Seasons change

While our fish are tropical, a lot of us live in places where seasonal changes are radical. I was out in the backyard last weekend moving things as I cleaned up from a passing hurricane, and I realized it was almost time to expect Mother Nature to shut down my outdoor Daphnia.

Soon, I'll have to test the very few heaters I use, to see if they are still good, and I've already had to close windows that have been open since Spring, and I'm going to have to look at the dehumidifier again. I've cleaned the baseboard heaters that have been off since April, washed the windows in my garage fishroom. At this time of year, I check equipment and look at breeding projects, since I won't be spending as much leaping through flower filled fields.

Autumn is when fish sales pick up, and clubs begin to meet again here. I know it's different elsewhere. I like autumn a lot, and have less love for what follows it. But what kinds of things do you do to prepare for the different seasons?

GaryE said:

While our fish are tropical, a lot of us live in places where seasonal changes are radical. I was out in the backyard last weekend moving things as I cleaned up from a passing hurricane, and I realized it was almost time to expect Mother Nature to shut down my outdoor Daphnia.

Soon, I'll have to test the very few heaters I use, to see if they are still good, and I've already had to close windows that have been open since Spring, and I'm going to have to look at the dehumidifier again. I've cleaned the baseboard heaters that have been off since April, washed the windows in my garage fishroom. At this time of year, I check equipment and look at breeding projects, since I won't be spending as much leaping through flower filled fields.

Autumn is when fish sales pick up, and clubs begin to meet again here. I know it's different elsewhere. I like autumn a lot, and have less love for what follows it. But what kinds of things do you do to prepare for the different seasons?

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Interesting.

Fall always has been get ready for the animals we raise to make it through the winter, heaters for all the water tanks to keep them from freezing over... we bought as much hay, as we had storage space for, several weeks back, since we are still in a drought, we have been having to feed hay, when they would normally be on pasture grass, but pasture grass in pretty much no existent this year... I'll have to buy more to make it through the winter, I don't have 9 months hay storage areas...

still have a roof I've been trying to find time to finish, & our outside hydrants quit working last year, I'd still like to get one repaired ( need to dig it out, to replace it, & they are down 4 feet deep to keep them from freezing during the winters )

plus the Tilapia tanks ( new for us this year ) will have to get the fish harvested, tanks drained & some things like tank heaters & air pumps stored inside for the winter

plus get the bucket on the tractor, in preparation for snow removal on the driveway, & around the immediate farm yard...

It must get really busy on a farm. Here, I started teaching an adult ed class for newcomers, and noted how everyone was wearing short sleeves as it was quite warm out. In 9 weeks when that class ends, we'll usually be well below zero and will probably have had the first snow. I say "usually" because weather has become unpredictable. I can see the ocean from where I'm sitting, and it the water is warmer than it's been, so how that will affect the weather is a wild card.

No matter what though, it is dark when I get up, and night is coming earlier and earlier. We've already lost a few hours of sunlight.

I probably should adjust the lighting periods for the tanks too. In summer, the room lighting via the windows is a luxury. When it's dark at 4:30, I'll need to have changed the off/on settings or I'll never see my fish!

I put a string of greenhouse grow lights up, over my Tilapia tanks... not for the hydroponic vegetable's, I did it to increase the hours of light, so I could get in 2 more feedings per day... as a plus, I needed the additional light for the 1st feeding of the day, I get up at 4:30 AM, & head to work, by a few minutes after 5:00 AM... during the longest days of summer, I could do that 1st feeding with natural light, but it did not take long ( days ) after the longest day of the year, that it was still pitch dark, when I had to leave, so the lights were necessary to get them fed. before I was gone for 8 -10 hours...


also have LED lighting I put up in the farm yard, they still do day lights saving here, & when we go off, it's dark when I get home... so night chores are all under artificial lighting, starting in October

When I had pond fish, fall was a time to start digging out the aerators and start catching excess fish. My goldfish and bluegills would spawn like crazy all summer, and if I didn't cull a bunch of them they would all die under the ice. So, the goldfish went in the garden, and the bluegills went in the kitchen. I would leave enough to start a new population in the spring.

Now we live in town and don't have a pond, so things are simpler. In between hunting trips, I'm trying to get a 55 gallon resealed and set up before it gets too cold. Setting up an aquarium in the winter is no fun whatsoever.

Looking forward to wearing my thermal underwear again .

The room I keep my fish in is always air conditioned. A) it gets really stuffy otherwise and the tanks would heat up too much. And B) it's easier to control the tanks by cooling the room and using an aquarium heater. I don't have any way to cool the tanks to a precise temperature.

I'm going to miss harvesting mosquitoes. This was the first year I did it. Next year, I'm going to put out more containers so that I can freeze some for winter.

I have been vigorously feeding my backyard hummingbird population because they will migrate south this week. The birds have a long flight a head of them. Most will settle in Central America for winter. Fall is a good time to have fish shipped to me with the temperature not too extreme in either direction.

soon enough will have to acclimate my fish to a new feeding schedule, thanks to the spring forward, fall back crap.

gwand said:

I have been vigorously feeding my backyard hummingbird population because they will migrate south this week. The birds have a long flight a head of them. Most will settle in Central America for winter. Fall is a good time to have fish shipped to me with the temperature not too extreme in either direction.

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Can you try to get some pictures or video of the birds please?

Back in the fold said:

Looking forward to wearing my thermal underwear again .

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Pictures or it didn't.... no wait, Disregard that.

GaryE said:

Pictures or it didn't.... no wait, Disregard that.

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Funny Gary, I almost once posted "pictures or didn't happen" in your Africa thread, but I wasn't sure of your level of humour at the time

Colin_T said:

Can you try to get some pictures or video of the birds please?

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These photos are not very good but the best I can do. White breasted nut hatch and a ruby throated hummingbird. Precious creatures.