I was going to ask some questions on @Nanner thread, but decided to create my own to minimize confusion. Great advice there btw. I'm completely new to this so apologies for any silly questions. For example, I even had to look up the term "aerator".
I adopted 10 fish yesterday from a pond which had fish outside all year round. The fish are from a 6a climate and I'm slightly cooler at 6b. Since I don't have a pond yet, I decided to overwinter them in the attached a garage in two 50 gallon plastic whiskey type barrels, I had them already and use them for container fountains. Now I'm thinking that's too small and I should get a 100 gallon tub for the larger fish. I don't even know all the fish varieties so I'll try to describe each a little.
The two I can identify for sure are a black molly and an oranda. The molly is about 4", body measurement only. And the oranda 2.5. There's also 3 fancy goldfish of some type, one gold, another red/white and the other calico. They range from 2-3 inches. Next is where I'm fuzziest. They are either big comets, koi or something else. I'll include some good photos once they have some time to acclimate and I know how to photograph them. The biggest one is about 9" and is all white, wide girth and short tail. Two are similar but a different color and only 6-7". The last two are narrower with very only tails. One is about 7" and the other 5".
I have them all squeezed into one barrel which contains 75% of the native pond water but plan to move the larger ones out in a few days. Looking at other setups, I think that I will need at least a 100 gallon tank for the bigger fish. I'll probably run to the store and get one of those really big Rubbermaid tubs and use that instead of the other whiskey barrel.
I'm planning to keep the water between 35-40F, which is the temp of the pond when i pulled them out yesterday. I'd like to use the hibernation technique with only air and no filter if possible since the water temps will be low. Do i need to have filter if the fish have not eaten for over 2 weeks? I don't much about bacteria needed, so help here would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to get supplies tomorrow, planning to get a larger tub, and ammonia/nitrate/nitrite test kit. I have some assorted meds and conditioners. But what are essentials i should have? pH in the pond was a little high at 6.5 and my barrels prior to introducing the fish was 6.8. After doing an ammonia test should i try to raise it to the optimum 7.5?
Very crowded space for now
I adopted 10 fish yesterday from a pond which had fish outside all year round. The fish are from a 6a climate and I'm slightly cooler at 6b. Since I don't have a pond yet, I decided to overwinter them in the attached a garage in two 50 gallon plastic whiskey type barrels, I had them already and use them for container fountains. Now I'm thinking that's too small and I should get a 100 gallon tub for the larger fish. I don't even know all the fish varieties so I'll try to describe each a little.
The two I can identify for sure are a black molly and an oranda. The molly is about 4", body measurement only. And the oranda 2.5. There's also 3 fancy goldfish of some type, one gold, another red/white and the other calico. They range from 2-3 inches. Next is where I'm fuzziest. They are either big comets, koi or something else. I'll include some good photos once they have some time to acclimate and I know how to photograph them. The biggest one is about 9" and is all white, wide girth and short tail. Two are similar but a different color and only 6-7". The last two are narrower with very only tails. One is about 7" and the other 5".
I have them all squeezed into one barrel which contains 75% of the native pond water but plan to move the larger ones out in a few days. Looking at other setups, I think that I will need at least a 100 gallon tank for the bigger fish. I'll probably run to the store and get one of those really big Rubbermaid tubs and use that instead of the other whiskey barrel.
I'm planning to keep the water between 35-40F, which is the temp of the pond when i pulled them out yesterday. I'd like to use the hibernation technique with only air and no filter if possible since the water temps will be low. Do i need to have filter if the fish have not eaten for over 2 weeks? I don't much about bacteria needed, so help here would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to get supplies tomorrow, planning to get a larger tub, and ammonia/nitrate/nitrite test kit. I have some assorted meds and conditioners. But what are essentials i should have? pH in the pond was a little high at 6.5 and my barrels prior to introducing the fish was 6.8. After doing an ammonia test should i try to raise it to the optimum 7.5?
Very crowded space for now