Harry and Sally

They won't starve if you feed them and goldfish food isn't expensive. If the surface of the water freezes, break it, the fish will be fine as long as they can get to the surface.

I agree with your wife and feel sorry for the fish. A water butt lid only costs about £10 to buy and will probably last longer than a succession of dead goldfish. But that's just me... I am a softie when it comes to animals.

Twosheds is the resident expert on goldfish in waterbutts. She'll be along soon with words of reassurance!

You rang, m'lord?

Yep, I've kept goldfish in my butt (phnar phnar) or rather butts, since 2005. I think it was Bob Flowerdew's idea.
They eat the mozzie larvae and graze on any algae that forms on the sides. They've been up and about early this year because of the mild winter (they aren't bothered by ice, even 2" thick ice. The butts are usually full up and there's plenty of oxygen in the water for them).

I can't understand why anyone would think it's cruel? The water is deeper and cleaner than many garden ponds (it's constantly oxygenated and replenished through the drainpipe).

I don't need to feed them supplemental food, but the kids enjoy chucking pellets in for them, which they greedily swim up for.

They're happy, I'm happy, what's the problem?


NB: the only times I've had dead fish was after a violent storm. It washed loads of lichen (and probably pollution too) off the roof, down the drainpipe and into the butt. I lost 5 fish one after the other, but usually they last for years.

I don't think the cheapness of the fish has any bearing on whether you should care what happens to them/how long they last. If you are going to use an animal, in my opinion you have a responsibility to protect it from suffering. So I certainly agree with being concerned about them. However I think as long as you supplement their feed if your water butt is not as bountiful as TwoSheds' and you protect them from heat it's not cruel. Cold water isn't an issue really - they can survive in water as cold as 4C degrees I believe under ice. Heat is more likely to kill them - risks would be the butt being black, in full sun, not very full on a hot day. I think the max water temp they'll tolerate is 30C but they prefer 21C. If the butt full it'll keep cooler, but even my 90l tropical aquarium has got above 30C indoors in shade in some of our recent summers.

You probably don't need to buy pellets to feed them so you don't need to store food for them just in case if that's a hassle - they eat veggies - Feeding your fish vegetables Though if your water butt is low in algae at the moment and the insects aren't out yet, some pellet food may be good to give them some protein while the system sorts itself out. They won't have been fed much in the shop - shops underfeed to keep their tanks clean and disease down.

I'd not be worried about the lid - nice for them to have some natural light and it will encourage algae growth, which they can eat. Predators would be unlikely?