Pond Fish

Renno123

I'm looking at adding some goldfish/ shabunkins to a pond.
Is there a procedure for adding fish from the pet stores to the pond or can they be simply placed inonce its warm enough.
Is it better to buy them from garden centers where they are already in ponds?
btw, im not considering the fantailed fish, just the hardier breeds.
thanks

buzz

Shabunkins are harder to keep in a pond. They are more of an indoor fish.

Goldfish and Koi are great for keeping outdoors. I have had the same Koi and goldfish for between 10 - 16 years. I bought 2 koi and 2 goldfish in 1999 and they are about 18 inches now... the shabunkin grew to a large fish but died over a winter. Go to a petshop, tell them that they are for outdoors and they will point you to the correct fish. But you will have to adapt them to the temp very slowly. Is the pond built long? Is there currently fish in there?
If not you will need a product to condition the water. I bought one last week in Seahorse Aquaruims which does 6000L..

Renno123

the pond is around a month old. i have been adding plants over the last week or two, with numerous oxygenators and water plants.

how essential is the water conditioner? i saw the kits in the shop for around 50 euro which i find crazy..
surely the pond will form its own ecosystem over time?

Im not sure about the shop, they wanted me to get an oranda :rolleyes:
ive kept fish for years but indoors, unfortunately i gave away my entire collection a few years back.

how would u recommend introducing them into the pond?
i mean is it ok to bring them from the shop and put them in after doing the usual floating the bag in the water for a bit?

cheers:cool:

Silverfish

You wouldn't need water conditioner for a pond, as far as I know.

Is it filtered?

What you might need is a water testing kit, so you can spot potential problems before they cause any disasters.

Also, have to laugh at the orandas in a pond, you'd have oranda ice lollies by December! Shubs and comets and other single-tailed fish will be grand in a pond, roundy twin tails not so much. Float the bag, let the temp adjust and release them, job done.

Renno123

Silverfish wrote: »

You wouldn't need water conditioner for a pond, as far as I know.

Is it filtered?

What you might need is a water testing kit, so you can spot potential problems before they cause any disasters.

Also, have to laugh at the orandas in a pond, you'd have oranda ice lollies by December! Shubs and comets and other single-tailed fish will be grand in a pond, roundy twin tails not so much. Float the bag, let the temp adjust and release them, job done.

thanks , cant wait to get a few in there now in the next couple of weeks.
no its not filtered. i dont have access to an outdoor cable so was just going to leave it and see how it goes.
ive heard of solar filters but never seen one.
the pond is small.. only about 4ft x 4ft x 1 1/2ft- 2 ft deep

gillad

The plants will keep the water clean as long as you dont overload the pond with fish.Start with 2 fish to allow the necessary bacteria to build up and if the pond is still clear after a few weeks you can add some more.I have a new 1000 gallon pond with no filters but lots of plants and weeds(watercress and moss on rocks,taken from a nearby stream).The pond weeds grow and work much faster than flowering plants and can be taken out when the flowering plants are growing well.Keep an eye out for green air bubbles on top of the pond as this is an early sign of algea starting to build up.

buzz

Yeah certainly start with only 2 or 3 fish for the first few weeks, add them slowly. The pond conditioner is really to kill the chlorine and chloramines in the water, but it has also good bacteria which will help the cycle. If the pond has been running for a month or so, I wouldnt worry about conditioner, but bacteria would help before the fish go in. You can buy it in seahorse for about 24euro I think. Biggest problem with a pond is controlling algea. You can buy a filter with a built in UV light which helps the problem! My pond went green within a few months, changed the filter to the UV one and within 2 weeks the water was crystal!

paddyandy

My Single tail goldfish stay above the Pond heater outside these last few nights and that tells me they do not like cold water at all . The Shop people are not telling us the whole story .5 +- Celsius outside .

buzz

Last year there was 3" of thick ice covering my pond, as I dont use a heater and i turned off the filter. All fish were fine, they will just go to the lowest point in the pond when cold, mine is 6 foot deep in lowest part and when ice on the surface, the temp is 4 degrees in lowest part.

paddyandy

buzz wrote: »

Last year there was 3" of thick ice covering my pond, as I dont use a heater and i turned off the filter. All fish were fine, they will just go to the lowest point in the pond when cold, mine is 6 foot deep in lowest part and when ice on the surface, the temp is 4 degrees in lowest part.

Are they happy ?

buzz

paddyandy wrote: »

Are they happy ?

I never asked them:p

paddyandy

buzz wrote: »

I never asked them:p

I'm not an expert but some people here might be attuned to fish behaviour and body talk .

Degsy

buzz wrote: »

Yeah certainly start with only 2 or 3 fish for the first few weeks, add them slowly. The pond conditioner is really to kill the chlorine and chloramines in the water, but it has also good bacteria which will help the cycle. If the pond has been running for a month or so, I wouldnt worry about conditioner, but bacteria would help before the fish go in. You can buy it in seahorse for about 24euro I think. Biggest problem with a pond is controlling algea. You can buy a filter with a built in UV light which helps the problem! My pond went green within a few months, changed the filter to the UV one and within 2 weeks the water was crystal!

Where did you get the UV filter?

buzz

Degsy wrote: »

Where did you get the UV filter?

The garden centre in Johnstown just before Naas, about 5 years ago..
Was very good value, holds 40L of media and has 2 UV bulbs. Think it was only about €120!