SOS Temporary Fish Pond - Guidance Required

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SOS - Save Our Souls (Mine and the fish)

I purchased my first house this year which previously belonged to an old guy who sadly passed away. I picked up my keys and discovered a heart felt note saying they had cleared the property other than the fish as none of his children had a pond. I was left with food and other 'fish things' and told how fond their father was of the fish that it would be great to keep them in the property.

Things were going well, until the pump stopped working, I realised the water kept dropping (there's a leak somewhere) and the property was full of damp so a full renovation is now underway so I cannot live there.

The aim is to move the fish from the house to where I am based now, so I need assistance with suggesting some form of temporary accommodation. There are only 7 goldfish, probably 5 - 6". I have read all sorts online from suggesting holding tanks, swimming pools to buying preformed ponds, then other stuff related to ammonia, chlorine and fish dying. (If you haven't gathered, I am finding this quite stressful)

I plan on transporting them in plastic bags (about a 30 minute journey).

So any guidance for the following would be greatly appreciated:

- Temporary holding suggestions
- Do I need to check the water in the new home?
- New pump suggestions as the previous one has packed up (to be used in the temporary and new pond)
- Best material to line the 'forever' pond with?
- Any general guidance, please treat me like an idiot because I have no clue about fish, ponds or anything related

If you have reached the bottom and can't sense my distress, then you best believe my hair line is receding real quick. I haven't known my new friends for too long but I don't want to let them down

Thank you all in advance,

The Fish Adopter
 

j.w

I Love my Goldies
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@TheFishAdopter
So very nice of you to take over the responsibility of the fish. If you can get a kiddie pool and your weather is not too frigid you can bring as much of your old pond water that you can to the new pond as this is what the fish are accustomed to and will do much better than all brand new water. If too cold out there then if you have a garage or basement etc. you could keep them inside till you build the new pond. For the holding pond you can use a small filter to just circulate the water around and collect some of the crud. I like Laguna pumps myself as they use less electricity and are very well made. I bought mine online from Webb's https://www.webbsonline.com/ but there are other places and Amazon also to check for prices. They have filters to attach to the pump also. I just use a pre-filter attached to my pump. It's cheap and it works pretty good. For your temp pond it would work fine. You just have to clean w/a garden hose when it gets dirty. It's called EZ bio filter. For you new big pond I would tell you to make a bog. I didn't and am sorry I did not. Lot's here can give you advice on how to do that.

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We mostly all use the nice thick EPDM liners here. There are some other good types also.
Others will pop in w/suggestions so be patient and looking forward to more posts from you and photo's are welcomed!

I have mine hooked like this below but you don't need the water fall box, just run the hose part output back into the pond by laying it in there or whatever.

Prefilter diagram.jpg

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So any guidance for the following would be greatly appreciated:

- Temporary holding suggestions
- Do I need to check the water in the new home?
- New pump suggestions as the previous one has packed up (to be used in the temporary and new pond)
- Best material to line the 'forever' pond with?
- Any general guidance, please treat me like an idiot because I have no clue about fish, ponds or anything related
Intek pool if you need a lot of temp space, a kiddie pool if not.

If you're putting them in a zone where you get winter/freezing, best to NOT do this outside but instead, a basement, spare room, or garage with some sort of insulating. The fish will be fine as long as the water does not freeze all the way down; goldfish go dormant below 45F ish temps.

If using water from the city tap, you need to add dechlorinator to any new temp holding. You should know the approx makeup of the new water vs the old water. Take as much old water as you can/is reasonable as it'll help acclimate. If putting your fish in new water, you'll have to monitor for any ammonia spikes (unless you're NOT going to feed as the fish will be dormant and not mess up the water params, depending on volume). Fish upon entering dormancy, do not require food. A liquid API test kit works best; do NOT use any strips as they are not accurate.

HDRPE or EPDM as a liner for the forever home.

Make sure you have some aeration/water movement in the temp holding IF the volume is on the small side. Again, if putting the fish in a dormant position, you'll be fine to SLOWLY acclimate and just monitor on occasion. If in an aquarium situation, all the above changes.

Hope this helps.

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Welcome, if your planning on building a new pond you could kill two birds with one stone and use the rubber liner to make just about any shape you'd like. 4 2x12 making a box is a very easy to build and break down. and as long as you don't go larger or taller the 2x12 with a 2x4 nailed onto the bottom edge at a 90 degree will change the grain direction and thus increase the strength. for 6 gold fish so long as you do not over feed Feeding this time of year is almost pointless and use something like @j.w POINTED out or even a simple carbon and floss filter it's not hard to sustain a couple gold fish there biggest enemy i quick changes in temp or an ammonia spike
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