Catching Fish

Twenty five trout fingerlings were added on July 25th.

We were happy

So happy we could have jumped for joy!

Unfortunately the trout did. Straight out of the tank!

I had not realized how high out of the water the fingerlings could jump.

Our long forgotten wicket keeping skills helped.

One memorable evening Mrs Fishcake caught two in one over. However she broke a heel and declared. What she declared I cannot repeat but a plastic mesh net was quickly fitted.

The ideal temperature for trout is 15C. Above 22C they get very stressed and die.

This was turning out to be one of the hottest summers for many years.

The pump in the fish tank is controlled by a simple timer. It runs fifteen minutes in every hour. 15/45 By varying this timing you can, in a small way, affect the temperature. Pumping more in the night and less in the heat of the day for instance.

The summer heat continued.

Each morning I checked the temperature.

Slowly it was rising. The daily water temperature swing was about three degrees.

When the morning reading showed twenty I knew I was in trouble.

We froze water in plastic milk bottles and added them to the fish tank.

21.9C

Increasing the amount of water in the system will reduce the temperature swing.

It was time to expand.

Two 225 ltr ex olive barrels were added. One as a sump tank the other as an RFF.