wrote in message
om...
Well, as of yesterday they were both still in there. The smaller one
is VERY good at hiding, I was sure he was gone. All seems well
otherwise. They do still hide when Im at the pond though. I put a
VERY small ammount of food in the water ( a few pellets) to see if
they will come up and then leave. I dont know if they eat when Im
gone. When would it be safe to add fish? Pumps been running about 3
weeks now and the fis got put in on sunday
Thanks

At this point, if they don't seem to be sick, you might try to add one or two
more fish. I've had experiences where fish were healthy but were hiding and
acting too frightened to eat when place in a new environment. If you add one or
two more fish, they might behave differently and start eating. Sometimes, when
this happens the more timid fish get the messege and will start to eat. Try it
with a couple of cheap (sacrificial) goldfish and see what happens. It is very
important to be as gentle with them as possible when first introducing them to
the pond.

" George" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
om...
HMM, looks like one is missing. I dont know if he is just hiding well
or what. I can see one, and he is moving around when he doesnt see
me, but one I cant see at all. He was there this morning, Ill keep
you posted as to whether he comes back

My PH is about 8 1/2 - 9, which Im told is kind of high for my plants,
but the fish should have no problem with it
Amonia is non existant, been running the pump and bio filter for about
2 weeks and there are no fish
water temp is about 65 - 70 degress
anything else I should test for? Any advice?


Yes. Test for nitrite. Nitrite is the most toxic form of nitrogen for fish.
I'm not sure about the timeline for the nitrogen cycle in freshwater ponds,
but
in my salt water tank, when the tank is set up fresh, ammonia shows up after
about 3 days. It is then converted to nitrite after about a week to 10 days.
This is when the water becomes most toxic to fauna. After 21 days all of the
nitrite is converted to nitrate, which is much less toxic, and can be used by
most plants. This is also when it is safest to begin adding fauna, such as
fish. Like I said, I don't know the exact timeline for fresh water, but I
can
imagine that it is similar. Test for nitrite.