Willowisdom

Charlie is a horse fan! Freyja is used to being barked at by excited dogs. How sweet to see Charlie-girl quietly wagging that tail with enthusiasm.

This has endless energy to chase & retrieve! Can we mold that into a job that gives us a break? Find It!

Do goldfish in the stock tank work? Yes!! 🤩 it’s easy too! We’ve done it for years 🙌🏼

When spring fly larvae starts to spawn in tank I head to the store to get some little fish!

• start with a full clean tank that has had time to dissapate chlorine and already has larvae to eat
• add something for fish to hide behind, I keep lattice in the tank to help little animals etc. who use the tank climb out as needed
• I start w/3 little feeder goldfish, not fancy, in a 100-150 gallon tank. Frequently only the strongest 2 survive the first few days but sometimes all 3 fish live all season
• float the bag from the store for a few hours so fish acclimate to water temp in tank
• let ‘em go!
• do not feed the fish! bug larvae, algae, & food from horses’ muzzles is plenty to thrive
• do not treat the water but add water often
• regularly added water - 1/6th tank or less - aerates, dissipates any chlorine, and keeps the temp stable
• IME waste from fish is negligible & water quality doesn’t need to be tested

Goldfish can weather the winter as long as the water doesn’t freeze solid & they have debris to burrow in at the bottom but I haven’t tried that yet. In the past I’ve taken the much bigger fish back to the store end of season. Our local aquatic center has room to quarantine them and resell for more money than they sold them to me at the start of the season. Yea. The fish grow a LOT in just a few months. 🤩

My horses have never killed their fish tho the fish get really close to their faces. 🙀 dangerous considering horses use suction to drink but they figure it out.

In fact they seem to develop a symbiotic relationship, check out this recent video! Start of season vids in comments…

Freyja may have accidentally sucked up a fish, see how she shoos them away before drinking? She may have had to spit one out live! Regardless everyone is still swimming hahaha

This SO timely because of Hope . https://youtu.be/CcX7Kl4RBxc?si=Q6kPkFpkBRYoMx4G

Hope is a rescue adult standard poodle (possible cross) experiencing severe stress after surrender. Behavioral modification and anxiety meds (Xanax and Prozac) aren’t enough alone.

Yes. I can personally use this info too. 😅