Goldfish in a rain barrel

[Fishintexas]

I have goldfish in my rain barrels, they have been doing fine for years. I don’t feed them and they have survived the barrel freezing several inches down. I have 55 gallon barrels. In the summer it gets over 100F and in the winter down into the 20s. I couldn’t say how “happy” they are as they’re not much for conversation.

 

[Fishfur]

Welcome to Fishlore.

I’m thinking it’s a good thing fish can’t talk. I expect you’d be hearing a lot of complaints if they could.

 

[3Fishnight]

I have goldfish in my rain barrels, they have been doing fine for years. I don’t feed them and they have survived the barrel freezing several inches down. I have 55 gallon barrels. In the summer it gets over 100F and in the winter down into the 20s. I couldn’t say how “happy” they are as they’re not much for conversation.

What do they eat if you dont feed?

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Algae, mosquito larvae, duckweed. Cant imagine too many in there or they're smaller.

 

[Fishintexas]

One per barrel.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

One per barrel.

My grandparents used to keep one or two in the cattle troughs to keep insects etc... at bay.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Something I was thinking on. If you're interested a 5 gallon bucket with some duckweed in it would give them some good supplemental food. To keep mosquitoes from forming in there a couple guppies and maybe a little elodea to aerate the water a bit would work great. You can scoop out duckweed and any fry you scoop up will be happily eaten too.

 

[Sewerrat]

My grandparents used to keep one or two in the cattle troughs to keep insects etc... at bay.

That's common for farms in my area as well never understood why people don't use one of the colder temperature tolerant species.