Adopting new fish

[Old Michutka]

Hi All,

A friend of mine ask if I would be willing to adopt a goldfish from him. It is about 10 years old and has lived by itself in a small home aquarium for most of those years I understand. I am wondering if I should be concerned about adding it to my pond with my fish. All mine are one or two years old and have been living in this pond for about a year. His fish though old is quite small as I understand it and most of mine are approaching six inches. I have koi, comets, a shubumkin and a fantail, 10 in all. I read somewhere that quarentening is of questionable valuable in these circumstances, but a salt bath would be advisible. Could someone advise me on this matter? Also it would be nice if someone could tell me how to go about giving this little guy a salt bath that wouldn't kill him, but would be effective in cleaning him of any disease that it might have. I thought to have my friend bring the fish in its own tank, then I could slowly blend my pond water into his tank until all the water is from my pond to help acclimate the new guy, but I am a bit concerned about the dangers that adding this guy to my fish would have on my fish. Any thoughts? Any would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Old Michutka :neutral:

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

If this fish has been a loner for the past few years, wouldn't it already be through quarentining? I like your idea of slowly acclimating it to your pond water though. I will let the experts continue w suggestions though. Good Luck and I hope it lives and enjoys its life for many years to come.

:goldfish:

 

[buckry]

I took on an old goldfish this summer. I didn't quarrantine him, just let his water neutralize to my ponds temp, then I added in half pond water, then eventually lifted him out. Was very straight forward, and he hasn't killed any goldfish, and he is not dead himself so win/win.

As far as other issues goes I never saw anything. My other fish who are much bigger as well seemed to want to smell him, they checked him out for maybe 2 minutes, and after that he was a full fledged member of the school.

 

[Old Michutka]

Hi all,

I want to thank both buckry and Shoestring Ponder for your insightful comments. I just went to see the new fish yesterday. My friend had told me that it was a common goldfish, but when I looked at him I could see that he clearly was something different. When I commented about this he told me that when they purchased it several years ago, they got it out of the feeder fish tank. Maybe it is his age but his face seemed rather rough for a common goldfish. That is to say he has lots of charactor there. He is rather light in color though that would not mean much in and of itself, but the most unique charactaristic about him is that his tail is a good half the length of the rest of his body. I have a comet about his size and his tail is no where near as long as this guy. As a matter of fact when I first laid eyes on the old guy I was reminded of that scene in Fantaisia where the fish with the ungodly long tails were doing a sort of dance. Oh he is also bigger than I thought though that is not an issue either. If he works out with my current fish he will add a deal of vibrancy to the pond atmosphere. I will try to get a good picture of him and post it sometime to see if anyone can tell me just what he might be. Oh one last thing on another subject that I wanted to share with you all. I have been working on a new cave for my fish pond today and noticed several fry. Some maybe 3/8" long up to about 3/4." Quite exciting. I really didn't expect that since I had read that these fish wont start spawning until they are about a foot long. As I did look closer at my fish when I was in the water I thing some may be around 8" or so, but still? Anyway hope you all had a good 4th and thanks again for your input.

Old Michutka

 

[addy1]

A little late in replying, I usually just add new fish to the pond, so far have never had an issue. Bet that new fish will be so happy to be in a pond instead of a tank

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

Oh I agree addy1. But I only have goldfish and one possible Koi or Koi hybrid. I just add them right to the pond. Now if I had pricey Koi, quarranteeing would be warranted. My GF were 8 feeder fish from Walmart.

:goldfish:

 

[addy1]

lol ponder agree if I had koi that cost lots of bucks I would treat them differently. most of mine are home bred fishes. I don't really add any, we did pick up some shubunkins that are in a separate pond to give them some size, but the water communicates. Ow we have enough with what spawned last year. I like shubbies so decided to add a few.

 

[HARO]

O.M.; I've had many a goldfish spawn at 4" or so.
John