when can I move koi outside?

[chilligirl]

So, at the tail end of last pond season, I purchased two tiny (under 3") koi. Rather than stick them in the pond, I thought I'd winter them over in the house, in my 90 gallon fancy goldfish tank.

I am sooooo done with having them in there lol! They're now 7" and 8" long, and my once beautiful planted tank has been totally trashed. They've eaten all the plants, even the ones that goldies don't touch, like vals, crypts, and anubias. They poop like crazy, eat a ton, and are just plain too big and active for the 90 gallon now.

I'm REALLY eager to stick them out in the pond, but am not sure how warm it needs to be before I do that? My koi that are out there are fine, of course, but they went in last summer when it was warm and spent all winter in there.

Right now my pond is sitting at around 55 F. My aquarium is around 75 F. I can't make the aquarium "cooler", as it's in my den downstairs and is just room temperature.

So....what temp does the pond have to be before I stick them out?

 

[DoDad]

I would wait for the pond to get to 60 and then bag them with your aquarium water and rubber band the top shut,
Float the bag or bags in your pond for at least a half our before releasing them to the pond.

 

[koiguy1969]

like he said i wait till the outdoor pond is 60* +( by spring the basement pond is about 63*) then i bag & float em for 20 minutes in the pond..open the bag up and over the corse of 5 minutes or so i slowly add pond water to the bag to acclimate the fish to any differences in water chemistry. the closer the two waters temps and chemistry are the smoother, and less stressful the transition.

 

[chilligirl]

Thanks. Yeah, I know about acclimating, I was more just looking for minimum steady pond temp. So 60* eh? That means in one, two weeks tops, I should be able to stick those buggers outside.

 

[j.w]

Yep I say throw the bums out :fish:

 

[daddyfrank]

I would say don't transfer them untill the pond will stay warm enough for them to eat. Since they have been in the warm aquarium all winter, and haven't been dormant. Cooling the tank to near the same temp is a good idea.

Here in VA, my fish have been out in the pond every winter and the water has gotten down to 30 F. I stopped feeding them as soon as it got down to 50, and didn't start until it got back up to 50. They all made it. At one point there was 2 feet of snow on top of the 6 inches of ice!

 

[oldmarine]

Try taking the heater out of your indoor aquarium for a couple of days to let the temp drop to about room temperature. Like DoDad said, when the pond water is 60*F, then aclimate your fish small koi to the outside pond.

Happy ponding,

 

[chilligirl]

Hey guys, there is no heater in my indoor tank - it IS room temperature. Room temp is around 72-75 in my house.

I can't cool it - no chiller. Plus there are other fish in there so I don't want to muck about with the tank.

Just waiting for the pond to finish warming up...

 

[PS3]

when i had my koi i never took them in during the winter
the pond would freze over and every thing

 

[oldmarine]

Koi are carp, you shouldn't have to take them in for the winter.

Happy ponding,

 

[chilligirl]

I know - I didn't take them in for winter - they were small and I bought them really late in the season (mid to late October), so I never put them out. I was worried that, being small and that it was already cooling off, they wouldn't do well wintering outside. So when I bought them, they went straight into the tank, with the plan of putting them out in the Spring.

The rest of my koi, which were purchased larger and earlier last season, spent the winter outside in the pond

 

[chilligirl]

Well, the water is sitting at 58, so I kicked them out yesterday. A bit cool still, but it had to be done - they had ripped up and eaten all the plants in my tank, water changes were out of hand, and cleaning the filters was NASTY lol.

My tank looks soooo much better now that they're out of there - I just need to buy new plants and replant it.

Just went out and fed the pond fish, and the new guys are doing GREAT. No signs of stress, active and eating well.

I did notice my green water, which had started to clear up, is back with a vengeance. And the string algae, which looked like it was dying off, is taking off again. *sigh*

I think this week I'm going to do a 25% water change on the pond. And maybe stick the pump down in the bottom without hooking it to the prefilter - see if I can stir up any guck down there (I cleaned it out pretty thoroughly in the fall, but it's hard to clean six feet deep!) and just pray the pump doesn't suck up my weather loaches.

I'm wondering - it's a "solids handling" pump. I've had it hooked up with a pre-fiter (mechanical and bio) on the intake, but I have a constant issue with the hose between the filter box and the pump crimping. No doubt because it's a 2100gph pump, and the filter box is only rated for 800gph. What if I switched it around? Put the basket over the pump (which is supposed to diffuse the suction a bit so it doesn't suck up your fish), and hooked the output to the filter box? Might stop the hose from crimping and *should* still clean up and break up any solids? I'm thinking it might actually do a better job of it as it should have more suction that way?

The only reason I didn't hook it up that way in the first place is because I don't want to suck up and kill fry with the pump...

Thoughts?

 

[stroppy]

if its a solids handling pump then if i were you i would use it that way, i have used a laguna and titan and they are brill you could always put that cover back over in when you have fry in the pond