"LeeAnne" wrote in message
...
Thank you Doc - I'll be bringing them in this weekend then.

And, thank you to the others as well! I'd keep 'em outside but the "pond"
freezes solid in the winter.


Be very careful on theree counts. Even now the pond water will be at a
significantly lower temp than 80 degrees - suspect you are looking at at
least a 15-20 degree difference. Suggest you bring the fish into the house
in a large container of water from the pond and let that sit and warm up to
room temperature of its own accord. When it gets up to room temperature then
add an aquarium heater to heat it further up to the same temperature as the
tank. Then and only then transfer the fish.

You havn't said how many fish you are bringing in but whatever the number
you will be putting a significant extra load into the tank's bio filter and
it will take a few days for the bio filter to enlarge the bacterial colonies
enough to deal with it. In the meantime you may see either an Ammonia or
Nitrite spike so test the water morning and evening for 3 or 4 days. If you
are going to see anything it will appear in that time frame. If you do see a
bad spike then change water.

Lastly, water at 80 degrees has a far lower capacity to absorb and retain
oxygen than water at 60 degrees. Also the surface area of your tank is far
smaller than that of your pond so watch for signs of oxygen deprivation. You
may or may not see this depending on the number of fish. If you think it
might be an issue then add an Airstone to the tank.

In the spring then you will need to reverse the temperature equalisation
process & it may be worth taking the fish outside over 2 -3 weeks (depending
on how many you have) to allow the pond's bio filter to kick in & process
the waste that they will produce.

HTH

I.