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Posts: 2378
| My wife is not overly impressed with my sucker tank in the basement so I am considering moving it to the garage. Will the extra moisture from the tank wreak havoc in there (i.e. rust on the new truck, etc)?
I plan on keeping a cover on it, but I am still wondering if it is a bad idea. Any thoughts??
Thanks  |
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Posts: 1046
| Only real problem I have is keeping from frezzing, otherwise the extra moisture is not a problem as garages are not sealed tight like a house. I went to a 150 qt. cooler with a air-pump and can keep a 1/2 dozen alive for weeks, but I do feed them too! Hope this helps! |
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Posts: 2378
| Handy -
Get a cheap aquarium heater. You can turn them down low enough so they will only keep the water warm enough to prevent freezing. Perfect!!
Baldy |
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Location: Minneapolis, MN | Suckers are dirty little fish. You need to change the water often to avoid the next thing your wife won't like, a smelly car! Don't forget, if you are using tap water, you can only change 30% of the water at one time and make sure you are adding a water conditioner or your tap water will kill the little buggers. |
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Posts: 469
Location: Downers Grove, IL | I've had great success this fall keeping suckers alive in my garage. One of the key things that I found in my success was adding a product call Stress Coat to the water. I helps replace the suckers slime coat and it conditions the water by neutralizing the chlorine and iron. I use two air pumps that pump a rediculous amount of O2 and a black contracter bag to keep it dark and dry. I also freeze a couple small plastic water bottles and put them in to keep things cold. Check out home depot for a large rubbermaid bin. Its like five bucks and fits nice and easy in my car for traveling. Plus is has rope handles so moving them is easy. |
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| If you have Cl2 (chlorine) in the tap water you may also leave the water air out about 24 hrs and the Cl2 will dissipate and you won't kill your fish.
I'm not sure how long you plan on keeping them, but for a week or so it should not be a problem with the humidity and less of a problem if it unheated. I've kept two suckers a week in a cold garage without a pump, just in a water soften tank (plastic round tub) with no problems ansd never changed the water. Remember cold water retains oxygen easier than warm water and it doesn't take much to keep enough in there like adgitating it if you really need to. But I agree with the above posts, buy a pump to make sure and for sure if you have many suckers. |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | hey guys what do u feed these buggers. just wanted to know...thanx..bill |
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Location: Minneapolis, MN | ahhhhh fish food? LOL |
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Posts: 2378
| Have heard of guys feeding them freeze dried shrimp. You can likely pick those up at any pet store. Otherwise I have fed sinking goldfish pellets, and they seemed to eat them.
I would not bother feeding them though unless you plan to keep them for quite some time. Suckers will create a tremendous amount of waste once you start feeding them. |
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| Hey Baldy,
I just throw extra Halloween candy in the tank, they like the candy corn, tootsie rolls and blow pops. Remember, they are suckers. |
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| capt bigfish, won't they break out with acne?????? |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | I bought a bird bath heater at the hardware store to keep my tank from freezing. An aquarium heater would heat it up too much. You want it just warm enough to keep the ice away. I don't feed them and keep them for a month plus, with water temp as cold as it is in Wisconsin in November, it's not a problem. If you must, I would recommend worms. Only thing with feeding them is the water gets more dirty. On the end of my air lines I run large foam aquarium filters. They hold bacteria (takes a few weeks to get things established) and it helps the water quality and less water changes.
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Posts: 2378
| Jo -
I have an aquarium heater that is adjustable so I think that should do the trick. I should be able to get it low enough. I will be doing a few tests with a thermometer before I load the tank up with suckers though. |
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Suckers in the garage???