Goldfish Transfer/ Pond Clean Up Oct. 2014

October Goldfish Transfer/Pond Clean up

8 medium to large goldfish

October 10 we brought our goldfish into the house for the winter. We often have had to do this at the end of Sept. in past years because of cooler weather, but this fall we seem to be blessed with a boute of prolonged warm weather! 

I had set up the 30 gallon tank in the laundry room a few days before to get ready for the goldfish transfer. Our pond is very small and much too shallow to leave the fish out all winter as many people do. We drained the pond using a combination of the pond pump and the shop vac. :)  The shop vac worked fastest, but we used just the pump for the first while till we netted most of the goldfish.  We were afraid that if there were any little babies, they would get sucked up in the shop vac.

A lot of leaves had fallen into the pond and were stacked on the bottom in a wet layer. That’s where the goldfish were trying to hibernate. When the weather is chilly the fish are sluggish and easy to catch. (It was a warm sunny morning, about 12C, but the pond water itself was still quite cold.)  

The pond water was as dark as tea so we were 'fishing in the ark" so to speak , randomly running the nets through the water….We scooped out a lot of wetsoggy leaves, then had to poke around in them to find the tiniest little grey fish we have ever had!  🐟
We also rescued 5 big fish and 1 medium sized one. Not very many really, considering that we had put 24 fish into the pond last May to begin with!  But after 2 unfortunate pond disasters this summer, we were glad to get any goldfish!  There were 14 little babies altogether, but I think 2 got eaten during the rescue since we only ended up with 12.  😐

I had to set up the 2nd fish tank in the laundry room in a big hurry, a new home for the tiny babies. The water in that tank is cloudy right now, but I think it is under going “new tank” syndrome. I put a lot of Cycle in the water so it should help establish the bacteria level. After that the water should clear up.

The 7 big goldfish are in the bigger 30 gallon tank which is nice and clear.

March 25, 2015
All the goldfish survived the winter well. The teeny tiny babies have grown a lot and have all turned gold. They started out about the length of a nickel, but are 2 to 3 inches long now. There are 7 big fish and 1 medium sized in the larger tank; 12 small ones in the smaller tank.

12 small goldfish

In about 5 weeks we will get the pond ready for another season and put most of the goldfish out. I'll probably keep 6 of the small ones inside as "spares" in case we have any 'goldfish disasters' this summer.

Looking forward to a new gardening season! :)