wrote in message
oups.com...
Oxymel of Squill wrote:

If it's a new pond I suggest leaving it at least a month before
putting in plants and then another year before introducing fish. Maybe
that's a bit ott and people in this group laugh at me for it, but it
works.

It does seem like overkill. A friend had offered me 3 good sized koi,
so 2 days after filing the pond, I introduce fish (the 10 cent each
feeder goldfish). Within a week they all had died. I introduced 5 more
feeders and when they were all doing fine in another week, I added the
koi. It has been close to a year now and the koi and those 5 goldfish
are all doing fine. So, your mileage will vary. I'm lucky to have a
well, so there are no chemicals in the drinking water and the PH is
just slightly on the basic side.

Dave

http://members.tripod.com/~Vid eoDave/pool/pool.html

A rule of thumb with any new system, be it a pond or an aquarium is to wait
until the nitrogen cycle has run to completion before adding aquatic life.
That usually takes about 30-40 days (although some suggest waiting even
longer). Using that rule of thumb, one could predict that your first group
of feeder goldfish would die, since at 7 days ammonia levels are near peak
concentrations and nitrites begin to show up in the water (both of which
are highly toxic to fish and invertebrates). Another rule of thumb is that
after the nitrogen cycle has run to completion (that is, no ammonia or
nitrites, and a light load of nitrates), one introduces a very light load
of aquatic life to the system to allow the nitrogen fixing bacteria to
become well established, and to prevent a repeat of the cycle due to heavy,
and sudden nutrient loading. And thereafter, to introduce aquatic life in
small increments, and to add no more than the system can handle. Here is a
good article on the nitrogen cycle. I hope this helps. In fact, I think I
will post this as a FAQ on a new thread.