Fish in a Half-Barrel Pond

14 years ago

Last summer we started a half-barrel pond. We had three goldfish living in it (two cheap ones and a fancy one just from PetCo). When the weather got cold, we got a fish tank and brought the fish inside. They've really thrived over the winter and the kids are mildly fond of them.

So now we want to start the pond back up again.. can we put the fish back in the pond? Do we have to acclimatize them to it somehow? Or would we be better of starting with new fish? I just don't want to have to deal with figuring out what to do with the new fish in the fall.

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

waterbug_guy
14 years ago
There wouldn't be an inherent advantage to starting with new fish as far as them living.

If you want to increase the chance of fish surviving a transfer you want to keep the temps are close as possible, within say 5F. Moving from colder to warmer isn't as stressful as warmer to colder. Matching pH is maybe more important. And covering the new tank with netting or screen for a week or so to prevent jumping.
catherinet
14 years ago
How big are they now?
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raidra
Original Author
14 years ago
The biggest one is probably 3-4 inches long.

So.. we're starting from scratch again with the pond. We used tap water with a dechlorinator last year. The water in the fish tank is just tap water. Should we put them in to start with (putting them in a big bag of tank water to change the temperature slowly) and then put the plants in, or get the plants established and then somehow get them used to the pH?
waterbug_guy
14 years ago
It's generally better imo to let a tank/pond sit as long as possible before adding fish. But that doesn't mean they can't handle adding the plants later. There never is a perfect world.

Testing pH in both tanks just gives you info, maybe it's safe, maybe it's pretty safe, maybe it's risky. Thousands of people transfer fish without testing and most fish live. Up to you how from you want to go.