"LeeAnne" wrote in message
...
Yikes - upon further examination it turns out that I have
not 2 but 4 fish
in my little 'bird pool'. So, the little guys will have
to come in for the
winter (I've got a 55 gallon w/one catfish in it that
shall become their
home).

A few questions...because I'm going to slightly expand...
(and I mean
slightly!!! really I do!!!).
[snips - questions other posters answered)

1a. Best place to buy some sort of prefab waterfall thing?
I'm not really
great at building stuff.

I picked one up at Home Depot a few years ago. If you live
anywhere near San Antonio TX you can have it! I was using
it as a bird bath but not now. Anyway, I don't remember
what it cost but don't think it was that expensive (or I
wouldn't have bought it).

2. Goldfish are pretty hardy, right?

The common goldfish & shubunkins, sure. Probably the main
thing is not to overstock.

The 55 gallon they will go into for
the winter is kept at a constant 80-ish degrees (to keep
Ick away) Ph is
usually a little high, very high phosphates and very hard
water.

I have hard, high pH tap water and my common goldfish &
shubunkins do fine in their pond. I also add some rainwater
but I don't know how much that changes water chemistry.
Temps get into the low 90s (w/ shade) during the summer, and
to the 50s or below during what passes for winter in
Southcentral TX. As far as I know I haven't had any cases
of ick. But maybe goldfish fare differently in ponds than
in aquariums. I only have pond goldfish.

It's the
same town water in the tank that's in the pond, but the
pond, of course,
gets rain water and has live plants in it that the 55
won't have. I usually
keep the light off to prevent algae growth (have very high
phosphates and
the algae grows like nuts). I just want to make sure they
will handle the
transition OK.

I'd check water chemistry carefully, and if that's similar
in both settings, plus water temp is the same, I don't see a
problem in moving your fish indoors. One problem I can
foresee is the much larger bioload in your 55 gallon, so you
might have to do more frequent partial water changes for
awhile.

I'm still not looking for a 'pond-pond' that will attract
all manner of
great blue herons and raccoons. It'll still be a
bird-splashing pool, I'm
going to just dig it out a little deeper and make it a bit
better for the
fishies I have. I also don't want to really have to deal
w/the filtration
and yadda yadda yadda that goes w/a larger pond (mucking
about in it, etc.)

I'm not sure if you can have a goldfish pond without some
kind of filtration (or a heckuva lot of plants) and/or
regular partial water changes. Two of my small ponds have
no filtration, but they only have minnows, tadpoles and
occasionally baby goldfish. The goldfish pond has a
filter/fountain.

Yikes, here I go....
LeeAnne

Sad, isn't it? What is it they say about boats, a hole in
the water into which you throw your money? Ponds are a hole
in the ground into which you throw your money. But IMO
it's well worth it!

Gail