when to move fish outdoors

[JH]

At what water temp is it safe to move the fish that have wintered indoors back out to the pond?

I have several goldfish that wintered in the pond and are doing fine. I have 2 other goldfish that spent the winter inside. The pond temp has been in the 50's the last week and today is close to 60. The inside tank is around 70 - 80. I don't know if it matters but all of the fish both in the pond and inside tank are around 2" - 4".

Can I gradually get them used to the pond water or should I wait another month or two?

Any help would be great. I am very new to this. I built this pond that spring. I'm just glad I made it through my first winter with no fish losses. And a cold one at that.

 

[aquariaddictus]

Can you get the inside tank to drop closer to the temp of the pond?? If not I would wait until they are at least within 10 degrees of each other. Sounds like you are pretty close - might want to wait another couple of weeks and see if the pond gets any warmer.
judy

 

[thom336]

i would get a small tank or as such outside, an set it to the temp of the tank inside. then put the fish that were inside into this tank, and the temp will gradually drop to that of the pond. one question thou...why did you bring them in if you left the rest outside? just curious...

 

[JH]

Thanks for the advise. I kept these two inside because I didn't feel they would have enough time to adjust to the new surroundings before winter set in. This was in sept/oct. Actually I never put them in the pond to begin with. I didn't want to risk anything (shubunkins- I can't find them very easily around here). This was my first winter with my pond. And go figure it was also the coldest winter we have had in years.