I'm considering putting in a utility/security light on a telephone pole I own near two water troughs I have. My question is if I leave it on at night year round will I have problems with bugs in the water? FYI... I'm located in south Texas and there will be cattle/horses in the area.
Light near water troughs
- Thread starter cjfling
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Soundguy
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drop a goldfish or two in the troughs. i keep 2 fish in each 100g trough I have.. they are carp related.. eat algea and eat mosquito larve, and any other bug that lands... been doing this since I had animals.
soundguy
soundguy
Western
Super Member
That's what most of ranchers here in Texas do. Golden shiners or gold fish.
When I had a deer lease out in west Texas I used to watch the water birds try to get the fish in the large open holding tanks fed by wind mills, talk about frustration on the birds part.
dave1949
Super Star Member
According to Scooby74, there are LED lights that are mostly invisible to insects. Maybe that is a possibility.
Dave.
Dave.
I've already scavanged two street light style lights that I intend to use, but thanks for the info.
The only problem with your experience at wind mills is the reason they are using the wind mills is problably they don't have electric service and therefor no lights which is my concern. Will the light over the water cause any issues from bugs to whatever in the water that gold fish can't take care of?
Thanks for your reply though!
LBrown59
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Why do you need the lites?
Is somebody stealing the water or vandalizing the troughs.?
blueriver
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His cows can not see at night!!
Western
Super Member
They will be hungry unless you feed them which I doubt you would. I have never seen bug's in a trough that had fish in it, (unless your in the amazon and got some BIG bugs).....
I'll be honest though I have never seen a light over a water trough except a couple and that was for watching deer and hogs at night.
I have seen "yard" or vapor lights over, or close to a pond, oddly to attract bugs for the fish.
Perch may be better where you are, they can handle some big bugs..
Actually I did have a hay ring stolen. With all due respect, I'm not trying to justify to you whether I should have the light on or not, my question was about whether the bugs would be a problem and it seems it won't be. Thanks to those who replied with useful thoughts/experiences
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The 4 gold fish I have now currently get fed goldfish flakes every other day. I had to feed them something b\c they wiped out the algea in a matter of day. They do a great job. I go to all sorts of lenghs for these fish. Once when the trough over flowed, I pulled of my shoes/socks and saved two of them from fire ants on the ground even though I got ate up.
LBrown59
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Nobody ask ya to.
I was just curious as to why you wanted the lites.
I thought TBN was a place to both ask and answer questions but i guess not.
Sorry, I guess I was a little "short" with you. I just read all these posts where someone starts out by asking one question and then someone else comes along and all but hijacks the thread to tell the person they should/shouldn't be doing this or that. The light is mostly there for my benefit as quite often when I get out to feed the animals it's already dark.
Soundguy
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Same here.. sometimes I'm feeding at night.
hang yer lamps.. fish will love it.
soundguy
hang yer lamps.. fish will love it.
soundguy
firefighter9208
Platinum Member
OK. I got a question. Do any of you with fish in your tanks have LGD (livestock guard dogs) in the pastures??? If so, do they bother the fish. If not I think I'll add fish to my tanks in the goat pastures. Sure would be nice to not have to empty the tanks every two to three days to pour out the green water.
Chris
Chris
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Western
Super Member
I never heard of it happening. Where you live it should be easy enough to buy or catch some fish. Not sure what they will do to help with the "green" water, but they'll eat the bugs.
firefighter9208
Platinum Member
I thought I read in one of the above posts that they keep the algae down???
That's the main reason I would add them.
Chris
That's the main reason I would add them.
Chris
My goldfish (actually called common commet fish) have almost totally removed the algea from my 4 foot concrete troughs. I have seen "cow" dogs not guard dogs drink and swim in the troughs with the fish and no problems. That may be a per dog thing as to whether they are intrigued with the fish.
Soundguy
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I use common 'fish stoe' gold fish.. I have dogs in my pasture.. they drink from the troughs.. no problems yet.
I have no excessive algea buildups, and no mosquito larve.. win-win situation...
soundguy
I have no excessive algea buildups, and no mosquito larve.. win-win situation...
soundguy
