A Whole New Soggy Ecosystem

G'day and welcome!

So winter solstice has passed, the days are getting longer, we've only a couple of frosts between now and what is guaranteed to be a long, hot summer. Summer in Australia is of course heralded by the most loathed of insects, the mosquito.

Keeping livestock as we do, we keep a number of water troughs. One for each paddock really. The smaller tubs, which hold about 20 gallons, are no hassle to keep clean, they're topped up and checked on daily, if one needs to be scrubbed it can be easily tipped into another, mind you that's rare as the constant influx of new water (town water here is chlorinated and fluoridated, yuk) keeps "life" from developing.

However the big paddock has a trough that is sized to cope with the drinking requirements of several large animals on a hot summer day. We use an old bathtub, large, solid iron lined with white enamel, heavy as a hereford bull. The kind that was designed before the words "water restrictions" were ever put next to each other in a sentence!

This lovely large tub keeps the water cool, being more than knee deep when full. The constant exposure to sunlight takes care of any chlorine very quickly however, and between the mozzies that breed there, and the algae that inevitably develops, it needs to be emptied and scrubbed every couple of weeks, until now. This year I thought we'd try a new method, rather than wasting all that water.

An Australian native swamp grass to help with oxygen in the water.

Being inspired by a couple of posts on the Keeping a Family Cow forum, we decided on a couple of goldfish. They're hardy, pretty, and the no-fuss pet of choice for kids that live in apartments.... if city folk can keep them alive, how easy will this be! 

I went to the local pet store, and bought a half dozen, very pretty, brightly coloured goldfish with beautiful fantails.. some with googly eyes, some with spots and stripes. Took them home, followed the instructions on the fish bag, and after leaving the bag in the tub for 15 minutes let them go. 

Little Farmgirl loves visiting the trough!

The casualty rate, was high. 

I'd not really researched it you see, and the limited information bestowed upon me by the pet shop clerk was obviously not going to be enough.

I discovered much about the humble goldfish. Did you know, for instance, that they can survive water temps of "almost frozen"? Apparently in China people break through ice to get to the fish.  Amazing little things. They are extremely hardy, but are intolerant to rapid change of PH in their water, as I found out, it can kill them. 

Crows and other birds also find them tasty treats, those bright colours made them easy to pick off. The beautiful long tails made them slow and cumbersome, unable to escape the predators. 

Having done more research and learning more interesting facts about keeping fish in an outside tank or trough, I made some big changes to the tub. I added some plants, to help with oxygenation. I also chose to purchase some little blue crayfish, some shrimp, some snails, and some new fish. We carved a piece of timber to provide some hidey holes, and weighted it down with a bessa brick,  for the fish to swim through and hide in.

Hiding places are important - if you can see the fish so can the predatory birds like crows.

This time we went with uncoloured goldfish. They're cheap, and for most people, the muted bronze or pewter colours are boring, hard to see, not exciting at all. They're the comet type, lithe, streamlined, lightning fast in the water. These fish are perfect. I also got some feeder guppies... used by people with aquariums to feed their pet oscar or barramundi live prey.

Now we introduced them slowly to the water, a half cup at a time, and with the shrimp, guppies, crays, snails.... and this time we've had much more success. The cattle don't eat the submerged plants, or (to my husbands amazement) suck up the fish when they drink. 

Snail, feasting on algae.

The fish are certainly keeping the mosquito population down, and I've not had to scrub the tub in a month. 

I love going down to top up the trough now. I've got a whole new set of mini livestock to look after in there, and it's a window into another world. The guppies are more social than the goldies, they are easily visible from the surface. 

Crayfish are a useful addition, the clean up any casualties or left over food.

The crays come out most at dawn and dusk, and take care of any leftover food (or the occasional half eaten guppy) that sinks to the floor of the tub. The snails truck around,  cleaning scunge from the edges, as do the shrimp. 

Shrimp, surrounded by guppies.

I'll update if we get to summer, how the mosquito population is declined or not. But for now, even if it's just for the lovely aesthetics I would highly recommend this experience for anyone too lazy to scrub their troughs too often :)

Cheers,  M.