Simple problem. Small garden so cannot dig a pond. I have a half barrel with 2 shubunkins in it. Look great and even survived this harsh winter outdoors (as they do).

I want to make their home bigger and add a few more friends in there. I am looking for those farm water troughs made of metal or wood. where can i buy them. The type of water trough that farmers use to feed water to their sheep/cows.

thanks

shubunkins and all other single tailed goldfish need around 20 gallons of water per fish minimum. they need a lot of filtration too. it would be unfair to keep them in a small barrel. it could work in a large trough but you need to make sure it wont freeze in winter. also, add plenty of live plants if you do decide to do this. all will help with water quality

sorry mis-read it. definately up-grade them, as soon as possible. i read it as you wanted to do the half barrel thing.

people shouldn't keep fish in isolates small spaces, that's why I hate gold fish bowls. The post above is right 20+ gallon minimum per fish for long term keep. I prefer 40min tbh + They must have oxygen pump and plants.

You could try building up a pond using concrete block and stone + liner at around 100gallon min for 4 fish. That would be about 5foot x 3foot in size for about 100gallon I think.

but yeah 4shubunkins = 100gallon+