note to new ponders

[Ann in Houston]

After a completely non-mysterious fish death, which robbed us of three nice
fish in one night, a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would mention it to
any new folks who might lurk here. I so seldom have any insight to offer,
compared to the active experts here, that I didn't think to post it, until I
was chiming in on BV's OT post about his aquarium.
The point of the post is to use other methods besides a net if you have to
move any fish, especially koi. If you can't do it any other way, at least
carry them in a tub of some kind to their new location. Even if you don't
injure them, a net gets them stressed and stirred up, and, in our case, they
jumped.
Now, we are afraid to use our new pond in its current configuration, because
we are afraid it is too shallow, and the planned elegant effect of a pond
with the top edge close to the ground must give way to the safety and
practicality of having three courses of bricks around the pond, so the fish
are less likely to make it out of the pond, should they get frisky
(energetic, that is). I shouldn't let it bother me, but I had a certain
look in mind for this patio and pond, and it is going to be totally
different now. Oh well, it's better than losing fish.
Anyway, go easy on the nets for moving fish.

[[email protected]]

new water will often make fish jump. cant do a net? where you pull the net up when
the pond is alone and push it down when sitting by the pond?
Ingrid

"Ann in Houston" > wrote:

>After a completely non-mysterious fish death, which robbed us of three nice
>fish in one night, a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would mention it to
>any new folks who might lurk here. I so seldom have any insight to offer,
>compared to the active experts here, that I didn't think to post it, until I
>was chiming in on BV's OT post about his aquarium.
>The point of the post is to use other methods besides a net if you have to
>move any fish, especially koi. If you can't do it any other way, at least
>carry them in a tub of some kind to their new location. Even if you don't
>injure them, a net gets them stressed and stirred up, and, in our case, they
>jumped.
>Now, we are afraid to use our new pond in its current configuration, because
>we are afraid it is too shallow, and the planned elegant effect of a pond
>with the top edge close to the ground must give way to the safety and
>practicality of having three courses of bricks around the pond, so the fish
>are less likely to make it out of the pond, should they get frisky
>(energetic, that is). I shouldn't let it bother me, but I had a certain
>look in mind for this patio and pond, and it is going to be totally
>different now. Oh well, it's better than losing fish.
>Anyway, go easy on the nets for moving fish.
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

Maybe I read Ann wrong, but I think she was saying, don't use a net to
catch and carry them in. I know I don't even net my goldfish, I herd them
into a bucket and carry them out of the pond. With koi, I herd them into a
big tub and bag them from that tub, water & fish as one. ;o) ~ jan

>On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 21:04:02 GMT, wrote:

>new water will often make fish jump. cant do a net? where you pull the net up when
>the pond is alone and push it down when sitting by the pond?
>Ingrid
>
>"Ann in Houston" > wrote:
>
>>After a completely non-mysterious fish death, which robbed us of three nice
>>fish in one night, a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would mention it to
>>any new folks who might lurk here. I so seldom have any insight to offer,
>>compared to the active experts here, that I didn't think to post it, until I
>>was chiming in on BV's OT post about his aquarium.
>>The point of the post is to use other methods besides a net if you have to
>>move any fish, especially koi. If you can't do it any other way, at least
>>carry them in a tub of some kind to their new location. Even if you don't
>>injure them, a net gets them stressed and stirred up, and, in our case, they
>>jumped.
>>Now, we are afraid to use our new pond in its current configuration, because
>>we are afraid it is too shallow, and the planned elegant effect of a pond
>>with the top edge close to the ground must give way to the safety and
>>practicality of having three courses of bricks around the pond, so the fish
>>are less likely to make it out of the pond, should they get frisky
>>(energetic, that is). I shouldn't let it bother me, but I had a certain
>>look in mind for this patio and pond, and it is going to be totally
>>different now. Oh well, it's better than losing fish.
>>Anyway, go easy on the nets for moving fish.
>>
>
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
>http://puregold.aquaria.net/
>www.drsolo.com
>Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
>compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
>endorsements or recommendations I make.

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~


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[Derek Broughton]

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:

> Maybe I read Ann wrong, but I think she was saying, don't use a net to
> catch and carry them in. I know I don't even net my goldfish, I herd them
> into a bucket and carry them out of the pond. With koi, I herd them into a
> big tub and bag them from that tub, water & fish as one. ;o) ~ jan

That's how I read it, too. I have fortunately never had to catch a fish in
my large pond, but I learned long ago, with aquariums, that it's a whole
lot less stress on both me and my fish to do the herding trick into an
appropriate sized container.
--
derek

[Ann in Houston]

"Derek Broughton" > wrote in message
...
> ~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
>
> > Maybe I read Ann wrong, but I think she was saying, don't use a net to
> > catch and carry them in. I know I don't even net my goldfish, I herd
them
> > into a bucket and carry them out of the pond. With koi, I herd them into
a
> > big tub and bag them from that tub, water & fish as one. ;o) ~ jan
>
> That's how I read it, too. I have fortunately never had to catch a fish
in
> my large pond, but I learned long ago, with aquariums, that it's a whole
> lot less stress on both me and my fish to do the herding trick into an
> appropriate sized container.
> --
> derek

I suspect my newsreader is omitting posts again. I just get these gaps
in threads with references to other messages within the thread. Anyway,
what brought this back up, and in a different thread at that? Out of the
blue, I saw Jan's reference to the OP, and a speculation as to the point I
was making. And, yes, she read me right. We do use a large mesh net to get
them, but we don't use it to lift them out of the water. We slide a tub
under the net and carry the fish, with the water, over to the new pond.
Sometimes the fish don't even seem to be aware of the move. They just seem
a little disoriented at the new surroundings. Then, they seem to recognize
their former pond-mates and settle right in.
I hate to use the net to capture them, but we have never been successful
in herding them into a tub. We seem to be able to herd them into the net,
because it's less visible. We hold the net down in the water, just long
enough to get the tub under them, and then lift them out. I addressed it to
new ponders because I didn't know anyone did it any differently for quite a
while.

[george]

"Derek Broughton" > wrote in message
...
>~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
>
>> Maybe I read Ann wrong, but I think she was saying, don't use a net to
>> catch and carry them in. I know I don't even net my goldfish, I herd them
>> into a bucket and carry them out of the pond. With koi, I herd them into a
>> big tub and bag them from that tub, water & fish as one. ;o) ~ jan
>
> That's how I read it, too. I have fortunately never had to catch a fish in
> my large pond, but I learned long ago, with aquariums, that it's a whole
> lot less stress on both me and my fish to do the herding trick into an
> appropriate sized container.
> --
> derek

As far as my aquarium fish, I've always netted them and have never had a problem
with it. They've never seemed to be the worse for the wear, as they are never
in the net to make that much of a difference. A pond, however, is a different
story altogether. There is too much space to be chasing them around in. and
that will stress them more than the netting itself will. In a pond environment
it is always best to herd them into a small area and capture them in a bucket or
another recepticle. Of course, if you have fish as old as my maroon clown
female (13-14 yrs), she has given up on running, and actually will swim right
into the net.

[Derek Broughton]

george wrote:

> "Derek Broughton" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> That's how I read it, too. I have fortunately never had to catch a fish
>> in my large pond, but I learned long ago, with aquariums, that it's a
>> whole lot less stress on both me and my fish to do the herding trick into
>> an appropriate sized container.
>
> As far as my aquarium fish, I've always netted them and have never had a
> problem
> with it. They've never seemed to be the worse for the wear,

Well, sure... I never see them use the two-liter pop bottle trick in the
aquarium store either, but they're better at netting than I've ever
been :-)
If you don't have a problem netting them, then that's fine. If you spend
more than a couple of minutes chasing a fish with a net, then you need
another method.

> A pond, however, is a different
> story altogether. There is too much space to be chasing them around in.
> and that will stress them more than the netting itself will.

That was the point I was trying to make. There's nothing inherently wrong
with using a net.

> Of course, if you have fish as old as my maroon
> clown female (13-14 yrs), she has given up on running, and actually will
> swim right into the net.

_that_ certainly cuts down on the stress!
--
derek