Single hen

[sparkysmum]

I posted some time back about taking my daughters goldfish out of the pond since it was meant to be a wildlife pond and the weather had become quite cold. Well he's made it over the winter in his (too small IMO) tank and I'm desperate to put him back in his pond. I would be really pleased to hear from antone with golfish experience as to how/when to return Pondfish to his pond. With many, many thanks, Allison & Hazel

[Tessa the Duchess]

I can't really be much help here because our pond fish stay in the pond all year round. I do know that when you put him back in the pond you have to put some of the water from his tank into a plastic bag and then put the fish in and float the bag on top of the pond for around 45minutes so the fish gets acclimatised to the temp change.

 

Tessa

[victoriabunny]

I would say wait til the end of the month to make sure the pond temperature is warm enough - you don't want the change in temp to be too drastic for him or he might not survive. In the meantime, feed him up a bit so he's got some fat reserves - these will help keep him warm. "real" food (bloodworm, daphnia etc) is good for this - get the kind that's frozen in cubes, not the fresh stuff, which can have parasites in it.

[victoriabunny]

Also, this is a very useful website for fish queries - have a read-through the forum there, it's excellent. There's a goldfish section and also one for ponds.

 

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

[sparkysmum]

Thanks for your speedy replies Am looking forward to the end of the month when I can put him back. It's been a long wait for me, I hate to think what it's been like for Pondfish