For those of you with goldfish in your water troughs

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Wells

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I just need some advice! We've just had new automatic troughs linked up & my OH is obsessed with putting gold fish in them - does it really work at keeping them clean?!
Also, do I need a certain type of fish or are goldfish from the fair OK? I've got 6ft troughs so how many fish in each?
 
Wow never heard of that! I would imagine though that you'd need the bigger pond goldfish not the little pet ones. Also if the troughs are metal they may struggle in winter as most ponds are insulated in some way by the ground or by the material used
 
I don't but they have them in troughs at a ranch I visited a couple of months ago. It was in Arizona so a lot warmer than here! I guess they keep the algae down. Interested to know if this would work in our climate.
 
My old riding school had a goldfish in some of their water troughs
I'm sure it was ok because the horses didn't eat them and they do do a good job of keeping the thoughts clean! Didn't have to feed them either because they lived on the algae. If you're worried though, don't put goldfish in. I'm not sure I would! :)
 
When I was a kid we did have a trough that was fed from a spring that had oxygenating plants in - that worked well and the water was always crystal clear
 
I think its a very old fashioned thing to do as I remember we had goldfish in a couple of troughs at my first riding school!
Personally I think good husbandry is all that's needed to keep troughs clean and fresh and not goldfish!
 
Just had a thought .... Pack of barley straw in the trough will control the alga and you can just change it every few months. They use them in ponds to control blanket alga :p
 
I tried to pack straw parcels in our trough but clever grey horse just kept pulling it out and tossing it away,so sadly have to rely on elbow grease and fresh water.:D
 
Farmers put carp in man made reservoirs to keep the water clean to irrigate food crops. I was surprised when I saw this on a veg farm in the fens. I think the problem in troughs would come during the winter if the trough freezes solid, the fish would be deep frozen.
 
If you have ever kept gold fish in a tank in the house you know how dirty they are to keep. Surely this would be the same in a trough, as someone has said whatever they eat comes out the other end and your horses will be drinking it.
 
Crugeran Celt said:
If you have ever kept gold fish in a tank in the house you know how dirty they are to keep. Surely this would be the same in a trough, as someone has said whatever they eat comes out the other end and your horses will be drinking it.
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Yep I agree my goldfish as a kid did poo little lines and at the moment I have pigeons polluting the water. I am thinking would a cat fish make it cleaner as they eat all the muck up the side of the glass in a tank. But yes I agree if it freezes problem. Interesting.
 
shortstuff99 said:
Also it has to be treated water as the chlorine in tap/ mains water will kill them or make them very un-happy.
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Gold fish live happily in tap water all over the country so don't think this is accurate. Mine grew huge and went out in the pond.

Don't think I fancy fish poo in the trough tho.
 
Afaik it's not really very fair on the goldfish. The fish dudes on here have got a bit twitchy about it before ;). and just because they can live in tap water doesn't mean they should.
 
Hi we have had goldfish in our water troughs for about the last 5 years. I think they do keep them a bit cleaner and the horses certainly come to no harm drinking out of them. We just had small goldfish that you would have at home but they have grown really big. They have survived the last few cold winters even though the ice gets pretty thick but as you have to break it for the horses anyway they come to no harm.
 
We had fish in the trough at my old yard (in fife!!). The water was clean and the fish were breeding! Must have been perfect conditions for them. It was an old stone trough.
 
My friend uses them in her tanks - not sure if it keeps them that clean but it certainly keeps the mosquito's and midges down.

WelshD those little pet goldfish turn into big monster fish if they have the room to grow.

I'd be concerned that they'd freeze in winter in unprotected troughs
 
PollyP99 said:
Gold fish live happily in tap water all over the country so don't think this is accurate. Mine grew huge and went out in the pond.

Don't think I fancy fish poo in the trough tho.
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Sorry but it is true, I have kept cold/tropical/marine tanks for many years! Yes they can survive but the chlorine in the water often burns their gills. If there is not much in the water then they could be okay.
 
I think given the amount of standing water we've had around over the last few summers here that not having them in water trough probably doesn't make a huge difference to numbers :D
 
This is really interesting as I have heard it before and thought about doing it. What is the affect of horses drinking the fish poo though? And what happens if the fish get an illness would this not be detremental to the horses health?
 
POLLDARK said:
What goes in the mouth end will come out the other end in my experience. I think I would rather have fresh water for my boys,
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I have to agree with POLLDARK on this
My dad spent a couple of days last christmas in hospital as a result of cleaning his tropical fish tank
He caught something nasty which got into his system probably through a cut, but it was serious enough it could of killed him
There will be no fish in my water troughs
 
Poor fish in the winter - to break the ice, I put my foot through it so I'd end up with squashed fish!

Mind you, I could imagine one of my horses trying to play/eat the fish.

I'll leave mine as it is minus fish, I think.
 
I use an old bath for mine horses and its filled from the well everyday.. and often flows over a bit, Ive got 3 small goldfish in there, and a brick in the bottom to find in.. water is perfectly clear, and the algae does not build up so fast.. also great as someone else has said for eating any mosquito larvae, they were fine over winter, and Im hoping they will be fine with the heat of the summer..
 
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