Fish House

[afnaveils]

I've been thinking of building a Fish House for a few years now but I have not gotten around to do it due to various priorities. I want to build a garden shed which will actually be a fish house. According to City by-law, it can be 160 square feet and a maximum of 12 feet to its roof upmost tip.

Winters are quite severe in the Greater Montreal Area so temperatures of -25C (-13F) during the night are quite common. In summer, temperatures can reach 32C or 90F.

I know I'll have to bring water of course, electricity for heating, light and equipment. I'd appreciate tips, ideas and info for this project. Thanks very much!:worship:

PS: All my activities related to goldfish will be in the fish house.

[mikeno]

Hi

I've been thinking of the same thing. In one of my goldfish books there is an brittish goldfishhouse with rectangular concrete "ponds" at the bottom and aquarium above. The ponds even stretch outside the house, a simpel way to build a bigger house than permitted. Looks nice and simple. Cant find the book at this moment...

When I started to sketch on my own soulutions I always ended up with bigger and deeper ponds, inspiered by koi poeple who always seems to build for more depth to get better fishes and greater watervolume. In fact its simple, a deeper pond gives greater watervolume at a smaller area. The wakins I breed has a bodyshape more like a koi than a ranchu and I think they will do better in deep ponds.

At this moment the deep bottom ponds has moved completely out of the house and my plan is to build just one pond. This pond will house youngsters (for sale in spring) the first winter and breedingstock during summer. The pond will be 6x1,2x2(depth)m. Filtered by a wallybed (http://www.koikichi.com/home/).

The house is now back to a smaller scale... I'm still planning for some conteiners at the bottom and aquariums above. Watershanges must be automatic and the bottom conteiners must have bottomdrains, maybe all connected to one filter.

Here in stockholm the winters can be as cold as -25 C and the summers + 30 C. I want to feed the fishes in the house at winter and will keep the temperature at 13 C or higher. The outdoor pond will be covered whith 10cm polystyrene at winter and will hopefully keep icefree...

Some windows for sunlight would be nice for the fishes, and me.

[mikeno]

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt304/mikenophotos/hus.jpg

To big ponds maybe...

/ Mikael

[Cincy Ranchu]

Gerard, Greg Rau has a fish house from a converted storage barn, plexiglass on the south facing side and large fish tanks to hold the heat

[afnaveils]

Thanks Mikeno and Gary!

Mikeno, I think I've seen the fish house you mentioned in a book entitled Goldfish Breeding and Genetics by Smartt and Bundell. I'll have to look it up in more details.

Gary, I think I'll have to pay Greg Rau a visit next September and see his barn/fishhouse.:interest:

[mikeno]

Thats the book! Not so good pictures but some smart details.

[mikeno]

This is my new goldfish house! The fish has already moved in even if there is some work to be done before the old guest house is a true goldfish house. The house is 10 square meters. Some plumbing and shelf building will be done this summer. It’s a hard work running with buckets…

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt304/mikenophotos/goldfishhouse.png

[cowiche ponder]

I have long thought of a smaller version of some of the koi houses in Japan for koi but of course there must be room for goldies too.

I can get away with a 10x20 without a foundation. Single slant roof with low point the north wall and the high point the south wall. I want a solid north wall and maybe a 1/2 wall to the east. Most likely the west wall also solid but the south wall I want to be all glass, maybe from 3' up.....or maybe to start double greenhouse poly with air blown between. Thinking of somehow being able to cover that if need be for the coldest of nights or during the worst weather. I know it doesn't take much sun to get the radiant warmth going. Also need to be able to cover it in winter. Would love for it to eventually be glass with windows at the top for ventilation, mostly in summer..

if wishes were horses then paupers would ride...but I did just score onto a whole bunch of free pieces of plywood..... :yess:

[afnaveils]

Thanks for the picture mikeno!

Municipal by-law in my home town allows a maximum fish house (shed) area of 160 square feet which is about 14,86 meter squared. Is there any such by-law in your home town?

I've been trying to draw the layout of a fish house in 14,86 m2. There doesn't seem to be enough space, lol. I'm thinking TOO BIG a set-up. lol

[Cincy Ranchu]

Here we can build without a permit if it is under 300 ft2

[mikeno]

The house is an old Friggebod, the name given to buildings under 10 square meters (107,64 square feet) you are aloud to build without any special permission at all. This limit has been changed and permits 15 square meters (161,46 square feet) now. If/when the fishes grow out of the house I will build a 15 square meters custom made for goldies, much like the one Mary describes. Then the small house has to go according to Swedish law.

The house suits my needs just fine right now. The big window facing south and a smaller one to the east gives me some heat from the sun in mid winter and good morning light in the spring. Heating can be a problem, I do not think there are that much isolation in the walls…

The fish moved in about a week ago and I have got two successful breedings already! Red/white wakins and a shubunkin x calico ryukin cross.

[afnaveils]

Hi mikeno,

I'm curious to know what kind of gf you're expecting from that shubunkin x calico ryukin cross.

[mikeno]

The shubunkin x calico ryukin cross is my attempt to make calico wakins. Based on Norms experiences at http://www.goldfishkeepers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450 I will only go for good colour in the f1 as I suspect doubletails to pop up in f2. The wakin(shubunkin) body should be no problem to regain.

[afnaveils]

Thanks! Yes, I remember Norm's post. Wouldn't the round body of the ryukin introduce an additional feature to cull? Wouldn't a calico fantail do a better job by having the longer body of a wakin? Is the ryukin tail type better?

[mikeno]

The very high body of ryukins is not desired in wakins. I will try to fix good colour first and deal with double fins later. As for the bodyshape I guess the wild type body of a wakin will be no problem to fix. The ryukins was the best calico double fined fish in good size I could find here in Sweden. I guess good calico fantail would be just as fine. The goldfish sold here are small and cute and that’s it… No one knows what real fantail is.

Actually I’m not absolutely sure how a standard wakin should look like. I’ve been looking at the Japanese wakins at Youtube and they looked fine. It does not bother me much since I want to breed my fish as I want them to look. My biggest interests are the colours of goldfish since I think there is much to be done in this area. The simplicity of wakins makes them very good for colour breeding.

Moving out of the fish house subject?

[afnaveils]

Thanks for the info. Sorry, it's true that I took you off the main subject of this post.

[mikeno]

No worries, maybe someone can move this part to the calico wakin thread?

[afnaveils]

Ok, I'm building my fish house but I may not finish before winter sets in. But if I do, here's what I'm up against. Cold winter and 3 feet of snow between the house and the fish house, so not many visits to the fish house. Even though it will be insulated with double glassed windows and solid door (like a house), I will have electricity in the fish house and so, heat will be at a minimum 9 to 10 C (48F to 50F). I don't mind raising the temperature higher. Common questions : Will the gf be fine at these low temperatures for a long period of time. They will be at these temperatures for nearly 3 months. What is a good feeding rate during these months? I may need automatic feeders during winter. I won't be able to do any water changes during that time. Am I heading for disaster? Advice and suggestions welcome.

[Cincy Ranchu]

48F to 50F is perfect for up to 4 months, I recently bought a adjustable thermostat thaat works like and extension cord in which you can power a space heater by setting a minimum temperature. I got it from Northern Tool online for about $30 US

Seems perfect for creating a minimum temperature in a fishhouse