When to move indoor goldfish outside

[Nepen]

Hi all,
My indoor tank is so FULL of new baby guppies. I really need to get my shubby out to the pond since 1 of the shubby is like 4 adult guppies and it'll help with my nitrate problem.

I like the shubby to help control the guppies fry though but it hasnt been doing it jobs lately and ate all my sakura shrimps instead.

So this weekend the temperature will be around 60s high and 40s low for a few day. I'm going to get the water temperature then.

But what is the safe water temperature for me to move the shubby to the pond? I know 40 is too low? what about 50? The inside tank temperature is around 72-75.

My plan (when the water temp is saf, but what is saft temp?) is to put the shubby in a bucket, leave it outside for an hour for the water to cool down on it own, then put it in the pond for another hour or so to get the same water temp, put in some pond water in the bucket, 2-3 times for the shubby to get used to the pond water then let it go in.

Do you think that's a good plan?

If the water still cold, can I heat it up a bit with hot water/heater for just a few degree?

Anya

 

[shakaho]

You should wait for the pond water temperature to get up to 60F. Goldfish can tolerate very low temperatures, but they do need time to adapt. If you have a basement, enclosed porch, or some other cool indoor place, you could put your shubie in a tub there for a week or two to get used to an intermediate temperature, but don't make a change of much more than 10 degrees in a week.

 

[Nepen]

Hi Shakaho. Thanks for this. I think I can put him in a 5 gallons bucket, put him in the house for a day then move him to my enclosed porch for a while then outside. I'll have to get my air pump back from my pond for him.

I'm going to do a little water change on my tank so I'll use that water to start him off then add clean water after a few hours for him so the temp don't change too drastic, water from tab is cold!


Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Dave 54]

The temperature feeding our fish starts at 11.c and thats on repeated nights over a two week period .
So basically I#d give them a week over that then gently bring down to pond temperature
If your home is warmer inside, give them a week to loose this temperature ad bring them up o par with outside and your safe to set your goldfish free in the pond for the summer season into autumn

Dave

 

[Nepen]

My tank shubbie is now happily swimming with the fellow shubbies in the pond Thanks for all your advices. I actually had to shorten the time a bit since our temperater has been in the 70s for the past 3 days and will be until Thursday, I want my fish to get used to the pond before the water temp go down again.

My tank shubby (it's a blue shubbie with a few black spots) was in my house temp for 12 hours , the water went from 72 to 60s then I put the bucket out in the unheated closed porch where the water temp went down to 52. He spent time in there for 2 nights.

I checked the pond water and it was around 48 and my other shubbies were out so I got the bucket floating in the water until the bucket water temp rached the same as the pond's (about 5-6 hours) then I slowly put some pond water in the bucket until it was full and sunk down (2 hours), then I let the fish come out by itself.

He came out, joined the groups, and been happily with the groups now for 2 nights he will have time to adjust to the pond water temp going up and down for a bit until the cold again this weekend, but not for long

 

[dieselplower]

So it didn't die... good to know. I have been wondering this. But I also think although it didn't die, it probably was very uncomfortable.

 

[Dave 54]

So it didn't die... good to know. I have been wondering this. But I also think although it didn't die, it probably was very uncomfortable.

I really think you should have waited a while longer unti as i said your outside temperature had stablised its easy taking them from the pond to the tank because you have a stable temperature but not the other way around .
Keep a very close eye on him till your sure he's alright but if he starts showing signes of distress pull him

Dave

 

[Nepen]

I will, Dave. I was/am worried too.

I had my intention to keep him in the bucket for longer, but there are several things that made me decided to cut the time short, one being that trying to keep him away from my cat's. He wanted the fish and anywhere I put the bucket he would jumped on it, put stuff on top of the bucket didnt help and it'd stress the fish more, this happened a few times and I had to shut the cat outside (but I cant do that all day), my son also wanted to poke/hold the fish all the time, it was a shore to keep him away

Also,the fish was in a 5 gallon bucket and it just feel too small for him. He hardly moved the first morning when the water temp in the bucket was in the low 50s for the first time for him. Then he started to move during the day and seems happy by the end of that day then that night he was fine, even eat 3 goldfish flakes i gave him. Then the next day (temp 60s outside in the morning) I took him outside and put the bucket in the pond water. It took a long time for the bucket water to go from 52 to 48.

And I dont have a filter for him, I had just an air pump.

And other fish were out swiming around too so I thought I'd try.

My thought was that right then the pond water was at 48, not that far way from 52, and our weather has been super weird and I dont know how long it'll be until it's stable again for this long (in the 70s for 6 days stright) then it'll be down to the 55-60s for another 6-7 days (thats as far out as I can tell).

Yesterday was the second day he was in the pond and he seems to be enjoying his new company. He was swiming with them around the pond, nibble on the newly grown green algae. He seems to be doing everthing with the group. I also added a bit of pond salt to the pond, hoping it would help a bit.. dont know if it would.

But I'll keep an eye on him for sure.

 

[Nepen]

Btw, Dave, I got the fish health book you suggested me to get, it's been very helpful also got the bacteria gel thing, forgot what it called, very smelly thing. My son always complain when I used it