So in typical newbie fashion. I’ve gone and jumped in with both feet and doing it completely backwards!
But hear me out...
Given my location, it’s all of a 4 hour drive to the nearest fish shop. None of which will allow me to prepurchase or hold fish, and I’ve been burnt several times driving all the way there only for all but one or 2 being left. So I ended up scooping up most of what they had for comets at the time with some supplies and a tank. My thoughts are the small comets will likely be too easy prey for the koi or other predators, ill have to let them fill out a bit before they go to the pond.
I’ve got a 1/2acre pond (dugout) that has some happy little 6-8” koi and a few odds and ends of mixed fancy’s ~4”
I want to get a fair amount of fish in there so they’re easily viewed from the gazebo. Thus this whole mess
Of course the biggest tank they had was a 29gal, so that’s what we get. Using an aqua clear 70 on it and threw in a couple red ludwigia just because I like to see things die I guess ��*
. My whole thought process here is that it’s better to try and fail rather than drive back and forth till the end of time until I get the fish I want!
Anyways, as of the last 24hr, I’ve moved the large comets out to the pond. They quickly grouped up with the other koi and fancy’s in there and started swimming around. The remaining 45 small comets are divided up into the 29gal and a makeshift 15gal.
The 29gal held the 23 larges (3-4”) as well as a few smalls. As one would imagine within 12hr the ammonia was up to .5 already! So I did a 30% water change in the morning and everyone was happy all day. This evening I moved the larges to the pond to ease that poor tank of some of its load. My temporary tank which only had the smalls took till this afternoon before it was nearing the .5 ammonia mark, at which point I have it a dose of ammo lock and everyone is still happy in that tank this far
After reading around, I’m holding off using ammo lock in the 29gal, as I want to have reliable readings on that water as that tank will stay operational for a while and I want a proper cycle on it! (Even though I’m doing it all the wrong way!)
Supplies and availability is all scarce up here so I’m just working with what I’ve got for now. But so far no fatalities other than during the drive home.
I can foresee a lot of water changes in the near future though it seems to give mixed reviews on its effect on the cycling. But to me that’s cheaper and easier than driving 4hrs all the time. So I guess that’s my long winded story for now.
Any new hidden tricks for such a dumb venture? Lol
But hear me out...
Given my location, it’s all of a 4 hour drive to the nearest fish shop. None of which will allow me to prepurchase or hold fish, and I’ve been burnt several times driving all the way there only for all but one or 2 being left. So I ended up scooping up most of what they had for comets at the time with some supplies and a tank. My thoughts are the small comets will likely be too easy prey for the koi or other predators, ill have to let them fill out a bit before they go to the pond.
I’ve got a 1/2acre pond (dugout) that has some happy little 6-8” koi and a few odds and ends of mixed fancy’s ~4”
I want to get a fair amount of fish in there so they’re easily viewed from the gazebo. Thus this whole mess
Of course the biggest tank they had was a 29gal, so that’s what we get. Using an aqua clear 70 on it and threw in a couple red ludwigia just because I like to see things die I guess ��*
. My whole thought process here is that it’s better to try and fail rather than drive back and forth till the end of time until I get the fish I want! Anyways, as of the last 24hr, I’ve moved the large comets out to the pond. They quickly grouped up with the other koi and fancy’s in there and started swimming around. The remaining 45 small comets are divided up into the 29gal and a makeshift 15gal.
The 29gal held the 23 larges (3-4”) as well as a few smalls. As one would imagine within 12hr the ammonia was up to .5 already! So I did a 30% water change in the morning and everyone was happy all day. This evening I moved the larges to the pond to ease that poor tank of some of its load. My temporary tank which only had the smalls took till this afternoon before it was nearing the .5 ammonia mark, at which point I have it a dose of ammo lock and everyone is still happy in that tank this far
After reading around, I’m holding off using ammo lock in the 29gal, as I want to have reliable readings on that water as that tank will stay operational for a while and I want a proper cycle on it! (Even though I’m doing it all the wrong way!)
Supplies and availability is all scarce up here so I’m just working with what I’ve got for now. But so far no fatalities other than during the drive home.
I can foresee a lot of water changes in the near future though it seems to give mixed reviews on its effect on the cycling. But to me that’s cheaper and easier than driving 4hrs all the time. So I guess that’s my long winded story for now.
Any new hidden tricks for such a dumb venture? Lol
nothing goes to waste around here
