canned cat food (along with always having dry) too, so.... I have feeding issues.


----------



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

Hmmm. Maybe you guys are right. I would probably be better off getting the guts to tell my pasture mate to chip in a little and wash the troughs more often. lol


----------



## MuleWrangler (Dec 15, 2009)

I totally agree with the cleaning of the tanks/troughs. We have two 100-gal tanks and I just let the big guys drink them down, dump out the rest, and scrub with a stiff-bristled brush every week or two as needed. As long as the water is clear I am not too concerned if there is dirt at the bottom, but if I see green stuff or the water is cloudy, I like to clean them out.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I did the gold fish last year. I have not added them this year yet. As everyone said, they don't keep the algae away, but they do feed off the the mosquitos. One thing I learned is that you have to add water daily. You can get away with every other day, but they produce alot of amonia and if you don't add fresh water to the troughs they'll die. 

Another thing that works well is if you can catch a small catfish.


----------



## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

I could not imagine letting my horses drink dirty fishy water. It almost makes me want to gag.  I'd go with the clean/scrub regularly process.

AlwaysBehind, it's probably a good thing you feed your ferals [I do too, and take them to get fixed =P] because otherwise, they might try to eat your fish! Haha.


----------



## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

I put fish in my trough. I have a large koi pond with several hundred (or more) koi fish in it, so I catch a few small ones and put them in my water tank. I think I had 3 in there last year and they seemed to take care of the tank really well (its 100 gallons I believe). I dump the tank and rinse it whenever it gets low, and scrub it out once a month, but it gets WAY worse without the fish.


----------



## maderiaismine05 (Aug 1, 2007)

and the horses dont get sick because of this? just curious...i would think there would be some sort of chemicle they produce that would make the horses sick or something...???


----------



## maderiaismine05 (Aug 1, 2007)

would the fish survive in well water?


----------



## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

You can put a plecomstomous(sp) in the tanks. they do okay in cold water and will eat algea and grow and grow and grow.... They are ugly suckers but keep algea away.
I keep a hose running in my tank during the spring and summer, as soon as the outside water is turned on(irrigation water lines). I still clean and scrub the tanks about once a week though.
Oh yea, its snowing again and spring has disappeared.


----------



## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

We had the gold fish in our tank last year. I think ours is a 200 gallon trough. The gold fish did keep the mosquitoes down, but didn't do much for the algea. I added fresh water every other day. I still had to dump it & clean it every once in a while. The tank gets a lot of debris (hay, dirt, leaves, & stuff) in it. I didn't do it this year, because I ended up cleaning the trough anyway.
I didn't notice changes in the horses when we added the fish or when we removed them.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

to keep the algae down put the tanks in the shade. (under an overhang or beneath some trees)


----------



## Silvera (Apr 27, 2010)

I used plecostomus, they did really well and if you have enough they keep the algae down very well. Just put a few rocks in the bottom so they can hide if they want. The horses weren't bothered by them at all. And because there is always a fresh flow of water coming in it keeps anything the fish secreat down. 

They started dieing in the late fall when it got cold, but that's in Canada so it really depends on where you are and your temperatures whether they will die or not.


----------



## grayshell38 (Mar 9, 2009)

There is a type of fish specifically used for keeping mosquito larvae down. They are called Mosquito fish. (go figure, right.) They look like feeder guppies, but are a bit larger and do better than guppies in colder water. Often they will be put into retention ponds or other areas of water where there are a lot of mosquitoes in order to keep the population down. You can order them online, and they are fairly cheap as they sell them in bulk. Gold fish are nasty, dirty fish as was stated above, I would go with the mosquito fish if I were you. 

Mosquitofish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homeowner's guide to mosquitofish


----------



## yukontanya (Apr 11, 2010)

If you want the algae gone put in a few snails.. They eat it up supper fast and will clean up after the gold fish, we have some in our fish tank and have never had to clean the glass or rocks in a yr, just change out some of the water a few times a yr.


----------



## Sonnyx12 (Oct 26, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> Yepper!
> 
> I buy several of the cheap feeder goldfish and it helps a lot withe mosquito larvae.
> They really do not help much with the algae, or not that I have noticed. Scared to think what it would be like with out them if they are helping.


i was going to say the same things lol.


----------



## maderiaismine05 (Aug 1, 2007)

Im wondering how these fish would do in the florida heat though....? today was 93 degrees...and so i imagine that the water isnt the coldest..at least not in two of the 4 troughs we have...the other two are in the shade...and sorry OP..not meaning to interupt the post.


----------



## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I could never use fish in a trough mainly because I am not so sure about the bacteria that they themselves would produce; when horse drinks from a lake, or stream, you're talking about a body of water that moves, and changes alot, but with a trough, it's just sitting there...no thanks! I just clean the troughs out regulary, to prevent algae and bugs from congregating there in the first place.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

maderiaismine05 said:


> Im wondering how these fish would do in the florida heat though....? today was 93 degrees...and so i imagine that the water isnt the coldest..at least not in two of the 4 troughs we have...the other two are in the shade...and sorry OP..not meaning to interupt the post.



That is a good question.

When we have hot days in a row around here (NY) and the trough starts getting hot we drain 2/3 of the water and refresh it with colder hose water. 

The fish seem to do fine. But it is obviously not as hot here for as long as it is hot there.

We also give our fish some rocks in the bottom of the trough to hide out under.


----------



## hccumminssmoke (Oct 19, 2009)

few questions...

a) if you have fish in there, how are you filling the stock tanks? seems to me if memory serves me correctly if you put fish in water out of the tap, they will die due to the high amounts of cholrine...

b) how are these fish (minus the goldfish) staying alive w/o some sort of oxygen pump feeding them? you can't take a fish home from the pet store and just put it in water...they will soon use all the air, and die...

jw...

Nate


----------



## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Speed Racer said:


> *I dump and scrub my trough every other week *anyway, so I've never seen a need to use goldfish for mosquito larvae.


!! I do it too regularly. Usually more often in summer (as needed). It's certainly a better way to keep a clean water and healthy environment.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

hccumminssmoke said:


> few questions...
> 
> a) if you have fish in there, how are you filling the stock tanks? seems to me if memory serves me correctly if you put fish in water out of the tap, they will die due to the high amounts of cholrine...


Feeder fish are just carp. Carp are pretty hardy and though I am sure the chlorine and drastic temperature changes are not good for them they seem to tolerate it well.



hccumminssmoke said:


> b) how are these fish (minus the goldfish) staying alive w/o some sort of oxygen pump feeding them? you can't take a fish home from the pet store and just put it in water...they will soon use all the air, and die...


Read above and, when you add more water you are adding more oxygen. When we add water I use the sprayer attachment on the hose and it really agitates the water.


We scrub out our trough every other week all summer. So the people that think we just let the trough get totally yucky we do not. Just trying to cut down on the bugs. It seems to help quite a bit. The smaller trough we have, that we do not put fish in (because the horse in that paddock likes to flip her trough) always has a very active mosquito population. I end up having to dump it just to get rid of that, before the trough needs scrubbing (every couple of days).

And for those who think 'the water must be yucky with the fish poo in it'. My horses have a choice of a cleaned every day water bucket inside their stalls (walk in and out stalls) or the trough(s) outside. Outside trough is what they prefer. The mare who does not have fish goes right to the trough with fish when she is allowed into that area.


----------



## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Admittedly, I am looking at this topic through the eyes of an avid fish keeper, but I still do not see any advantage of keeping fish in the tank that are not outweighed by the disadvantages or that can not be easily replicated with minimal work on the part of the horse owner.


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Maybe fish poop tastes good? Blech.... :-x

Who asked about tap water? Most of us who have farms or farmettes are on well water. There's no chlorine in the water to hurt the fish.

I don't use 'em because I don't have a problem with mosquitoes. Those who do, I can see why they put fish in their troughs.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

If you are worried about the fish you can try something like this:

Horse Insect Control: Pre-Strike Mosquito Torpedoes for Water Troughs

Also for Algae then put your troughs in the shade...


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

Dump and clean the tanks.. no fish


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

Cleaning tanks is not that time consuming, and it isn't hard. Clean once a week with a good brush and you'll not have mosquito larvae to even worry about


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

qtrhrsecrazy said:


> Cleaning tanks is not that time consuming, and it isn't hard. Clean once a week with a good brush and you'll not have mosquito larvae to even worry about


I clean the one trough far more often than once per week and there are always mosquito larvae in it. So, maybe where you are that is the case. But not where I am. :wink:


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

I'm in the hot, humid South where the mosquito is the national bird lol... I have no problems with larvae as long as I keep the tanks clean. 

Sometimes in the middle of summer I'll clean them twice weekly, but it's very little effort to keep them clean and in good shape. No need for fish. I board now and clean the tank lol


----------



## lilbit11011 (Apr 15, 2010)

With mosquito though...if you live near a body of water then they will be worse out and about. The population will be bigger and thus more larva in your trough. So, I can understand if some people have a hard time of it. I tried the goldfish thing before...but it did not work out for me. My duck ended up climbing up to the trough and eating the fish. So, now I just super scrub every other day.


----------



## PechosGoldenChance (Aug 23, 2009)

I just don't have the time to worry about the fish in the trough, and if they are hungry, or if they are still alive, if it's too hot/cold, etc. Just empty the trough and clean it out the RIGHT way. Trust me, you don't know what kind of chemical/hormones fish produce, so you don't want to take the chance. Plus, like someone else said...goldfish produce algae (which is why when you are trying to cycle a tank they are the best fish to use). And also, algae eaters are way more high maintanence than goldfish, they need oxygen, and slime coat chemicals, etc.


----------



## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

lilbit11011 said:


> With mosquito though...if you live near a body of water then they will be worse out and about.


Thank you for clarifying that.



lilbit11011 said:


> My duck ended up climbing up to the trough and eating the fish. So, now I just super scrub every other day.


 :lol:

That made me laugh too hard.

Smart duck saw a good snack.


----------



## Sonnyx12 (Oct 26, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> Thank you for clarifying that.
> 
> :lol:
> 
> ...


my barn is by a big creek (its more like a river, but the name is creek lol) so the mosquitos are kinda bad. but i think one of the cats ate the fish last summer lol. so who knows whats going to happen this summer...


----------



## Rowzy (Mar 1, 2010)

I very much agree that having the body of water makes the mosquitos much worse. With my large pond right next to the horse pasture mosquitos can get bad. Before I added fish I had a bigger mosquito problem (and it wasn't from the pond because there are so many fish in it no mosquito larvae could possibly survive). Now I have less of a problem, which is good because I am VERY sensitive to mosquito bites.

Also I don't want to dump my tank every other day like some people are saying because it is a 100 gallon tank (and for some reason my horses don't like the water if the bucket is less then half full) and that would 1) be very wasteful and 2) make my pasture muddy.


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

My troughs are 70 gallons each, and there's no way I dump them every other _day_; it's every other week.

I let the horses drink them down to about 20 gallons each, then I scrub and dump them. So really, very little wasted water.


----------



## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Hehe, I keep fish in my troughs sometimes....if I remember to go and buy them. One year I kept them in all winter and they all froze in a block of ice....Eh. Fishcicles.


----------



## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

hahaha. We live to far south for our water troughs to freeze solid. The most we've had is an inch or two of ice. Back on topic.. I was searching for the old thread about pennies in the water trough. I forgot what that said, but it's supossed to help control algea growth? Our cattle trough is fulllllllllllll of algea and I was wondering what could control it for cheap and is safe for all animals? (including fish)


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

No, the pennies in the water trough are supposed to help moody mares, not keep algae from growing.


----------



## maderiaismine05 (Aug 1, 2007)

Speed Racer said:


> No, the pennies in the water trough are supposed to help moody mares, not keep algae from growing.


 
hmm..how does that work? cant say ive ever heard of that....


btw: i bought 2 gold fish and a sucker fish (phecotsumous (sp?) )...yeah, let them adjust to the water for about 30 minutes...put them in the trough...about 3 hours later, i had three dead fish floating...dont think they liked the well water...idk??? lost cause for me....so i just cleaned it today really good...took me about 45 minutes!!! phew!!! lol


----------



## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

maderiaismine05 said:


> Im wondering how these fish would do in the florida heat though....? today was 93 degrees...and so i imagine that the water isnt the coldest..at least not in two of the 4 troughs we have...the other two are in the shade...and sorry OP..not meaning to interupt the post.


I live in AZ & the fish did fine in our tank even in the middle of summer when it was triple digits.


----------



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

This thread took off! lol
I've decided against the fish. To reply to a Previous poster, dumping and scrubbing definitely is hard work and time consuming when you have as many draft horses and troughs as I have to take care of..... and only ONE horse and trough is mine. Certain people just don't like to lend a hand and be responsible for their own horses. ANYWHO! lol

Mosquitos are BAD here. We're surrounded by farm land. Lots of water. I'm severely allergic to mosquitos. If I don't wear spray, I end up with a hundred-plus bites in one night.... AND they swell to the size of baseballs and turn into horrible bruises. (actually took sandpaper to my legs once, the itch was so impossible to endure).

So, I hate the things.

BUT, started thinking. I don't have my horse at home.... I board. In order for the mosquitos to go away, EVERYONE on the facility would have to protect their water from larvae. That'll never happen.  I've heard a lot lately about garlic. Feed your horses minced garlic or in pill form in grain and the mosquitos stay off your horses.... flies, too (among other beneficial things). It's worth a shot... Anyone do this?


----------



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

*Feeding Garlic - The Great Garlic Debate*
By Karen Hayes, DVM, MS

There's a toxic element in allium (a family of plants including both garlic and onions) of a chemical called N-propyl disulfide. By altering an enzyme present within the red blood cell, it depletes the cell of a chemical known as phosphate dehydrogenase (PD), whose job is to protect the cell from natural oxidative damage. 

When the PD level gets low enough, the hemoglobin in the cell oxidizes and forms a "bubble" called a Heinz body on the outside of the cell. The spleen, which acts as a red-cell "bouncer" of sorts, quickly removes the deformed cell from the bloodstream. As more and more red cells are prematurely damaged and removed, as will happen from consistent poisoning with N-propyl disulfide, your horse gradually becomes anemic. This is called Heinz-body anemia. 

No well-designed, formal research has been conducted on the ill effects of lower doses of garlic on horses. But, to be fair, there also hasn't been any well-designed, formal research on the _benefits_ of garlic in horses. For example, I've seen lots of horses reeking of garlic and crawling with flies, though garlic is reputed to be an effective fly repellent.

It isn't enough to say garlic is safe just because you haven't _seen_ any ill effects in your garlic-supplemented horse. Depending on the dose, and the frequency and duration of dosing, there could be low-grade deleterious effects, due to red-blood-cell damage that's not enough to cause a 911 situation, but just enough to cause a mild anemia that might not be outwardly evident. It might affect your horse's stamina, energy level, or resistance to disease. 

Until these suspicions are investigated and repudiated, how much risk are you willing to take? Until well-designed, formal research is done on garlic's risks and benefits, specifically in horses, it seems the only safe avenue is the avenue of caution.


----------

